We are now winding down July 2009, and we haven't even had our first tropical storm!!! The Atlantic Hurricane season is dead...at least for now.
We haven't had a tropical storm, a tropical depression or even a strong tropical wave. It's just amazing.
The atmosphere just can't seem to get going, and there's nothing on the horizon for the beginning of August. This means the first two months of the season will end with NO activity.
So why is this happening?
Well, experts say there are two main reasons.
The first is that ocean temperatures have been running slightly below normal. The water is warm enough for development of storms, but the energy needed for strong storms to develop just isn't there.
Next, the sand and dust keeps getting blown off of Africa and across the ocean toward the islands in the Caribbean and even into Florida at times. This Saharan air (that includes dust and sand) limits tropical development. If this pattern continues, we may have one of the quietest tropical seasons in history because our August and September hurricanes tend to form in the central and eastern Atlantic Ocean, which happens to be the areas which are most affected by the Saharan dust.
On the other hand, some experts say we could see an up tick in activity coming soon. Climatology argues that as we hit August we should see activity pick up. Some say we could see 8-10 storms probably in a six week burst or so.
In other words...we can't relax just yet.
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