At a Glance

Alvin was a short-lived hurricane several hundred miles south and west of Mexico.Alvin was the first hurricane of the Eastern Pacific 2019 hurricane season.This was one of the latest occurrences on record for the first Eastern Pacific named storm.Alvin did no damage.

Alvin became the first hurricane of the 2019 Eastern Pacific hurricane season briefly on June 27 and the first named storm the day before, a few hundred miles off the Pacific coast of Mexico.

Alvin was entirely a fish storm and made no impacts to land.

Satellite image from June 28 when Alvin was a hurricane.

(MORE: 2019 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook)

Unusually Late 'A' Storm

It's not unusual for the opening month of the Atlantic hurricane season to be quiet. While we already had short-lived in late May, a typical Atlantic season may not see its first named storm until the , according to the National Hurricane Center.

(MORE: Here's What Typically Happens Early in the Hurricane Season)

The Eastern Pacific hurricane season begins in mid-May, about two weeks earlier than the Atlantic season's official June 1 start.

This is because strong, shearing winds and dry air present in the Atlantic Basin early in the season aren't typically in place over the Eastern Pacific Basin.

By late June, one or two named storms form in the Eastern Pacific in an average season, according to Dr. Phil Klotzbach, tropical scientist at Colorado State University.

This year's Eastern Pacific "A" storm formation date was nearly record late, with Alvin forming on June 26.

Only once has the Eastern Pacific Basin failed to produce a single named storm through June in reliable data since 1971.

That happened just three years ago, when Tropical Storm Agatha checked off the "A" storm box on July 2, 2016.

Why the Slow Start?

Why the Eastern Pacific Basin is slumbering so late is a tough question to answer.

Dr. Michael Ventrice, an atmospheric scientist at The Weather Company, an Business, told weather.com it's probably driven by something other than either the Kelvin waves or a 30- to 60-day oscillation of rising and sinking air, known as the Madden-Julian Oscillation, that can give a boost to tropical cyclone activity around the globe.

Not even is giving the basin a boost.

Typically, El Niño years lead to very active Eastern Pacific hurricane seasons.

However, this El Niño is weak and exhibiting more warming in the equatorial waters of the Central Pacific, near and south of Hawaii, than farther eastward, which may be one factor keeping a lid on the Eastern Pacific activity.

(MORE: Hawaii Set More Than a Dozen Record Highs in the Past Month)

Sea-surface temperature anomalies in degrees Celsius from June 9-15, 2019. The pool of warmer-than-average water in the central equatorial Pacific Ocean south of Hawaii is highlighted by the red arrow. Less warmer-than-average water well south of Mexico is highlighted by the black arrow.

(NOAA/ESRL/PSD)

The late start had no impact on the rest of the 2016 season. Nineteen named storms, 11 of which were hurricanes, formed in the Eastern Pacific Basin that year.