What has happened to hurricane season 2019?

We are over a month into hurricane season and so far, you don't hear much about what's going on in the tropics. Hurricane season starts June 1st and continues through October. The season peaks in early September, so there's still plenty of time for something to develop.

Here's what's out there right now:
Eastern Pacific has Barbara - and it is expected to drift on to the west and continue weakening from major hurricane status. Hawaii is in the path, although by the time the storm gets close, it will be fairly weak.

Atlantic: 
There are no threat areas to watch at this time.

We are currently in an El Nino phenomenon, which if you can remember from the times we've discussed it here on the blog, that is the warmer than normal water found in the Pacific near the equator. It's not overly strong (water temperatures are just above the minimum threshold for an El Nino), but it doesn't have to be strong in order to have an influence on weather patterns across the globe.

Many years ago, it was uncovered that El Nino setups tend to favor fewer hurricanes in the Atlantic and slightly more hurricanes in the Pacific. It doesn't always guarantee that it will happen that way, but El Nino impacts the water temperatures AND the amount of wind shear that develops in the atmosphere. Wind shear is the shift in wind higher up in the atmosphere that can quickly tear apart tropical storms and potential hurricanes. Looking at the chart below, there is an average of about 1-2 major hurricanes (category 3 or stronger) during El Nino events (in the Atlantic), but it's higher in the Pacific. Barbara has already reached major status, but is weakening.

The forecast from NOAA indicated as many as 4 major hurricanes could form during the season. I have my doubts it will go that high, but time will tell. The last El Nino hurricane season had 4 major hurricanes, including Matthew which at one point had winds of 160 mph.

There was an El Nino in 2014 and 2015 and both of those years had below normal tropical activity across the Atlantic basin. So a quiet hurricane season is to be expected when we have an El Nino.