Katrina and Andrew made landfall in very late August.
They are predicting still more to come into November; hopefully nothing happens but it has been most exceptionally hot this summer...Note from article below "9000 daily heat records" set in July alone this summer in the US...
And since Gov Perry has been doing his prayer/rain dance craziness in Texas with its 240 county drought maybe his god will answer his "prayers" with a big one. Yup, Perry, Bachmann et al...my gosh, all deniers...figures.
>>" Does all this heat mean more hurricanes? "<<
>>"By Ken Kaye, Staff Writer 8:58 p.m. EDT, August 14, 2011
Since the beginning of May, it's been one the hottest summers on record in the United States. In July alone, about 9,000 daily heat records were broken or tied.
But climatologists say the blistering heat over the continental U.S. will not directly cause more hurricanes or more powerful hurricanes. That's because storms formed in the peak of the season – August, September and October – are frequently spawned thousands of miles from the U.S. coast.
On the other hand, the region where storms tend to form, near the African coast, also is extremely hot, and that heat works to fortify tropical systems by warming the ocean waters and triggering the thunderstorm activity necessary to for hurricanes to grow. Forecasters predict up to 19 named storms, including up to 10 hurricanes.
Here are answers to questions on what to expect from the heat and hurricanes this season.
Q. Is there a single weather pattern creating all the heat around the globe this summer?
A. Not really. The primary reason the United States is so hot is because of persistent high pressure over the Southeast and Central U.S. High pressure usually means clear skies, dry air and lots of sun, all acting to heat up the land.
In the tropics, a high-pressure ridge has been weak, which has eased the easterly Trade Winds, all acting to drive up atmospheric heat, said Phil Klotzbach, a Colorado State University climatologist.
Q. How will the heat affect the storm season this year?
A. "Tropical formation depends on the conditions in place over the tropical Atlantic," said meteorologist Robert Molleda of the National Weather Service in Miami.
Temperatures there are now 1 degree above the average and the third-warmest since record-keeping began in 1954, said Gerry Bell, chief hurricane forecaster for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Other factors that make storms more likely include low wind shear and low-pressure over the ocean as well as the fact the Atlantic basin remains in natural cycle of hurricane intensity, he said.
Q. What's typical for the peak months of the storm season?
A. On average, August sees four named storms, September three storms and October two storms. On average, the first hurricane emerges on Aug. 10, the second on Aug. 28 and the third on Sept. 9.
Q. If a hurricane approaches the U.S. shoreline, will the heat over land in any way help fortify the storm?
A. Not directly. Hurricanes draw much of their energy from warm water, and the heat over land doesn't warm water temperatures as much as sunlight does. However, if the water near the shoreline is extremely warm, that could work to strengthen a storm on a short-term basis – until it moves over land, when friction would weaken it, said Jeff Masters, chief meteorologist of Weather Underground, an online weather site.
A. If a hurricane moves over a large warm lake, say like Lake Okeechobee, would that strengthen the storm?
A. In all likelihood, no. Because they tend to be enormous systems, hundreds of miles across, hurricanes need to draw on expansive bodies of water to intensify, Molleda said.
"Also, in order for a storm to survive, it needs a deep layer of warm water," he said. "Lake Okeechobee is very shallow."
On the other hand, he said if a hurricane moves across the flat marshy Everglades, it won't grind down nearly as fast as it would over hilly or mountainous terrain.
Q. How hot has it been across the U.S.?
A. Scorching, as it was the fourth hottest July in the United States on record. Most of the heat records took place from the Southern Plains states, the Southeast and the East. They include 105 degrees on June 15 in Tallahassee; 110 degrees on Aug. 2 in Joplin, Mo.; and 115 degrees in Fort Smith, Ark., on Aug. 3. Mix in humidity, and the "feels-like" temperatures have ranged in the low 120s in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee earlier this month. The West, Midwest and Northeast might see slightly cooler weather by the end of August, while the Southern Plains states and the Southeast should remain hot, according to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.
Q. How hot has it been in Florida?
A. West Palm Beach saw its hottest July on record with an average temperature of 85.7 degrees, or more than 3 degrees above normal. Record warm minimum temperature records were set on nine consecutive days. Otherwise, across the region, during June and July, temperatures have been about 2 to 3 degrees above normal. Florida likely will see the heat continue through August, forecasters said. "<<
sun-sentinel.com
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