21 hurricanes that could potentially impact New Jersey this summer

As what seems to be a very long winter comes to an end and spring is right around the corner, the thoughts of sunny, warm weather are not too far away.

Before we know it, Memorial Day weekend will be here and we'll all be sitting in shore traffic (four words to live by: "keep right, pass left").

But with that warm weather comes the threat of tropical depressions, tropical storms, and hurricanes.

We only have to think back to 2012 when Superstorm Sandy hit the Garden State and we all had a front-row seat to the incredible power of Mother Nature when she had an attitude problem.

Officially, the Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th, although we can see tropical weather before and after those dates.

Hurricane facts and figures

According to NOAA,

• From 1991 to 2020, an average Atlantic hurricane season has 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes, and 3 major hurricanes

• The first named storm typically forms in mid to late June, the first hurricane tends to form in early to mid-August, and the first major hurricane forms in late August or early September

What can NJ expect from the 2025 hurricane season?

It's a bit early for official long-range forecasts for the upcoming hurricane season, but a sneak peek suggests things will be about average.

USA Today, citing Phillip Klotzbach from Colorado State University, said, "Forecast from ECMWF calls for a near-average Atlantic hurricane season through September, with ensemble average of ~12 named storms, ~5 hurricanes..." (the ECMWF is a weather forecasting model).

Official list of 2025 hurricane names

A list of names that will be used for tropical activity is out and they range from Erin and Karen to Humberto and Rebekah.

Interesting side note: you cannot ask to have a tropical storm or hurricane named after you. The National Hurricane Center actually addresses that question and they say they don't just randomly pick names or hold contests (could you imagine?). The names are controlled by the World Meteorological Organization (and boy, do they know how to party).

And here's another trivia question: what happens when all of the names are used and there are more storms? That happened in 2005 and 2020. Up until then, the Greek alphabet was used — Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, etc. As of 2021, there is a list of 21 supplemental names that will be used — Adria, Braylen, and Caridad, through Vivian and Will.