Active Atlantic Hurricane Season Forecast for 2007

[Auggie]

FORT COLLINS, Colorado, December 8, 2006 (ENS) - No hurricane touched the U.S. coastline in 2006, but that unusual respite is not likely to be repeated next year, according to the early season forecast issued today by Colorado State University's forecasting team.

The El Nino weather conditions that led to a quiet Atlantic hurricane season in 2006 will probably dissipate by next summer, leading to above-average hurricane activity for 2007, said Philip Klotzbach, William Gray and their colleagues at Colorado State.

"The 2007 Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be more active than the average 1950-2000 season," Klotzbach said. "However, this is an early prediction. One of the important questions for the upcoming season is whether El Nino conditions will continue through 2007."

The term El Nino refers to the large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate phenomenon linked to a periodic warming in sea surface temperatures across the central and east-central equatorial Pacific Ocean. Its opposite is the cooler weather pattern known as La Nina.

more

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2006/2006-12-08-01.asp

[pitohui]

1. oh jeebus

i think i'm going to cry

i don't know why the el nino can't last a bit longer and keep the hurricanes pushed away from our coasts for just one more little old year :-(

[Imagevision]

2. They did say the same thing about the 2006 season also - with global warming how can they predict??

[Auggie]

3. They're saying the El Nino that developed in 2006 contributed to a

calmer hurricane season last year. So blame it on that. If that El Nino dissipates or weakens in a few months as these forecaster predict, conditions could warm up a lot in the Atlantic Ocean by summer. Warm sea surfaces are crucial to hurricane formation.