The US National Hurricane Center issued its first hurricane watches of the North Atlantic season on Wednesday, alerting the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands that they might experience hurricane conditions within 36 hours. But tropical storm Chris has since weakened in strength to 鈥渂arely a tropical storm鈥�, the Center reports.
However there is still a risk that Chris could build over the Gulf of Mexico where the warmer, deep waters could churn it up into a powerful hurricane.
In 2005 warm waters in the Gulf fuelled the growth of powerful storms including hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Conditions are similar this year, some experts warn. 鈥淪ea-surface temperatures are warm enough to support major hurricanes,鈥� Judith Curry, a hurricane researcher at the Georgia Institute of Technology, US, told 快猫短视频.
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But Kerry Emanuel, an atmospheric scientist at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says that the risk is lower this year. The reason this season is slower than last year is that sea-surface temperatures are lower in the North Atlantic 鈥� even slightly below average, Emanuel said. The Gulf remains warm, but it is not big enough to breed storms, he told 快猫短视频.
By this time last year, the eighth tropical storm of 2005, called Harvey, had already formed in the North Atlantic. Three had reached hurricane strength, with Dennis reaching Category 4 and Emily briefly reaching Category 5.
Hurricane numbers vary widely from year to year, but August and September are normally the busiest months of the North Atlantic season. Fifteen tropical storms, including nine hurricanes, made 2004 a busy year, with a record four hurricanes affecting Florida. Three of those made landfall as major storms of Category 3 and higher. Yet the first storm of that year, Alex, did not begin to take shape until 31 July.
