"With cooler sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean and a 70 percent chance El Niño will form, federal forecasters now expect a below normal hurricane season."
"The nation's hurricane forecasters have some good news about this year's projected Atlantic storm season—though they say coastal residents shouldn't drop their guard just yet.
On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration downgraded its forecast for the Atlantic hurricane season. Instead of the near- or above-normal season that NOAA projected back in May, they now expect a below-normal year thanks to cool ocean temperatures in parts of the Atlantic and the expected formation of El Niño.
"What's fascinating is if you look at March of last year and you look at March of this year, the Atlantic in both years looked super similar," said Phil Klotzbach, an atmospheric scientist at Colorado State University who studies hurricanes. But whereas the spring of 2017 created the conditions for a vicious—and deadly and costly—storm season, the opposite has happened this year."
Sabrina Shankman reports for InsideClimate News August 9, 2018.
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