Um, why are the hurricanes in the wrong location this year!?

[DaveinJapan]

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT05/refresh/AL0509W5_NL+gif/143059W5_NL_sm.gif

This is pretty freaky, is there any known cause (I know that only two does not a pattern make, but still...seems highly unusual to me)? Strange ocean currents or something?

[Teaser]

1. happened before

This is how I've been through hurricanes here in Pennsylvania, after all.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

6. I'm old -

I remember Carol - 1954 - and Hazel - also 1954 - doing some really serious damage in central eastern Pennsylvania..................

[MUAD_DIB]

26. My mother was old enough to remember the hurricane of 1938.

Let's hope we don't see a repeat of that.

[The Straight Story]

2. Crist prayed that FL be spared (nt)

[Statistical]

3. Its not unusual the pattern varies from year to year.

I live in Virginia Beach and the last really bad eastern sequence year was 1985 with Hurricane Gloria.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Gloria

It caused catastrophic damage to the East Coast.

[stray cat]

4. Right now just a fairly dispersed and poorly formed tropical storm

but worth keeping an eye on.

[AnnInLa]

5. Heartfelt, from Ann in Louisiana:

Shhhshh!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

10. Ditto.... Thank you mister Crist. Heh!... n/t

[SoFlaJet]

7. As a south Florida resident I say

thank God....those things are scary man. Let them go up in the Gulfstream-every single one of them. It only takes one to ruin a lot of people's lives and guess what, with the economy the way it is down here I don't think this state could handle one this year.

[Posteritatis]

9. They hit people if they go north, too (nt)

[Edweird]

16. I'm a South Florida resident, too. A good storm would bring lots of work and money.

Yeah, it would be pretty shitty for a while, but I think it would actually BOOST the economy instead of harm it.

[Posteritatis]

8. It's normal

They either go up the east coast or through into the Gulf of Mexico; it's just weird to see two in a row track up the east coast.

There's some very specific tracks down around the part of the ocean where they form, and if they find themselves into one of those it has a huge influence on where they end up. This one, along with Bill last week, just hit one of the northernmost possibilities.

It's a bit odd for two to track up here in a row, but it's an "I should buy a lottery ticket" kind of odd as opposed to an "I should emigrate to the moon" kind of odd.

[texanwitch]

11. LIving in Houston I am not looking forward to another hurricane anytime soon.

Hope it goes way out into the Atlantic Ocean.

[HopeHoops]

12. Budget cuts - nobody could afford to provide them with directions

They aren't so great at using MapQuest.

[DaveinJapan]

13. lol. nt

[Junkdrawer]

Joe Bastardi over at AccuWeather has been ranting about the AMO...

and that a huge Northeast Hurricane is overdue...

[rucky]

14. God hates Nova Scotia?

:shrug:

[Edweird]

15. This is what they do. Look up 'Bermuda High' it should clear things up for you.

There's nothing unusual about what's going on.

[malaise]

17. Indeed

Those of us in the Caribbean Sea are not complaining although we'd rather that no one suffered serious damage. It may change in a week.

[Lex]

18. Newsflash: their patterns vary quite a bit

over time.

[nolabear]

19. Reeeeeeaaaalllly good voodoo.

It improves every four years. Laissez les Bon Temps Roullez!

[SoCalDem]

20. El Niño & hurricanes.. (our "slow" season this year) (very interesting)

SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Tue Aug-25-09 04:50 PM
Original message

El Niño & hurricanes.. (our "slow" season this year) (very interesting)


There's a cool interactive graphic at the website.

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/how-does-el-ni%C3%B1o-affect-hurricanes

How does El Niño affect hurricanes?

How does El Niño affect hurricanes?
The warmest global seawater on record is offering a feast for hurricanes this summer, but aside from Bill, the Atlantic Basin has been conspicuously quiet.

By Russell McLendon
Tue, Aug 25 2009 at 9:30 AM EST



The Atlantic hurricane season woke up early this year, fired off a weak tropical depression that didn't threaten land, and then hit snooze for two months. It made for an eerily quiet June and July — especially considering hurricanes run on warm seawater, and both months had the highest global sea-surface temperatures in 130 years of record-keeping.

But hot water alone doesn't cause hurricanes. Tropical wind, waves and weather must all cooperate to form the rotating thundercloud clusters that become monster cyclones. Even a slight variation could send a hurricane crashing into the ocean, and this year there's an extra twist: El Niño is sniping from the other side of Mexico, blowing the tops off many Atlantic tropical storms before they fully form.

"Upper-level winds from the west come across the Caribbean Sea, produce increased wind shear, and that's what hinders hurricane activity," says Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster for the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center. "El Niño is so large, and the tropical Pacific is just right there across Mexico, so it's not a far distance, actually."

Along with quenching droughts in the Southwest and Southeast, hurricane control is one of El Niño's often-overlooked upsides — there's a good chance it broke up tropical storms Ana and Claudette earlier this month — but, as usual, it's mirrored by a downside somewhere else. El Niño favors Pacific cyclones while snuffing out Atlantic ones, and may have aided this month's deadly Typhoon Morakot, which killed hundreds of people in Southeast Asia.


snip

[ddeclue]

21. Dammit!!! Are they striking in MONTANA AGAIN?

:rofl:

Last time I checked Massachutsetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maine and Rhode Island still had waterfronts located on the Atlantic ocean...

:P

Your Florida Friends...
Doug D.
Orlando, FL

[pipi_k]

22. Bill...Danny...

Named after men.

We all know men never stop to ask for directions.

[KittyWampus]

28. I laughed out loud and then stopped to think "but that's very true".

[cigsandcoffee]

23. It's not odd at all. Even big ones can hit New England.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Hurricane_of_1938

[petronius]

24. They're never in the right location, is more like it

There's nothing unusual about the track you posted, which is why northern ports have experience with and plans for hurricane landfalls (I remember being particularly impressed by the hurricane barrier in New Bedford, MA)...

[Freddie Stubbs]

25. Actually, a lot of them curve up like that, but

they usually just go out to sea. Occasionally these one hit land.

[HughMoran]

27. Oh, this one wasn't ddc

:)

[RagAss]

29. Depends on where you're sitting I guess.

[Clear Blue Sky]

30. Perfect Storm involved two northern hurricanes and a Noreaster.

Presume warmer water up north accounts for the hurricanes further north, though it was a cooler than normal summer out east. So who knows?