It is never too late for hurricanes, but there is a difference in when they usually occur during the year.
The official hurricane season in the Atlantic begins June 1 and ends November 30.
To become a hurricane, a storm must first be a tropical storm, and tropical storms in the Atlantic have formed in every month except April.
Some of the worst occur in late September and early October.
Factors in the timing of hurricanes include weather patterns in Africa and the water temperature in the ocean in regions where hurricanes form.
From late September into October, the water is probably the warmest it ever gets, not just on the surface but down to a certain depth.
Thus, when a storm hits, it doesn’t just churn up cold water, but warm water, which feeds the storm, keeping its updrafts and downdrafts going.
Water temperatures cool off in November, and air currents change.
The westerly jet stream is strong in mid-autumn. If high-level winds are strong and from the west, tropical storms don’t do so well.
They do better when high winds are light and from the east.
