Hurricane Season Officially End

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Sunday, 29 November 2009 05:54

By caribarena

CMC- The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season comes to an official close on Monday with weather officials indicating that there were three hurricanes, two of which were considered major, during the six month-season.

“Activity in 2009 was reduced considerably due largely to the moderate El Nino event that developed,” said William Gray, Colorado State University hurricane forecaster, who has been issuing forecasts for 26 years.

“This event generated significantly stronger-than-average vertical wind shear, especially in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico,” he added.

Forecasters said five named storms dissipated over the open ocean this year, a fairly rare occurrence, caused by unusually high levels of vertical wind shear caused by El Nino.

El Niño is created by a warming of the equatorial eastern Pacific Ocean. It generates wind shear – a change in wind speed or direction – and instability in the atmosphere, which acts to disrupt storms before they can build and strengthen.

The Miami-based US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said it's possible that the wind shear could relax over the coming weeks, with the waters in the Caribbean still warm enough to support storm formation.

NHC spokesman Dennis Feltgen said the hurricane season looked like it was over two weeks ago, but, then, Ida formed in the western Caribbean.

He said it wouldn't be unusual for a storm to develop in the Caribbean in December.

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