Atlantic Hurricane Season 30 Percent Stronger Than Normal 448
MatthewVD writes "The National Hurricane Center reported today that the combined energy and duration of all the storms in the Atlantic basin hurricane season was 30 percent above the average from 1981 to 2010. At Weather Underground, Dr. Jeff Masters blogs that record low levels of arctic ice could have caused a 'blocking ridge' over Greenland that pushed Hurricane Sandy west. Meanwhile, Bloomberg BusinessWeek says, 'it's global warming, stupid.'"
Average vs. variance (Score:5, Interesting)
It's interesting to know that this season was 30% above the mean, but what's the variance over that same time period?
Because for all I know from the summary, half of those years had storm season that were 30% more active than the average.
Silly question, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
If the hurricanes are more powerful, that means they are using more energy, right? And my less than great understanding is that less energy equates to cooler temperatures (for a system), so does this mean the hurricanes are helping to cool the earth by converting excess heat into... well... something that's not heat( e.g. motion or water, wind, etc.)?
Note: I hope this doesn't descend into a flame-war about global warming; the main question is: whatever the temperature, does the energy dissipated by hurricanes ultimately cool the system they are in?
Re:Sure it is (Score:2, Interesting)
Peter and the Wolf being a musical composition aside...
I've always felt the message of the boy who cried wolf should be; always respond to an alarm especially in instances where ignoring it can lead to death.
Re:Doesn't say anything (Score:4, Interesting)
The Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale only measures a hurricane's maximum wind speed. While this is reasonably correlated with the damage a hurricane inflicts, it is far from a complete picture. Notably, it disregards:
Storm size - Sandy was a very wide hurricane, and so the damage was more widespread
Storm surge - Sandy had a very large storm surge, and hit an area that is poorly protected from flooding
Rainfall - Hurricanes that drop enough water quickly enough can cause flash floods
Storm speed - SSHS only measures the wind speed relative to the storm. If the storm itself advances rapidly, it can cause significantly more damage than it would otherwise
This study used an alternative measurement - the total kinetic energy of the storm. This is a relatively good measure of the power of a hurricane season.
PS: We've had "mild" seasons since Katrina? News to me, considering 2007 had multiple Category 5s, 2010 is the third-most active season on record, and most of the other years were at best "average". 2006 was actually the only one to be below average.