2017 About To Become Record Year For Hurricanes
There's a reason this year's hurricane season seems exceptionally bad: it is. Tropical Storm Ophelia is swirling in the Atlantic and is expected to become the 10th tropical storm in a row to become a hurricane. That ties the record set way back in the late 1800's. The last years to experience 10 hurricanes in a row were 1878, 1886 and 1893. (Of course, there were no satellites then, so there may have been some storms that were missed.)
In an interview in the Miami Herald, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy said the reason for the increased storm activity is that sea temperatures have been warm and wind shear has been weak.
And the 2017 hurricane season still has seven weeks to go. Since 1878 Florida has been hit by 28 hurricanes in October which is four times more than Louisiana which is 2nd with 7 hurricanes making landfall in the month.
The good news is Ophelia is not going to become a threat to the U.S. This morning the storm's maximum sustained winds are about 50 mph and it's located about 790 miles west-southwest of the Azores which are off the coast of Portugal. Ophelia is expected to become a hurricane by tomorrow.
Like her namesake in Shakespeare's "Hamlet", Hurricane Ophelia will spin out and die. But instead of drowning in a brook, she will meet her demise way out in the Atlantic Ocean.