 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Experts Revise Hurricane Forecast Downward To Eight Storms
Miami (AFP) Aug 03, 2007 Eight hurricanes are likely to form in the Atlantic this year, with four expected to reach intense strength, experts said Friday in a downward revision of earlier forecasts. The forecast also said there is a 68 percent chance of an intense hurricane slamming ashore in the United States this year. In all, 15 named storms are expected to form in the Atlantic Basin, according to prominent experts William Gray and Philip Klotzbach, of Colorado State University. Eight of the tropical storms will strengthen into hurricanes, of which four will be intense, meaning they will pack sustained winds of at least 178 kilometers (111 miles) per hour, the forecasters said in a report. In late May the team had predicted 17 named storms, nine hurricanes and five intense hurricanes. Despite the downward revision, the latest forecasts remain well above the long-term annual average of 9.6 named storms, 5.9 hurricanes and 2.3 intense hurricanes. "We've lowered our forecast from our May predictions because of slightly less favorable conditions in the tropical Atlantic," said Philip Klotzbach who co-authored the report. "Sea surface temperature anomalies have cooled across the tropical Atlantic in recent weeks, and there have been several significant dust outbreaks from Africa, signifying a generally stable air mass over the tropical Atlantic," he said. So far, only two tropical storms have formed since the six-month Atlantic hurricane season started on June 1 and none of them has strengthened into a hurricane. But August and September are usually the most active months of the Atlantic hurricane season. For the month of August, the team expects three named storms, two of which are expected to develop into hurricanes, and of which will be intense. For September, the team predicted five named storms, four hurricanes and two intense hurricanes. A further five named storms, two hurricanes -- one of them intense -- are expected to form in October-November, the researchers said. "We're in an active cycle in the Atlantic basin that is expected to last another 15 to 20 years," said William Gray, one of the reports' authors. But he stressed that the highly active seasons of 2004 and 2005, when a total of 13 major hurricanes, several of them deadly, formed in the Atlantic basin remained an anomaly. Last year, nine storms formed in the Atlantic, including five hurricanes, which did relatively little damage.
Source: Agence France-Presse Related Links Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters When the Earth Quakes A world of storm and tempest
Frequency Of Atlantic Hurricanes Doubled Over Last Century And Climate Change Suspected
Boulder CO (SPX) Jul 31, 2007About twice as many Atlantic hurricanes form each year on average than a century ago, according to a new statistical analysis of hurricanes and tropical storms in the north Atlantic. The study concludes that warmer sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and altered wind patterns associated with global climate change are fueling much of the increase. The study, by Greg Holland of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Peter Webster of Georgia Institute of Technology, will be published online July 30 in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement |
