No hurricane damage in the United States this year

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Quiet Atlantic hurricane season a boon for insurers

MIAMI (Reuters) - Thanks to El Nino, the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season has been the quietest in more than a decade, offering a reprieve for residents in the danger zone and a chance for insurance firms to refill depleted coffers.

With the peak of the season -- late August to mid-October -- now behind, the Atlantic-Caribbean basin has seen just two hurricanes and a total of eight tropical storms.

El Nino, the Pacific warm-water phenomenon that can produce destructive weather in other parts of the world, played a big role in suppressing Atlantic cyclones this year, experts said.

If the full season, which runs from June through November, ended today, it would be the lowest number of storms since 1997. The last time an Atlantic season produced only two hurricanes was 1982.

After a 2008 season that produced Hurricane Ike, one of the most destructive in U.S. history, the cyclones of 2009 have had virtually no impact on the populous U.S. coasts, the vulnerable islands of the Caribbean or the Gulf of Mexico oil patch.

"There was for all intents and purposes no hurricane damage in the United States this year," Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, told Reuters.

"It's something that will help the insurance industry create very favorable earnings comparisons in the third quarter compared to the third quarter of last year," he said.

Forecasters saw nothing on the horizon on Wednesday.

"El Nino produced an increase in wind shear," said meteorologist Todd Crawford of private forecaster WSI Corp.

"If you have an increase in the speed of the winds aloft over the Atlantic it acts to basically chop the heads off any kinds of storms," he said. Wind shear is a technical term for different wind speeds at different altitudes.

Crawford also said sea temperatures in the tropical Atlantic are cooler, by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.12 degrees Celsius) on average, than the blistering seasons of 2004, when four hurricanes hit Florida, and 2005, which produced 28 storms, the highest single-season total in recorded history.

Hurricanes draw energy from warm water, so cooler sea temperatures can mean fewer and less intense storms.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNew...E59D2UK20091014

[Dakine 26]

Quiet Atlantic hurricane season a boon for insurers

MIAMI (Reuters) - Thanks to El Nino, the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season has been the quietest in more than a decade, offering a reprieve for residents in the danger zone and a chance for insurance firms to refill depleted coffers.

With the peak of the season -- late August to mid-October -- now behind, the Atlantic-Caribbean basin has seen just two hurricanes and a total of eight tropical storms.

El Nino, the Pacific warm-water phenomenon that can produce destructive weather in other parts of the world, played a big role in suppressing Atlantic cyclones this year, experts said.

If the full season, which runs from June through November, ended today, it would be the lowest number of storms since 1997. The last time an Atlantic season produced only two hurricanes was 1982.

After a 2008 season that produced Hurricane Ike, one of the most destructive in U.S. history, the cyclones of 2009 have had virtually no impact on the populous U.S. coasts, the vulnerable islands of the Caribbean or the Gulf of Mexico oil patch.

"There was for all intents and purposes no hurricane damage in the United States this year," Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, told Reuters.

"It's something that will help the insurance industry create very favorable earnings comparisons in the third quarter compared to the third quarter of last year," he said.

Forecasters saw nothing on the horizon on Wednesday.

"El Nino produced an increase in wind shear," said meteorologist Todd Crawford of private forecaster WSI Corp.

"If you have an increase in the speed of the winds aloft over the Atlantic it acts to basically chop the heads off any kinds of storms," he said. Wind shear is a technical term for different wind speeds at different altitudes.

Crawford also said sea temperatures in the tropical Atlantic are cooler, by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.12 degrees Celsius) on average, than the blistering seasons of 2004, when four hurricanes hit Florida, and 2005, which produced 28 storms, the highest single-season total in recorded history.

Hurricanes draw energy from warm water, so cooler sea temperatures can mean fewer and less intense storms.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNew...E59D2UK20091014

Tain"t over yet!

[HAL 9000 96]

Hurricanes = weather

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Al Gore could not be reached for comment.

[Darnell 8,478]

well, there was a boon of water in se asia, from hong kong to PI to Indonesia...

Officially, Hurricane Season aint over yet, so any stuff like this seems premature (at least to me ).

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Hurricanes = weather

Hmm Al Gore was out touting Katrina and Rita as a result of GW. I guess your lord of GW is allowed to use weather when it suits his agenda, but if we mention it. NOPE NOT ALLOWED - WE NEED TO DO OUR HOMEWORK I GUESS..

[HAL 9000 96]

Hurricanes = weather

Hmm Al Gore was out touting Katrina and Rita as a result of GW. I guess your lord of GW is allowed to use weather when it suits his agenda, but if we mention it. NOPE NOT ALLOWED - WE NEED TO DO OUR HOMEWORK I GUESS..

And I guess you are reading into things that aren't there.

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Hurricanes = weather

Hmm Al Gore was out touting Katrina and Rita as a result of GW. I guess your lord of GW is allowed to use weather when it suits his agenda, but if we mention it. NOPE NOT ALLOWED - WE NEED TO DO OUR HOMEWORK I GUESS..

And I guess you are reading into things that aren't there.

If they weren't there, I wouldn't be able to read into them now would I?

Bottom line is that gore said we would get more and more, and more severe hurricanes. And it hasn't happened. He also said about 5 years ago that we had 10 years to solve GW or we all die. I guess we have another 5 left.

[HAL 9000 96]

Hurricanes = weather

Hmm Al Gore was out touting Katrina and Rita as a result of GW. I guess your lord of GW is allowed to use weather when it suits his agenda, but if we mention it. NOPE NOT ALLOWED - WE NEED TO DO OUR HOMEWORK I GUESS..

And I guess you are reading into things that aren't there.

If they weren't there, I wouldn't be able to read into them now would I?

Bottom line is that gore said we would get more and more, and more severe hurricanes. And it hasn't happened. He also said about 5 years ago that we had 10 years to solve GW or we all die. I guess we have another 5 left.

No Joe, you've already proven time and time again that you see things nobody else sees here- and that is no complement.

Furthermore, the science (not Al Gore and your hard on for misquoting him) behind such storm predictions are based on decades-wide data pointing to warmer waters fueling stronger, more frequent storms. Only an ignorant idiot would make up things to be claimed as fact that are 1) not true, 2) theorical, or 3) in testing.

[chri'stina 190]

I had to wait in a long line at the post office yesterday and was looking around, saw hurricane preparedness booklets and thought "hmm I forgot it was even hurricane season". And I live in coastal Florida.

[HAL 9000 96]

I had to wait in a long line at the post office yesterday and was looking around, saw hurricane preparedness booklets and thought "hmm I forgot it was even hurricane season". And I live in coastal Florida.

How's the weather down there?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Afternoon Hal!

Don't worry Joe. They (the doomsayers) will plug theories to fit the data, no matter which way they trend, not the other way around. Just remember, theories are about future trends, not real time data.

[HAL 9000 96]

Oh boy

[chri'stina 190]

I had to wait in a long line at the post office yesterday and was looking around, saw hurricane preparedness booklets and thought "hmm I forgot it was even hurricane season". And I live in coastal Florida.

How's the weather down there?

hot.

[HAL 9000 96]

I had to wait in a long line at the post office yesterday and was looking around, saw hurricane preparedness booklets and thought "hmm I forgot it was even hurricane season". And I live in coastal Florida.

How's the weather down there?

hot.

hotter than usual for this time of year?