Houston is nearly through the halfway point of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, but I'm tempering my optimism.

The annual anxiety-fest is far from over. It's this second half of the season that tends to peak with tropical activity.

The next eight weeks are considered the "season within the season," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. More intense storms are likely to flare up due to the unique mixture of low winds, moisture and dogged heat – increasingly so as the global climate changes.