The Virginian-Pilot
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Hang on to your hats, folks.
Thanks to record water temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean coupled with weaker upper atmosphere wind shear, climatologists expect a stormy six months ahead.
Here’s a quick by-the-numbers primer on hurricanes in the United States:
Deadliest
The Category 4 storm that hit Galveston, Texas, in 1900 was the deadliest U.S. hurricane since 1851. The official death toll is 8,000, but as many as 12,000 might have died. By comparison, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was the third-deadliest with 1,500 killed.
Costliest
Hurricane Katrina’s devastation on New Orleans and the Gulf region far and away created the biggest damage bill at $81 billion. Hurricane Andrew, which hit southeast Florida in 1992, is the second-costliest with $26.5 billion in damage.
Longest
Ginger in 1971 holds the record for the most days as a hurricane at 20. In contrast, many storms reached hurricane intensity for 12 hours or less, most recently Ernesto in 2006.
2009
Nine. That's the number of named storms that formed last year, which was one of the calmest seasons since 1997. Of the three storms that became hurricanes, two (Bill and Fred) were Category 3 strength or higher.
2010
Twenty-three is the top end of the range (14 to 23) of named storms predicted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Other predictions by NOAA:
- 8 to 14 hurricanes
- 3 to 7 could be major hurricanes (Category 3 to 5)
Up Next
Names for 2010 storms:
1. Alex
2. Bonnie
3. Colin
4. Danielle
5. Earl
6. Fiona
7. Gaston
8. Hermine
9. Igor
10. Julia
11. Karl
12. Lisa
13. Matthew
14. Nicole
15. Otto
16. Paula
17. Richard
18. Shary
19. Tomas
20. Virginie
21. Walter
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Something forgot in the prediction
The forecasters forgot to take into account the impact of oil on wave surface action. Oil has been proven to reduce wave action by it's interaction with water. Since the Gulf and some of the Atlantic (perhaps) will be covered with oil, any storms that come by will have to deal with it. BP will, in fact, laud this as proof that they were, in fact, helping the US.
Note: Some of this is fact, some is sarcastic, your decision on which is which!
crying wolf
Would the Pilot please do a follow up article on the last 20 years of predictions and their accuracy! These numbers are useless since they are historically not accurate. If they were accurate they really don't tell you anything. It is like predicting 3 plane crashes this year but not telling you the chances you will be involved.
Since you are so concerned...
...why not do the research yourself? There is plenty of information "out there" from which you can compile a list and conduct your analysis. The purpose of this particular article was only to provide several chunks of information, in a very USA-Today'esque fashion, for the reader to do with as he/she will.