9 Atlantic hurricanes expected in 2007
mongabay.com
May 31, 2007
Hurricane forecaster William M. Gray of the Colorado State University updated his hurricane predictions for the 2007 storm season, expecting 17 named storms and nine hurricanes in the Atlantic basin. The forecasts were unchanged from his last bulletin.
This image depicts a 3-day average of actual sea surface temperatures (SSTs) for the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, from August 25-27, 2005. Image Credit: NASA/SVS.
Gray said there is a 74 percent chance of at least one major (Category 3, 4, or 5) hurricane hitting the U.S. coastline (average probability for last century is 52 percent) and a 50 percent change of such a storm hitting the U.S. East Coast (versus a 31 percent risk for the past century).
Gray also noted that he's handing the reigns of hurricane forecasting over to Philip J. Klotzbach so that he can devote more time to the "global warming issue." Gray believes that the human contribution to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions is overstated.
Gray expects the 2007 hurricane season to be similar to those of 2003 (7 hurricanes, 3 of which were "major") and 1995 (19 named storms, 11 hurricanes).
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