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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 Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters When the Earth Quakes A world of storm and tempest
Tropical Storm Chantal Bounces Off US East Coast
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 01, 2007The third tropical depression of the Atlantic hurricane season formed around 11:00 p.m. EDT on Monday, July 30 west of Bermuda. Exactly 12 hours later on Tuesday, July 31, at 11:00 a.m. EDT, the storm strengthened into a tropical storm with sustained winds of 40 mph and higher gusts. At that time, the storm was named Tropical Storm Chantal. Chantal was located near latitude 40.2 north and longitude 62.7 west, about 330 miles (530 km) south of Halifax, Nova Scotia and is moving rapidly toward the northeast near 23 mph (37 km/hr). Chantal is not a threat to the United States. |
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