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Why
Why does it seems there are more storms now? (2006 will be worse than normal) (how many records broken in 2005)
Most of us know that hurricanes in the Atlantic start off the coast of Africa when the Atlantic
temperature reaches 80 degree or higher.
The cycle is like perpetual motion...
heat / hot water causes more evaporation
which causes rain and thunderstorms,
evaporation of drops of water as it rains
it creates heat rising
which then funnels cold air back down...
it churns and cycles like a steam engine...
Soon you have a storm... which in a couple of days
can transform a seemingly harmless collections of Thunder storms
into the most powerful storms...of all a HURRICANE!
CYCLES
OK, so you probably knew this...
But did you know every 25-30 years a cycle changes between the north Atlantic and the South Atlantic?
In the 50's the US was hit by more frequent storms than in the 70's...
That's because the 50's marked the end of a cycle that started in the 30's
Well starting in 1990 or '95 (depending on whom you listen to),
we have entered a 25-30 year cycle where the North Atlantic is warmer.
How much warmer?
Just ONE (1) degree... but that's enough to create all this extra activity....
So instead of 2-4 storms we're having 8 or more...
In addition this cycle seems worse than the last one in the 50's....
How much worse, no one knows yet...
So it's NO coincidence that for those of us living in the SW of Florida
we know that in the 50's Captiva was split in two creating North Captiva....
And that now recent activity has rejoined Sanibel and Captiva... (storm surge carrying sand).
WHY FLORIDA in 2004?
Another things that influence where hurricanes go (ie. what path they take)
is the pressure of surrounding areas.
In 2004 low pressures north of Florida created high pressure areas over florida
that attracted the hurricanes.
Don't forget the speed....
At around 90+ miles asphalt shingles start to flip up
At around 100mph asphalt shingles start to rip in two...
at 110m mph non nailed down ceramic tiles start to lift up...
At 111 mph and higher the hurricane can punch the air out of your lungs if you're outdoors...
non- nailed down ceramic tiles are quickly being flown away...
And why did Katrina blow up New Orleans in 2005?...
That was an accident waiting to happen for years....
But that's another story...
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