Beryl is 2nd Named Storm for 2012 - And Hurricane Season Starts June 1

It's a hot and humid Memorial Day weekend this year in the New Jersey area. You should feel lucky: in Florida, it's hot, humid, and hurricane-like.

Tropical Storm Beryl has put the kabosh on the holiday events in Florida. Beryl is the second named storm this year - the first was Tropical Storm Alberto, who made a brief appearance in the area only a few days before Beryl.

Beryl made landfall in the Jacksonville area Sunday, and tracking forecasts say it's due to weaken and track back out to sea (and hopefully away from the rest of the coast.)

Considering that hurricane season doesn't officially start til June 1, it makes you wonder if there's something amiss here (or if hurricanes just can't read.) Two storms and it's not even the start of hurricane season? Does that portend some hurricane encounters for the East Coast, including New Jersey? 

Who can forget in the area in 2011?

Happily, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - otherwise known as NOAA - predicts that the six-month hurricane season that runs through December 1 will be 'near normal' this year.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center said that there’s a 70 percent chance of nine to 15 named storms with top winds of 39 mph or more this year, of which four to eight will strengthen to a hurricane with top winds 74 mph or higher.

Of those four to eight storms, chances are that one to three of them will become major hurricanes, NOAA said; that is, storms with winds of 111 mph or higher, Category 3 or higher.

Based on the period from 1981 to 2010, an average hurricane season produces 12 named storms with six hurricanes, including three major hurricanes, NOAA said on their website.

Right now, Beryl is barreling down on Florida in the Jacksonville area with winds of around 50 mph. Thousands are without power as the storm moves westward at 8 mph. 

It doesn't appear to be a threat to the Northeast. But then, hurricane season still hasn't officially started, and it can be a long six months for storms.