Hurricane season will begin before you know it, and forecasters are reminding people to get prepared.

Sunday is Day 1 of the 2025 Hurricane Preparedness Week. The National Weather Service is planning to provide all kinds of tips for getting ready for storms over the upcoming week.

The Atlantic hurricane season officially begins on June 1 and runs until Nov. 30. Tropical activity typically starts slow and peaks in August through October, according to data from the National Hurricane Center:

NOAA hasn’t released its official hurricane outlook for the Atlantic yet. That is expected to come later this month.

But Colorado State University has released its early-season outlook, and forecasters there are leaning toward another above-average season for the Atlantic basin, which also includes the Gulf and the Caribbean.

CSU, which is in its 42nd year of issuing hurricane outlooks, is predicting:

• 17 named storms
• 9 hurricanes
• 4 major hurricanes (Category 3 or stronger)

An average hurricane season, according to NOAA, has 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes. That average is based on data from 1991-2020.

The CSU forecast also includes probabilities of hurricanes making landfall.

According to the report there will be a 33 percent probability of a hurricane landfall on the Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle to Texas. The average probability of that happening is 27 percent, according to the report.

The National Weather Service wants everyone along the coast — and those further inland as well — to take the time now to get ready for the summer, with the theory being that while you can’t prevent a storm, you can lessen the stress somewhat by having preparations in place and a plan.

That goes for not only those along the coast but others inland.

Landfalling storms can bring damage from high winds, flooding and tornadoes well inland, as longtime Alabamians know all too well.

Newcomers to the state and the coast also need to learn what to expect.

NEW THINGS FOR 2025

The National Hurricane Center forecasts and tracks tropical systems all year long even if the official season is only June through November.

For the 2025 season the hurricane center is adding a few new tools for the public.

THE CONE WILL BE SMALLER

First, the so-called “cone of uncertainty” will be smaller this year. The hurricane center said size of the tropical cyclone track forecast error cone will be 3–5 percent smaller as compared to 2024.

The cone shows where the center of a tropical system is expected to go. According to the hurricane center, the cone “is formed by enclosing the area swept out by a set of imaginary circles placed along the forecast track (at 12, 24, 36 hours, etc.). The size of each circle is set so that two-thirds of historical official forecast errors over the previous five years (2020-2024) fall within the circle.”

RIP CURRENT EMPHASIS

There will be heightened attention on the threat from rip currents in 2025. According to the hurricane center in the past decade deaths from rip currents have increased in the U.S.

Rip currents are also the biggest weather-related killer along the Alabama and Florida Panhandle beaches, according to the National Weather Service offices in both Mobile and Tallahassee, Fla.

The hurricane center said many of the U.S. fatalities happen from far-away storms that don’t directly impact the coast but can send dangerous waves over long distances.

Starting this year the NHC will issue a national rip current risk map when at least one active tropical system is present. It will combine information from local NWS offices and be updated regularly.

Here’s an example of what it will look like:

You can also get local rip current forecasts from the National Weather Service office in Mobile here.

POTENTIAL TROPICAL CYCLONE FORECASTS

A change is also coming to forecasts for would-be storms. In the past few years the hurricane center has begun issuing advisories for what it calls “potential tropical cyclones.” Those are systems that aren’t organized enough to be officially classified as a tropical storm or hurricane but could bring some of those same effects to coastal areas.

This year the hurricane center will have the ability to issue advisories on these potential tropical cyclones up to 72 hours (before it was 48 hours) before the anticipated arrival of storm surge or tropical-storm-force winds.

CONTINUED USE OF INLAND WATCH/WARNING MAPS

The hurricane center expects to continue to use an experimental forecast map, first used last year, that shows inland tropical storm and hurricane watches and warnings in addition to warnings and watches along the coast.

Here’s an example from last year:

Keep an eye out all through this week from more information from the hurricane center and the National Weather Service on hurricane preparedness.

The Alabama weather service offices are: