We are out of storm names for 2005 - there's a Tropical Storm Wilma down in the Gulf. Huh. Hurricane season should last another two weeks... what happens if there's another storm?
Well, it looks like hurricane activity in the North Atlantic goes through roughly a 70-year cycle. The basin is calm for roughly 40 years and active for about 30 years, with almost no transition time between the two phases. This time around, activity jumped dramatically between 1994 and 1995 and has stayed high since then.
Looking back to the last period of high activity, the mid-1930s were the pinnacle... and though storm-tracking technology isn't as good today as it was then (i.e. we may have missed some hurricanes that stayed way out at sea), no season in the 30s would have used "Alpha" under the current system. Indeed in 150 years of hurricane tracking, no season would ever have gotten even to "W".
I was being a bit facetious when I said 1000 years, but I can't see us cycling through my scheme in less than 100 years, frankly...
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Date: 2005-10-17 06:20 pm (UTC)Looking back to the last period of high activity, the mid-1930s were the pinnacle... and though storm-tracking technology isn't as good today as it was then (i.e. we may have missed some hurricanes that stayed way out at sea), no season in the 30s would have used "Alpha" under the current system. Indeed in 150 years of hurricane tracking, no season would ever have gotten even to "W".
I was being a bit facetious when I said 1000 years, but I can't see us cycling through my scheme in less than 100 years, frankly...