![]() ![]() El Niño events can have a wide array of effects on global climate and weather patterns, causing droughts in some places, floods in others and often a general increase in global temperatures. Scientists have recently declared the arrival of El Niño, a natural cyclical climate phenomenon that causes temperatures in parts of the Pacific Ocean to temporarily rise. Yet despite the unusual start to this year’s hurricane season, it’s still unclear how the rest of the summer will develop. This year, the weaker winds are transporting less dust, allowing the sun to warm the ocean faster. This dust blocks sunlight and tends to have a slight regional cooling effect. In a typical year, these winds also carry large volumes of dust from the Sahara in Africa out over the ocean. That, in turn, has helped weaken certain wind patterns in the North Atlantic, allowing the water to warm up faster. Ocean temperatures are steadily rising over time, and global oceans hit their warmest levels on record in 2022 for the fourth year in a row.īut several other factors have converged this year to send Atlantic temperatures skyrocketing.Ī natural high-pressure system that swirls in the atmosphere above the Atlantic, known as the Azores High, has been weaker this year than usual, according to hurricane expert Brian McNoldy at the University of Miami. The continuous influence of human-caused climate change is one factor. Temperatures in parts of the North Atlantic Ocean basin have broken records this year, and above-average heat has dragged on for weeks. ![]() Unusually warm Atlantic waters are to blame. According to Klotzbach, no June on record has ever seen two storms form so far east in the tropical Atlantic. Meanwhile, a second disturbance is also developing in the eastern tropical Atlantic, and the National Hurricane Center predicts that it’s likely to form into a tropical depression in the next few days. The National Hurricane Center predicts that Bret will weaken without developing into a hurricane. It’s the farthest east a tropical storm has formed in the Atlantic this early in the season, according to hurricane expert Philip Klotzbach at Colorado State University.Īccording to NOAA, tropical cyclones tend to form in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico earlier in the season and shift eastward as the summer goes on.īret is currently churning its way toward the Lesser Antilles, where it’s expected to strike Thursday as a strong tropical storm. Tropical Storm Bret, the season’s third named storm, formed in the Central Atlantic on Monday after first emerging from a tropical wave off Africa's western coast. Atlantic temperatures are abnormally warm, and tropical storms are emerging in waters that don’t typically produce them until at least August. CLIMATEWIRE | This year’s hurricane season is already breaking records less than a month in. ![]()
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