Highly Active Atlantic Hurricane Season Predicted for 2011

Data collected by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) indicates that this year's Atlantic hurricane season may exhibit an above-average level of activity. This means that authorities in disaster-prone areas should prepare for what's in store for them.

Current forecasts developed by researchers indicate that anywhere between 6 and 10 hurricanes could form this season, alongside 12 to 18 named storms. Additional storm will be too weak to get names.

These data were collected after experts took into account a number of factors that usually influence the number of storms that develop in the Atlantic. These include the average temperature of the water, in regions of the ocean that are known to spawn a large number of weather events.

NOAA investigators explain that these particular areas of the Atlantic exhibit temperature levels that are at least 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) higher than in the waters around them.

Factors such as the ocean-atmosphere phenomenon called La Niña are also extremely important for the development of massive storms. It affects the equatorial waters of the Pacific Ocean, and previous studies have demonstrated that it leads directly to an increase in hurricane activity.

Even if La Niña is subsiding at this point, its effects will still linger long enough to affect the outcome of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season. These effects will make their presence felt both in the continental United States, and in the Caribbean.

The reason why this phenomenon influences tropical cyclone formation is because it reduced wind shear in the tropical regions of the Atlantic, where most of these storms and hurricanes originate.

La Niña is known to cause dry spells in the Midwestern US, unlike the El Nino event, which has the opposite effect. At the same time, the phenomenon can cause massive rains on the western coast of the Pacific Ocean.

This leads to beneficial effects for the monsoon rains that fall over India. In the years when El Nino rules the Pacific, this does not happen, Our Amazing Planet reports.