TROPICAL WEATHER El Ni & ntilde;o won't likely stop hurricane season
Hurricane Jeanne might threaten the Carolinas.
SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- El Ni & ntilde;o, that great hurricane slayer, is starting to resurface, scientists say -- just as the tropics are boiling with three systems.
However, don't expect El Ni & ntilde;o to bring this already chaotic hurricane season to an early end or make it less intense, said meteorologist Jim Lushine of the National Weather Service in Miami.
"There's not an instant reaction to El Ni & ntilde;o on the hurricane season," he said Tuesday.
In 2005
On the other hand, El Ni & ntilde;o, an atmospheric phenomenon that suppresses tropical storm formation, should be fully in place for the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, he said.
"Next season could be quieter," Lushine said, "We could use some quiet. We have to stop this stuff here."
This season already has seen seven hurricanes and five tropical storms, making it one of the most intense years on record, and 10 weeks remain until the season is officially over.
On Tuesday evening, two hurricanes and a tropical storm swirled in the Atlantic.
Lisa
Tropical Storm Lisa has strengthened to 70 mph, just shy of hurricane status. Late on Tuesday, the system was about 1,150 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands, or about 2,500 miles from Miami, plodding northwest at 8 mph.
During the next five days, Lisa, a compact storm, was projected to take a northwest track generally toward the U.S. coast and become a minimal hurricane. The system also could curve out to sea if it is pulled north by a low-pressure trough.
"Even by Sunday, it's still going to be pretty far east of the Leeward Islands," said Krissy Williams, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami-Dade County.
Meanwhile, another tempest, Hurricane Jeanne, was in the process of making a clockwise loop and eventually could aim toward the Carolinas. By Sunday it was expected to be about 200 miles southeast of the North Carolina's Outer Banks, though it, too, could swerve out to sea.
The system emerged a week ago, briefly growing into a hurricane for the first time last Wednesday, then deflating back to a tropical storm.
"Jeanne is just going to meander around between the Bahamas and Bermuda for the next five days," Williams said. "It may end up on more of a northwest direction at end of five days."
Some scientists think El Ni & ntilde;o has already returned to full strength and could stifle the rest of this hurricane season, which otherwise was anticipated to be busy.
Predictions for named storms
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted as many as 15 named storms, including eight hurricanes, and noted prognosticator William Gray called for 16 named storms, including eight hurricanes.
Both NOAA and Gray say the Atlantic basin has entered a new era of hurricane intensity that could last another three to four decades, based on warmer ocean surface temperatures in the tropical region where hurricanes normally form.