For the rest of this week, I will be taking a look at the top weather stories from 2006…
Here is my list of the top world weather stories…
10. Atlantic tropical cyclone activity was below average. In the Atlantic, there were dire pre-season predictions about the expected number and intensity of storms from both Dr. William Gray and NOAA. The sudden onset of El Nino conditions in the Pacific and the poorly understood effects of Saharan dust led to a near normal year of activity in the tropical Atlantic. There were ten tropical storms, five hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes. Long term averages 10.3, 6.2, 2.7.
9. The Unnamed Storm. But wait, we only used nine letters, Alberto, Beryl, Chris, Debby, Ernesto, Florence, Gordon, Helene and Issac. How can that be? On July 17th, a low pressure center developed southeast of Nantucket. It crossed the warm Gulfstream, and should have been classed as a tropical storm according to post season analysis by the NHC. So It should have been Beryl.
8. Big Typhoons: The NW Pacific Typhoon Season was below normal, but there were some humdingers. Ioke was the strongest HURRICANE ever in the Central Pacific and the only category five hurricane in that region (920mb). When it crossed the International Date Line, it became TYPHOON Ioke and re-intensified to the equivalent of Cat Five status. The entire population of Wake Island (188 people) were evacuated in advance of the storm. Typhoon Cimarron was the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines since 1998, was cat five when it made landfall in late October. Pressure 879 mb rivaled 1970 Tip. Underwent tremendous intensification 118 mb in 48 hrs. David…do you know which Atlantic hurricane holds the record for intensification? Wilma shattered every record in Oct 2005 including 97 in 24h and 54mb in 6h.
Typhoon Xangsane preceded Cimmarron, which struck Luzon in late September killing 230.
The worst weather related disaster of the year was Typhoon Durian, which killed 1,200 people in the Philippines in November. A total of four typhoons struck the Philippines this year.
Typhoon Saomai strongest to hit China in 50 years
7. Busy Eastern Pacific: As you would expect with El Nino conditions, the Eastern Pacific hurricane season was very active with 19 storms, 11 hurricanes and 5 major hurricanes. The averages and 15, 9 and 4. Hurricane Lane was the headliner in the eastern Pacific, striking the Pacific Coast of Mexico in September with top winds of 125 mph. Four fatalities resulted.
6. Big Cyclones: The only other basin that was above normal beside the Eastern Pacific was the Australian. Cyclone Larry destroyed 90% of the banana crop in the NE region of Australia when it made landfall in March. Severe cyclone Monica hit the sparsely inhabited North Coast of Australia in April with a central pressure of 879 mb making it strongest ever in southern Hemisphere. Top winds 180 mph. Fortunately missed Darwin.
5. Global Tropical Cyclones Down: Globally, below average tropical cyclone activity: 78 named storms, 42 hurricanes/typhoons/cyclones, 25 became major.
4. Global Snow Disparity: Central Russia was 3C colder than normal in 2006. Eurasian snow cover extent was the greatest on record in January. Parts of Japan were buried under thirteen feet of snow, the most ever. It was the deadliest winter there since 1983-84. What goes around, comes around….meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, across North America, snowcover extent was the second lowest on record in January. .
3. Globally…Another Warm Year: 2006 will finish as the sixth warmest year on record globally, nearly a full degree above normal F. Records began 1880. During the past century, global temperatures have increased by 0.11F per decade. During the past 30 years, they have increased at a rate of .32F. There have been two periods of warming in the past century…one from 1910 to 1946 and the current one, which began in 1976. How long will it continue? Will nature go back the other way at some point? U.S.: third warmest year on record. Six of seven warmest US years have occurred since 2001 and the ten warmest have occurred since 1995
2. Japan’s Deadliest Tornado… on 11/7: Japanese’s deadliest tornado on record struck the town of Saroma on the northern island of Hokkaido, killing nine people. Tornadoes are relatively rare events in Japan, with about 20 occurring each year. David: do you know the Japanese word for tornado: tatsumaki.
1. Return of El Nino: By late summer, El Nino conditions had unexpectedly returned to the Pacific. The current El Ninio is expected to continue through May 2007 according to NOAA. This will mean a wet and storm winter and spring across the southern tier of the United States.
Tomorrow night…I will take a look at U.S. Weather Highlights from 2006…
– Bill Murray
