them storms be blowing

[Guest guest]

wots strange is, this suppose to be a la nina year(as opposed to el nino)....

generally, that makes for dry weather here in california.....

hasn't happened..at all...

today has been the first sunny day in like..over a week.....

and..suppose to storm again through to next weekend....

 

 

Atlantic Hurricane Season to Top Normal for 4th Year (Update1)

April 4 (Bloomberg) -- Another above-average Atlantic basin hurricane

season is expected this year following a record number of storms in

2005, scientists said.

 

The June-through-November period will yield nine hurricanes out of a

total of 17 named storms, Colorado State University scientists Philip

Klotzbach and William Gray said in a report today from Fort Collins.

The 2005 season produced a record 15 hurricanes and 27 named storms.

 

``The climate signals are such that this looks like it's going to be an

active year,'' Gray said in a telephone interview today from his

office. ``Atlantic sea-surface temperatures are very warm. That's a

major factor.''

 

Five of the nine hurricanes will pack sustained winds of 111 miles (179

kilometers) per hour or more, making them major hurricanes on the

five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, the scientists said. Today's forecast

agrees with the Colorado team's December outlook.

 

The forecast for another above-active hurricane season this year

conforms to the scientists' theory that the Atlantic basin is in an

extended period of above-average hurricane activity. Nine of the past

11 years have been above-average seasons, Gray said, and he expects the

trend to last another 15 to 20 years. The 2003 and 2004 seasons

generated seven hurricanes and nine hurricanes, respectively.

 

La Nina

 

``The hurricane forecast team expects continued warm tropical and north

Atlantic sea-surface temperatures, prevalent in most years since 1995,

as well as neutral or weak La Nina conditions -- a recipe for greatly

enhanced Atlantic basin hurricane activity,'' the researchers said in

the report.

 

La Nina refers to the cooling of ocean surface temperatures off the

western coast of South America. The phenomenon affects the jet stream,

alters storm tracks and creates unusual weather patterns. La Nina

typically increases tropical activity in the Atlantic Ocean.

 

The 2006 season probably will not see as many storms make landfall as

last year or 2004, the report's authors said. Four hurricanes hit the

U.S. coastline in each of those years: Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma

last year and Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne in 2004. Gray

attributed the higher-than-normal number of storms hitting the U.S. in

those years to upper-air currents over the Atlantic that helped push

storms toward the mainland.

 

The 2005 season was the most destructive ever, the researchers said.

 

The number of hurricanes last year topped the previous record of 12 in

1969, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The total of 27 named storms exceeded the previous record of 21 in 1993

and forced the government to turn to the Greek alphabet for the first

time to name storms. Epsilon was the 15th hurricane of the 2005 season.

 

 

Katrina and Rita

 

Katrina in August flooded as much as 80 percent of New Orleans and

wreaked havoc in Mississippi and Alabama. Hundreds of thousands of

evacuees from across the Gulf Coast were forced to flee.

 

Katrina, and Rita in September, wrecked offshore oil and natural-gas

platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, hampering production that's still not

yet recovered. The storms tore drilling rigs from their moorings and

flooded onshore processing plants and refineries.

 

At one point, all of the region's oil production and more than 80

percent of its gas output was shut, along with about 30 percent of the

country's oil-refining capacity. Prices for crude oil, natural gas,

gasoline and heating oil soared to records between late August and

early October.

 

Still Not Recovered

 

As of March 22, 23 percent of normal daily oil production remained

offline in the Gulf, and 14 percent of gas output was down. So far, a

quarter of annual oil production and 19 percent of gas output have been

lost to the storms.

 

Gray and Klotzbach last year predicted seven hurricanes would develop

in the Atlantic out of a total 13 named storms.

 

Storms get names when wind speeds reach 39 mph or more, signaling

they've reached tropical-storm strength. Storms become hurricanes on

the Saffir-Simpson scale when wind speeds reach at least 74 mph. Gray

has been forecasting Atlantic basin hurricane seasons for 23 years.

 

Alberto, Ernesto, Helene, Oscar and Valerie are among names set aside

for this year's season, according to the Web site of the National

Hurricane Center in Miami.

 

The average season has 10 named storms and six hurricanes, Gray said.

Two of the hurricanes typically are major storms, meaning they are at

least Category 3 hurricanes on the Saffir- Simpson scale. Category 5

storms are the strongest.

 

In the 2004 season, Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne caused

more than $20 billion in U.S. property damage.

 

 

 

To contact the reporter on this story:

Geoffrey Smith in New York at gsmith15.

 

 

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