Hurricane season was second most active The eastern Pacific recorded 13 hurricanes; the 30-year average is eight

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Hurricane season was second most active

The eastern Pacific recorded 13 hurricanes; the 30-year average is eight

Mexico News Daily | Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Forecasters accurately predicted an active hurricane season in the eastern Pacific this year, and came close too in predicting just how many storms and hurricanes there would be.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center reports there were 18 tropical storms during the season, which began officially on May 15 and ended yesterday, of which 13 became hurricanes, making it the second most active hurricane season on record.

The 30-year average for the eastern Pacific is 15 storms with eight going on to become hurricanes.

In April, the National Water Commission, Conagua, was not far off when it forecast 19 tropical storms and 11 hurricanes in the eastern Pacific, a prediction based on the presence of El Niño and higher ocean temperatures, a factor that also influences storms in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.

There, activity was slightly below average with 11 tropical storms of which four were hurricanes, a little higher than Conagua’s forecast of seven storms and three hurricanes. The average is 12 storms, with six or seven becoming hurricanes, during its season, which runs from June 1 till November 30.

The hurricanes were short-lived, reported storm experts Phil Klotzbach and William Gray of Colorado State University.

But hurricanes are not the only storms that can have severe impacts, as was demonstrated by tropical storm Erika, which struck Dominica August 27 and left at least 20 people dead. Torrential rains damaged hundreds of homes, washed out roads and flooded the airport.

Erika’s sustained winds didn’t exceed 72 km/h yet it left an estimated US $500 billion in damages, setting back Dominica’s development progress by 20 years, said its prime minister.

The region’s most powerful storm was Joaquín, which reached category 5 before striking the Bahamas and causing the deaths of 23 crew members aboard the freighter El Faro.

In the Pacific, another category 5 hurricane became the strongest on record. The sustained winds of Patricia reached 325 km/h on October 23 and while early reports said there were several deaths caused by the storm, the official word now is that there were none.

That has been attributed to the sparse population in the area of Jalisco where it made landfall and preparations that had been made in advance.

Of the eastern Pacific’s 13 hurricanes nine were designated major by the National Hurricane Center, which also said that was a record number for a single season.

Another record was broken when Hurricane Sandra became a category 4 storm well off the Pacific coast on November 26, the latest category 4 in either the Pacific or Atlantic basins.

Source: Milenio (sp), The Weather Channel (en)