A Newsletter from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Exploring Long Island Sound - Issues and Opportunities

The R/V Sound Outlook was funded by an award to DEEP by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Long Island Sound Partnership. Total cost for the vessel was $2.2 Million.

“DEEP is proud to work with federal partners, the State of New York, universities, and NGOs to see this this significant investment through so we can build on our long-term monitoring of the health of Long Island Sound for future generations,” said then-DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes. “The new Research Vessel Sound Outlook is a generational investment that allows DEEP to fulfill its mission to make sure we keep tabs on the tremendous recreational and economic engine that Long Island Sound represents for Connecticut. DEEP greatly appreciates the support from EPA and the entire Long Island Sound Partnership to support this new vessel purchase.”

Commissioner Dykes Steps Down

As many readers may already know, DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes left her position in July after nearly 14 years of state service to explore new professional opportunities. Governor Lamont named DEEP Deputy Commissioner Emma Cimino to serve as the agency's acting commissioner. 

“It has been the honor of my professional life to serve the people of Connecticut for nearly fourteen years, including more than seven years as DEEP commissioner,” Commissioner Dykes said. “I am incredibly proud of DEEP’s extraordinary staff and the many great things we have accomplished for the people and the environment of Connecticut. I feel confident that this is the right moment for a transition, both for DEEP and for me personally—an opportunity for new leadership to guide the agency forward, and for me to explore new professional opportunities. I am so grateful to Governor Lamont for entrusting me with the opportunity to serve.”

Deputy Commissioner Cimino has been responsible for overseeing DEEP's Environmental Quality Branch since 2023, which includes Water Protection and Land Reuse (the bureau containing LWRD), Air Management, and Materials Management and Compliance Assurance.

Sound Outlook thanks Commissioner Dykes for her years of service to DEEP and we wish her well in her future pursuits. We are confident that Acting Commissioner Cimino will continue the agency’s ongoing efforts to protect and enhance Long Island Sound.

Commissioner Dykes (left) and Acting Commissioner Emma Cimino (right)
Photos: DEEP

Climate Change Update

Atlantic Hurricane Season off to a Record Delayed Start

September is typically the most active month of the Atlantic hurricane season. And yet, as September comes to a close, the 2026 season is off to a historically slow start, with no storms yet reaching hurricane strength. On September 12, the Atlantic hurricane season broke a 60-year record for the latest date without a hurricane in the satellite era, which began in 1966. As the dry spell continued past September 21, a new record was set for the longest hurricane delay in 112 years, as the 1914 hurricane season was the last to reach that date without a hurricane. While there is still plenty of time for October and November storms to form and strengthen before the official end of hurricane season on November 30, the season so far has been unusually quiet.

The primary contributor to the slow nature of the 2026 hurricane season is an intensifying El Niño, a global climate phenomenon that occurs when trade winds shift and warm surface water moves eastward towards the Americas instead of staying near Asia and Australia, causing surface temperatures to warm over the tropical Pacific Ocean. While this phenomenon is irregular and not easy to predict, it does occur in a cyclical nature every two to seven years, usually lasting about a year. As of September 19, this year's El Niño is the strongest on record by daily sea surface temperatures, exceeding the 2015 record, and is still weeks short of the expected peak later this year.

Stronger El Niño years increase vertical wind shear, or changes in wind speed and direction with height, in the Atlantic. This increase in wind shear can stop storms from developing and quickly break apart storms that do. Developing tropical storms or hurricanes need to stand upright like a chimney to trap heat in its center. Wind shear can topple these storms as they form and strip away their core thunderstorms. Imagine trying to build a card tower in front of a fan. No matter how strong the base is, eventually the higher levels of the tower will be blown over as there isn't enough support for them to remain upright. 

As of September, NOAA putts the odds at 75% that the current El Niño will be hotter and stronger than any year on record. With the current El Niño cycle, we have already seen reduced rainfall in Indonesia lead to peatland and forest wildfires. In the Pacific, where hurricanes are intensified by El Niño rather than stifled by it, Hurricane Polo experienced one of the fastest intensifications ever recorded in a hurricane, with winds increasing by 109 mph in a 24-hour period. The hurricane quickly reached Category 5 and is the second-most intense Pacific hurricane ever recorded by central pressure, behind only Hurricane Patricia in 2015--another intense El Niño year. 

If scientists are correct and the trend of intensifying El Niño cycles continues, what will it mean for us in the northeastern U.S.? How does the current hurricane season relate to this pattern? Isn't having no hurricanes a good thing?

One of the primary effects we could see in the Northeast is dramatic swings between very active and inactive hurricane seasons, which scientists expect to see. This could mean an increased frequency in extremely active hurricane seasons as well as more seasons like the current 2026 one, where few or no storms are able to reach hurricane force. The figures below show Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE, figure A), an index which measures the total activity of a hurricane season, and the total number of tropical cyclones (TC, figure B) per year in the satellite era.

Data: NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory

While the overall trend appears to be increasing slightly on both graphs, it is worth noting that the swings appear to be intensifying. Years like 1995, 2005, 2017, and 2020 saw major upticks in either ACE or TC. These upticks all correspond with La Niña years, the phenomenon in which the reverse of an El Niño event occurs, and trade winds blow stronger than usual across the Pacific, pushing warm surface water back towards Asia and Indonesia. These La Niña events typically intensify the Atlantic hurricane season, and the data appears to show that the number and intensity of storms may be increasing during these years as part of the intensifying El Niño/La Niña cycles.

What all of this data could mean for us in the Northeast is not more hurricanes year over year, or a series of cataclysmic storms headed our way. Rather, it shows that while the mean storm frequency and intensity are increasing slowly, the extreme events on either end appear to be intensifying more rapidly. This could mean an increased risk of experiencing stronger than average hurricanes during years of intense hurricane activity and fewer hurricanes in years of low activity.

As scientists predict an increase in the frequency of extremely active hurricane seasons, the risk of severe or even sequential (back-to-back) hurricanes for areas prone to landfall is also increasing, as was seen in Nicaragua and Honduras during the 2020 hurricane season when Hurricanes Eta and Iota both made landfall as Category 4 storms only 15 miles apart. The twin hurricanes brought with them a death toll of over 270 and more than $8 billion in damage across Central America. 

We have previously reported in Sound Outlook about Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Irene, which were both only tropical storms when they made landfall in Connecticut. As meteorologists often say, Connecticut is "climatologically overdue" for a hurricane. The data appears to show that the risk of such a storm intensifying is increasing as extremely active hurricane seasons become more frequent.

Prudent coastal planning should take these factors into account as we plan our community development. When we take the lessons learned in the past from storms such as Sandy, Irene, or even as far back as the great hurricanes of 1938 and 1955, and combine them with the data and forecasts that we have at our disposal from scientists ranging from NOAA to the coral researchers at the University of Michigan to the folks at Connecticut Institute for Resilience & Climate Adaptation, we have extremely powerful information and tools at our disposal to anticipate when severe storms and floods will likely cause preventable economic damage and loss of life. The wealth of information on the subject should result in better informed decisions at every level, and it is the responsibility of coastal planners and developers to make the best decisions possible to reduce hazards to life and property, which is a core principle laid out in the Connecticut Coastal Management Act. 

Damage from Tropical Storm Sandy in Fairfield    Photo: DEEP LWRD

Spotlighted Coastal Public Access

Advancements in Public Access  

Public access to our shared natural resources is critical foundation for the well-being of local communities and our State.  Yet, opening and maintaining public access sites can be challenging. Together, municipal land use authorities, DEEP's coastal management programs, and other partner