TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hurricane Forecaster Calls For 7

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: December 8, 2007

DENVER - Using a simplified forecasting technique, researcher William Gray is predicting an above-average hurricane season in the Atlantic next year, with seven hurricanes, three of them major.

Gray's team at Colorado State University had called for above-average storm seasons the past two Decembers and both turned out to be wrong. But Gray said he thinks next year's forecast will be better.

"We think we're finally onto a scheme that will be more accurate," he said Friday.

The new forecast calls for 13 named storms in the Atlantic. It says there is a slightly higher-than-average chance that at least one major hurricane will hit the United States.

Gray's predictions are watched closely by emergency responders and others in hurricane-prone areas. But officials routinely express concerns that residents might become apathetic if predictions prove overblown.
Government forecasters also predicted an above-average season for 2007.

Gray said his team based the 2008 extended-range forecast, issued six months before the June-to-November season, on three predictors. In the past, they have used as many as six.

The new method relies on water temperatures in the Atlantic and Pacific and the relationship between barometric pressure and altitude over the Atlantic.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issues its forecast in May.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT