August 26, 2005

South Atlantic Hurricane

Hurricane Catarina struck the south coast of Brazil on 28 March, 2004. For a time it was thought only to have been a very intense tropical cyclone, but a paper published recently in Geophysical Research Letters shows clearly that it was a hurricane, and significantly, the first known hurricane in the South Atlantic. Catarina developed because of a combination of high sea surface temperature, low vertical wind shear and blocking of the normal east-west atmospheric flow. These in turn are features of large-scale circulation of the regional atmosphere, and could be related to climate change, leading to more hurricaines in the South Atlantic in the future.

3 Comments:

At August 26, 2005 12:07 PM , Blogger Matt_J said...

(Note: Not the same as Hurricane Katrina, currently battering Florida!)

 
At August 27, 2005 6:56 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

scary. I just watched The Day After Tomorrow last night. While the movie was silly (out-running ice was central to the plot), there was a good n' eerie series of weather anomalies

 
At August 28, 2005 1:08 PM , Blogger Matt_J said...

From the New York Times, Sunday August 28, 2005:

Katrina is the 11th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. That's seven more than typically have formed by now in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, the hurricane center said. The season ends Nov. 30.

 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home



Web Counter
Web Site Counter

Powered by Blogger

Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]