Hurricane Season Off to Slow Start

HOUSTON (AP) _ The 2009 hurricane season has been off to a slow start, but experts say the real activity usually doesn’t begin until August.

The early season lull doesn’t necessarily mean a weak overall season.

Thursday was the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Dolly, which when it struck South Texas became the Rio Grande Valley’s most destructive storm in four decades.

A maturing El Nino in the Pacific Ocean, which tends to depress storm activity, makes the outlook for the rest of the season look promising, the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday.

But forecasters say it’s no time to relax and El Nino years can still produce destructive storms.

The 2004 season didn’t get its first storm until Hurricane Alex began developing on July 31. After that there were six major hurricanes, including Ivan.

More News