I guess, and the season could absolutely still underperform, but the people that know tropical haven’t just relied on SSTAs. And I’ll reiterate that while this season may feel quiet, it has done the exact opposite of underperform. With 41 ACE pre-Ernesto the season was 5th all time in ACE to date (from GAWX—it’s behind 2005 (74), 1933 (54), 1926 (47), and 1916 (42)). This is with the post Beryl lull.
All NS have impacted land. The U.S. has two hurricane landfalls.
Now if the thought is the season needs to be in front of 1933 and just behind ‘05, sure. But ACE can’t be gamed the same way that looking just at short lived NS can. Would you rather have a bunch of short lived slop generating 35 ACE, or the earliest 5 on record and an additional hurricane out of four systems? For this time of year we’ve actually had quality stuff.
Will it continue? I think so but it remains to be seen.
Edit: it’s kind of like running the 400M hurdle at the Olympics. We’re off to a fast start, but we have 85% to go and any one hurdle (cough: SAL) could end that quickly.