Could there be another Hurricane Melissa in 2026? | Tracking the Tropics
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to this week's edition of Tracking the Tropics. We're talking all things going on or not going on out there, depending on which Facebook page post you're seeing, and we're taking a look back at the historic hurricane of last season. Melissa coming up.
Live from our hurricane headquarters, with real-time analysis from some of the nation's top meteorologists, this is Tracking the Tropics, powered by Bose Generators.
Hurricane season, but if you've been following all the crazy Facebook posts, showing off those GFS a canes that are not going to happen in the Gulf and certainly not happening out there right now, it already feels like a long season. Welcome to the WFLA Streaming Center. I'm meteorologist Rebecca Berry, your host here of Tracking the Tropics, and I'm joined with your other host of Tracking the Tropics. We've got meteorologist Juliana Mejia. She is the graphics queen. She builds them all for us, and she did so. Today. And we're also joined by Justin Mosley, one of our fellow meteorologists here at WFLA. Thanks, go so guys, so much for joining us. Always a pleasure.
Good to be here.
And we are joined by Tracking the Tropics Royalty. He's now Chief Meteorologist, Ch Ed Bloodsworth, but he was the OG of Tracking the Tropics. Thank you so much for blessing us with your presence.
Royalty. That is that is quite the title. Appreciate that though, guys. Good to be with you.
We appreciate you joining us. If you don't know, we usually do s kind of kick off the season and end the season with Ed if he if we can, because he is originally one of the m members of Tracking the Tropics. And we are lucky that we're already seeing a pretty quiet start to the season. And I think everyone's pretty excited about the possibility of an El Nino. How about you, Ed?
I'm very very happy, especially here on the Gulf northern Gulf Coast. I know you guys on the western Gulf Coast have or eastern coast have had a a bit of a rough couple of years, but uh the northern Gulf Coast has been unusually quiet, so as long as we can hang on to that, we will take it.
One of our favorite words to say on tracking the tropics is quiet, and that's exactly how it looks out there right now.
What is the current state of the Gulf storm chatter on social media?
But if you've been on social media, you would not believe that. And so Juliana Mejia is gonna take it away to the wall to explain what's going on, what is not going on, and then get into something a little bit more interesting because I think as meteorologists, we've all been watching all the records and all the post-storm reports that came out after Hurricane Melissa, and that's kind of what we're going to get into. But first, put our minds at ease, Juliana.
Yeah, absolutely. So of course, uh consistently seeing here a tr quiet tropics, uh quiet Atlantic basin, I should say, across the Atlantic, the Caribbean, and the Gulf. Now the Pacific, not so much the case. The Pacific's ha been off to an active start. What was Tropical Storm Boris, now tropical depression Boris, Tropical Storm Christina uh bringing some impacts here to El Salvador, likely over the next day or so. Uh but what we're keeping keeping an eye on and what, you know, some forecast models have been a little excited about is the energy and moisture associated with honestly both systems but uh tropical storm Christina all that kind of sweeping over Central America potentially re-emerging here in the Southwest Gulf.
Uh but you know take uh peace of mind here that overall that deep tropical moisture looks to really stay out in the Western Gulf as well as almost kind of just wash away over into Mexico over the next few days. Locally here across the north Northern Gulf, even across Florida, kind of just focus on more of the moisture hanging out, or seeing the return of humidity here in real time in the Tampa Bay area. But this is not abnormal to kind of see this activity and see systems like Pacific systems that provide some energy and moisture to Central America that can cause some tropical mischief in the Caribbean or in the Gulf, and that's because typically late spring, and then we see it again.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–1:56
2
What is the current state of the Gulf storm chatter on social media?
1:56–7:00
3
Why did Hurricane Melissa become a record‑breaking Category 5 storm?
7:00–13:16
4
How did rapid intensification contribute to Melissa’s extreme winds and pressure?
13:16–18:24
5
What role does AI and new weather‑balloon technology play in improving forecasts?
18:24–23:34
6
How is the developing El Niño expected to affect the 2026 hurricane season?
23:34–28:00
7
What are listeners’ top questions about storm prediction and preparation?
28:00–28:59
8
Could a new hurricane category be needed as storms get stronger?
28:59–29:48
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Tracking the Tropics: Hurricane Season Podcast
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