NOAA forecasts a busy Atlantic hurricane season for 7th straight year
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Alonzo Lewis saves his mom’s belongings after her home was damaged by Hurricane Ida in Laplace (La.) on August 30, 2021. Ida struck New Orleans on August 29th as a hurricane category 4.
Getty Images| Getty Images News | Getty Images
The NOAA on Tuesday forecast a busy Atlantic hurricane season this year, calling for the seventh straight above-average season with 14 to 21 named storms and six to 10 hurricanes.
Over the last several decades, Atlantic Season, which runs from June 1-November 30, saw a rising number of severe and intensifying hurricanes. Scientists have linked this to increased ocean temperatures due to human-caused global climate change.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there could be up to six major hurricanes in 2017. These storms are classified as Category 3, or higher and have sustained winds at least 111 miles/hour.
NOAA attributed the expected increased activity this season to climate factors including the ongoing La Niña, warmer than average sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and weaker tropical trade winds.
Gina M. Raimondo secretary, Commerce Department overseeing NOAA, stated that “early preparation is crucial to be hurricane resistant and climate-ready.”
The intensity of hurricane season is increasing as it gets longer climate change triggers more frequent and destructive storms. The number of severe storms is also increasing due to rising temperatures move slowly and stall along the coastThis phenomenon produces more severe storm surges and heavier rain.
According to the scientists of the agency, there was a chance that it would have an above-normal season with a chance of 25% for a close-normal one and a chance of 10% of a season below normal. On average, there are 12 storms named and 6 hurricanes.
The forecast by NOAA follows several hurricane seasons that have been devastating. 2021 saw 21 named hurricanes. This was the highest number of storms ever recorded. It also exhausted National Hurricane Center’s hurricane names list. A record 30 named storms had been created in the year before.
What’s more, the U.S. has seen more of the severe Category 4 and 5 hurricanes make landfall in the four years between 2017 and 2021 than the 53 years between 1963 and 2016.
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