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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: combjelly who wrote (328750)	3/14/2007 9:24:35 AM
From: Road Walker	Respond to of 1578148

Harbinger Of Very Active Hurricane Season Seen In La Nina HOUSTON (Dow Jones)--Two factors seen ahead of the deadly 2005 hurricane season are also seen developing this year, a meteorologist said in a report Tuesday. "Despite the complexities associated with hurricane forecasting, current conditions and climate models lend strong support to a much more active hurricane season than we experienced in 2006," said Jim Rouiller, senior energy meteorologist with Planalytics in Philadelphia in a client's report. Warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures and a La Nina pattern, which produces light winds, are two meteorological signs that point to an open path for hurricanes to develop, Rouiller said. Both are in place right now, he said. "Hurricanes do not like high speed winds aloft," he said. "It chops the tops off the storms." Rouiller said he was alarmed to see similar patterns developing now that were in progress prior to the 2005 hurricane season. Last year, several storms were seen developing but were knocked down by strong winds under an El Nino weather pattern. In addition, a trough of low pressure that sheltered the East Coast and Gulf Coast regions last year will not be there this year. The difference between El Nino and La Nina is seen in the water temperatures across the tropical Pacific along the equator. When the waters over that area of the world turn warm, it's a sign of El Nino, and when they turn cold it's a sign of La Nina. This year the warm waters have been replaced by a developing cold stripe, Rouiller said. Climate models indicate La Nina will continue through summer, he said. "That could portend an active (hurricane) season," Rouiller said. "Certainly a season much different from last year." Rouiller also said we are in the middle of a "tropical Atlantic multi-decadal signal," which means enhanced frequency of hurricane development as pressure patterns and sea surface temperatures across the Atlantic are supportive of this potential. "We're dead center in the period of maximum activity," he said. The one wild card that could hamper or inhibit hurricane development in 2007 are Saharan sandstorms, which cause huge plumes air and dust to blow off the coast of Northwest Africa and blow across the lower Atlantic Basin, Rouiller said. Several hurricanes were quieted by such storms last year off the coast of Cape Verde in Africa, a primary starting point for hurricanes. "They are hurricane killers," he said. "Hurricanes don't like dry, dusty air and wind."