If Lightning Strikes Twice It Could Lead To...The Next Katrina
by Karin Kloosterman, Jerusalem, Israel on 05.21.07
Recent and compelling evidence for the birthplace of American hurricanes has been reported in Nature News. Professor Colin Price, a lecturer on global warming and an expert on atmospheric science who we reported on here, has just published evidence that may make tracking and predicting devastating hurricanes much easier for meteorologists. Price studied lightning storms originating in the Ethiopian highlands and determined that in the years of 2005 and 2006, the severity of North American hurricanes could be correlated to the severity of the storms in Africa. Based on what Price has found, hurricanes can be predicted as much as 3 weeks in advance and their severity can be determined much more accurately. Factoring global warming into the mix, we can only imagine that things may look worse as time wears on. Price tells TreeHugger: “Other researchers claim that global warming will result in more intense hurricanes, but not necessarily a greater number of hurricanes.” ::TAU News
Now all we have to do is find out what causes Ethiopian lightning...
Ways of predicting storms in the future are bound to improve. There is certainly no doubt that the increased energy stored in clouds due to greater volumes of evaporated water produced by higher global warming temperatures wil have to be released in the form of storms at one time or another and the ability to predict these storms is important. In fact, we are already seeing the extension of the hurricane season which means that conditions for hurricanes to spawn are reaching into other seasons of the year.
We do not yet know if there will be more hurricanes or if the ones we have will be stronger than before. It is really irrelevant. If there are more hurricanes, then the chances of damage to greater areas of the US is increased. If the number remains the same but the intensity increases, then the areas struck by these storms will suffer proportionately greater damage.
I believe we may see some of each type, that is more hurricanes and more intense hurricanes than in previous years. How else is the increased energy to be released? I think that we will have to place more reliance on preparation and less on prediction since we already know what is coming.
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