Earth just had its first storm-free hurricane peak in 38 years

September 12 marks the peak of the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season, but this year the day passed without any named storms. Odder still, the recently restless Pacific Ocean had a quiet day, too. In fact, across the entire Northern Hemisphere, not a single tropical storm swirled.

This is the first September 12 without a major cyclone since 1977, says Philip Klotzbach, a meteorologist at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Tropical Storm Vamco’s formation on Sunday ended the 54-hour serenity, the longest September dearth of tropical cyclones since 2009, Klotzbach adds.

While the ongoing El Niño will help calm the Atlantic (SN Online: 7/12/15), those same conditions will probably keep the Pacific churning out titanic typhoons for the next few months (SN: 5/2/15, p. 36).