The 2010 hurricane season has begun, and has done so with a hard blow to Guatemala, including dozens of fatalities (83 so far). Ironically, this storm was not particularily violent, not even getting above tropical storm status, but the rainfall was very intense.
As always, the best place to follow the hurricane season is Jeff Master's Weather Underground.
His introductory pst to this season lists the following reasons to worry about the months ahead:
- "unprecedented sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic"
- the ending of El Nino conditions
- a million refugees from the recent earthquake in Haiti with even less protection from a hurricane strike than that population usually has
- ever higher concentrations of people living on the Gulf Coast
He also mentions the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, though there is little known about how that will effect hurricanes, if at all, and vice versa. Go there for the fascinating details.
I also want to recommend this article at James Hrynyshyn's new blog "M" with some good background on the developing science of tropical cyclones and climate change.
Suffice to say, we will be adding a few more lines to the graphic below!
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Hi Coby, the link to this season's introductory pst didn't work for me.
It seems a few places are experiencing anomalous rain this year. I would be interested in seeing a graphic of relevant statistics, if such a thing existed.
Sorry, Steve, link is fixed now and thanks for pointing it out!
Hijack? I doubt anyone's going to pay attention to such drivel (if you squint you can see the flecks of spittle).
[N.B. This refers to a now deleted comment]
On a more pedantic note: "Suffice to say, we will be adding a few more lines to the graphic below!" Really? Check the graphic title...
:^)
[Don't spoil my fun! ;-b ]