The odds of an unusually active Atlantic hurricane season are growing as ocean temperatures get hotter, according to US forecasters.
(Bloomberg) — The odds of an unusually active Atlantic hurricane season are growing as ocean temperatures get hotter, according to US forecasters.
A total of 14 to 21 named storms could take shape, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday in an update to its outlook. In May, NOAA predicted as many as 17. Storms get named when winds reach 39 miles (63 kilometers) per hour, with an average Atlantic season producing 14 of them. Five have formed since the beginning of the year.
Warmer sea surface temperatures combined with the El Niño weather pattern are “really the root of most of the uncertainty we have in this outlook,” said Matt Rosencrans, lead hurricane season forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. While El Niño can create changes in wind speed that rip apart storms, those conditions are emerging “a bit later than initially anticipated,” he said.
Read more: Ocean Temperatures Hit 90F Degrees, Fueling Weather Disasters (1)
Typically, the Atlantic sees the most active tropical storms and hurricanes during the period from August 20 to the beginning of October.
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