July a quiet month for tornadoes, hurricanes

July a quiet month for tornadoes, hurricanes

Although the withering drought and relentless heat wave made weather headlines throughout July, there was some good news last month: July 2012 was one of the quietest Julys for tornadoes on record in the U.S., meteorologists reported Wednesday.
There were also no named tropical storms or hurricanes in the Atlantic.
Only 24 preliminary reports of tornadoes were filed in July, according to NOAA meteorologist Harold Brooks. Once duplicate tornado reports are weeded out, this number will likely be reduced.
Meteorologist Greg Carbin of the Storm Prediction Center says that an average July has 98 tornadoes in the U.S.
There were also no tropical storms or hurricanes in the Atlantic in July, which isn't that unusual, according to National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen. He says that since records began in 1851, 89 Julys have seen no named storms or hurricanes. This most recently occurred in 2009.
The quiet July followed a fast start to the season, when four storms (Alberto, Beryl, Chris and Debby) formed in May and June.
However, the hurricane center is monitoring a tropical depression in the central Atlantic, which the center is giving a 70 percent chance of becoming a named tropical storm by Friday. If it becomes a named storm, it will be called Ernesto.