Although we have already seen a record-setting seven tropical storms during June and July, much of the season's activity is still to come. |
It's certainly reasonable to expect above-normal hurricane seasons for the next decade or perhaps even longer. It's not a matter of if more hurricanes are going to hit the coast, it's simply a matter of when. |
It's not linked to global warming or anything like that. This is normal climate variability. |
It's reasonable to expect ongoing high levels of hurricane activity for many years to come and more importantly, ongoing high levels of hurricane landfalls for the next decade or perhaps longer. |
The climate patterns that we're seeing now didn't exist in the 1970s, '80s and most of the 1990s. |
The waters in the Gulf of Mexico are warm, but so are the waters in the eastern Atlantic. But the water temperature isn't the controlling factor in whether a hurricane maintains its strength. Wind shear still determines whether a storm will strengthen or weaken before it hits land. |
These are double to triple the number we would see in an average season. |
We're not convinced that global warming is playing an important role yet, or if at all, in this era of increased activity. |