Difference between El Niño and La Niña for Roatan hurricane chances

I thought we might take a look at the difference between hurricanes in La Niña years and El Niño years.

Last year was a major La Niña year and, just as this chart shows, we didn’t have to deal with a lot of hurricanes in the Caribbean. You will notice La Niña brings an increase in hurricanes in the eastern Pacific. This definitly happened last year. Who can forget Hurricane Otis slamming Acapulco or California actually getting hit by a tropical storm?

Here is the typical El Niño hurricane effect. We’re forecast to be in El Niño by late summer. Notice that the Atlantic and Caribbean have more hurricanes on average due to less wind shear. Wind shear is contrary wind that tends to break storms apart as they grow in height. It doesn’t necessarily mean we will have a hurricane in our neighborhood, but the chances definitely increase. Keep in mind our hurricane season typically runs from August to early November.