This year's Atlantic hurricane season began Sunday and forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are so far looking forward to a relatively quiet week ahead. As of 7 a.m. Monday, tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next seven days in the Atlantic Basin,

In the Atlantic Basin, which includes storms that form in the Atlantic, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of America (formerly known as Gulf of Mexico), hurricane season lasts from June 1 until Nov. 30. Historically, 97% of all tropical cyclones in the Atlantic will form between those two dates.

June 1 is the first day of hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean, the official start of a six-month period that can bring some of the most destructive and costly natural disasters to American shores.