What will the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season bring? by Steph Ball
With current weather patterns in the hands of a La Niña episode, many will be contemplating what effect this will have on the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season.
Preliminary forecasts are issued each year by noted hurricane experts Dr. William Gray and Dr. Philip Klotzbach of Colorado State University. Their latest forecast issued yesterday predicts that the 2008 season will be more active than average, with 8 hurricanes and 15 named storms. Of those 8 hurricanes, they believe that 4 will become intense (i.e. of category 3 strength and above). They also predict an above average chance of a major hurricane striking the US coastline, with winds exceeding 100mph (160km/h).
If correct, then the 2008 season would be less kind to the US than 2006 and 2007 were. In 2007, not one major disaster was declared across the US mainland, though the season was not without drama. For the first time on record, two deadly Category 5 hurricanes, Dean and Felix, made landfall in the same season. However, it was Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and Nicaragua which bore the brunt of these, while the Caribbean was lashed by storm after storm.
In 2006, it was also a quiet season with no hurricanes making US landfall. However, we only have to go back to 2005 to be reminded of the massive devastation left by Hurricane Katrina when it struck New Orleans.
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