Welcome to the fourteenth “Storm Summary” post of the hurricane season.
Most Fridays from now until the official end of the season (November 30) I will post an update on past and present hurricanes in the Atlantic and Pacific, like the following:
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Last week, I tracked Ida’s route through the western Caribbean with its landfall in and around El Salvador. Ida, along with a more destructive weather pattern that followed, are being blamed for leaving 200 dead and more than 15,000 homeless in the country. El Salvador’s government is currently using a portion of the country’s emergency budget to build 1,500 temporary houses for the victims.
The U.S. was affected less seriously. The remnants of Hurricane Ida created flooding along the East Coast of the United States and recently drenched the Northeastern states where, among other things, the storm destroyed bulkheads along the shorelines of Long Island, NY. Eastern Massachusetts experienced up to two inches of rain and 35 mph wind gusts earlier this week as a stubborn Ida refused to dissipate quietly.
Though the Atlantic has only seen three official hurricanes, the waters of the Pacific are seeing constant activity, due, in part, to El Niño, which is “the periodic warming of central and eastern tropical Pacific waters [that] occurs on average every two to five years and typically lasts about 12 months.” Although most people think of this phenomenon in negative terms for the damage it can spur on the West Coast, it is actually beneficial to the East Coast/Gulf Coast in the sense that warmer waters in the Pacific usually create conditions that suppress Atlantic hurricanes. Why exactly this occurs is not something I’m qualified to explain but, as I recall, it has something to do with warm and cool air mixing in a different way and creating a “wind shear” that helps prevent storms from developing.
The International Research Institute for Climate and Society can probably explain it better. For hard proof of El Niño, consider the fact that the Pacific has seen 23 named storms, mostly tropical storms and hurricanes, while the Atlantic waters have seen only 11.
For constant, up-to-date storm information, visit NOAA. And for breaking information on the insured losses the storms create, check out the Insurance Information Institute and the Insurance Services Office.
Most importantly, don’t forget to check back next Friday for our fifteenth “Storm Summary” installment.