|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Mon, 15th Mar 2021 10:37:00 |
|
Should the hurricane season begin earlier? |
The Atlantic hurricane season officially begins on 1 June. But over the past six years, significant storms have been forming earlier than this. So does the hurricane season need to start earlier - and is climate change to blame?
At a regional meeting of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) this week, meteorologists and officials will be discussing a possible change to how the hurricane season is defined.
"The 2020 hurricane season was one of the most challenging in the 40-year history of [the] WMO's Tropical Cyclone Programme," says WMO Secretary-General Prof Petteri Taalas.
"The record number of hurricanes combined with Covid-19 to create, literally, the perfect storm."
The hurricane season has officially started on the 1 June since the mid-1960s, when hurricane reconnaissance planes would start routine trips into the Atlantic to spot storm development.
- Hurricanes get stronger on land in a warmer world
- Warming makes bigger hurricanes more damaging
Over the past 10 to 15 years, though, named storms have formed prior to the official start about 50% of the time.
And the way they are defined and observed has changed significantly over time.
"Many of these storms are short-lived systems that are now being identified because of better monitoring and policy changes that now name sub-tropical storms," Dennis Feltgen, meteorologist at the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) told BBC Weather.
The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was the most active on record with a total of 30 named storms. Two of those storms - Arthur and Bertha - formed in May.
Read original full article
|
| |
|
|
Back to Featured Articles
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Energy News
|
|
| |
| |
