Topic: NOAA

Those troubling tropical storms keep lining up

By Christine Anne Piesyk | September 3, 2008 |

After a slight respite of a few years, the long-forecasted flurry of increasing tropical storms and hurricanes is happening, at least for this year.

The tenth such system, Josephine, is on the map with three months left to go in the hurricane season.

As southern states and many islands learned in a painful lesson last week, a storm doesn’t have to hit hurricane strength to do its damage. tropical Storm Fay broke all records with four separate landfalls in Florida, dumping double-digit rain across the region, flooding, well, just about everything. As if storm surge isn’t enough, Fay’s copious rains brought alligators and snakes out of their normal habitat to ride the rainfall torrents all over the state. Fay was barely a blip on yesterday’s radar when along came Gustav, three years almost to the day after Katrina. «Read the rest of this article»

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Hurricane season starts today; forecasters predict “average” season

By Christine Anne Piesyk | June 1, 2008 |

An average season has 11 named storms, including six hurricanes for which two reach major status, and that what professional forecasters are calling for in the summer of 2008.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center “projected climate conditions point to a near normal or above normal hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin this year. The prediction was issued at a news conference called to urge residents in vulnerable areas to be fully prepared for the onset of hurricane season, which begins June 1.” NOAA’s Atlantic hurricane season outlook will be updated on August 7, just prior to what is historically the peak period for hurricane activity. The season runs through November 30. «Read the rest of this article»

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