Hurricane

Experts Expect Stormy Hurricane Season
Sun Sentinel, Apr 3, 2002

Because the tropical Atlantic has fallen into a new era of intense hurricane activity, the upcoming season should be active, last well into October and pose a serious threat to the United States, government scientists warned on Tuesday. While they did not predict an exact number of hurricanes, researchers for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say the climatic ingredients are in place for intense hurricane development. But their greater concern is there could be three or more major hurricanes, with winds greater than 110 mph, or about double the normal number of intense storms. While major hurricanes account for only 20 percent of the landfalls, they cause about 80 percent of the damage. "There are these incredible robust signals," said Stanley Goldberg, a NOAA research meteorologist, at the National Hurricane Conference in Orlando. ... Goldberg said the seven years since 1995 have seen the most intense hurricane activity in history, including 94 named storms, 58 hurricanes and 27 major hurricanes. ... "All of the sudden, in 1995 things changed," Goldberg said.