Ernesto, a Hurricane gaining strength in the central Caribbean, is heading towards Jamaica on Saturday. Ernesto threatens to enter into the Gulf of Mexico, being the first hurricane of the 2006 season that could become a Category 3 hurricane. Ernesto might become a Category 3 hurricane by Thursday. It may be headed for New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina, another Category 3 hurricane, struck New Orleans nearly one year ago. John Cangialosi, who is a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center, said it does look like Ernesto will hit the United States somewhere. The storm's winds are expected to reach 60 miles per hour by late Saturday.
Chronology of hurricanes:
In classical work on the dynamics of Atlantic cyclones, William Gray, head of the tropical meteorology project at Colorado State University, has shown the presence of 25-30yr cycles in the activity of tropical storms.
1933
In the Atlantic, it was the most active season in the 20th century: 21 storms were observed.
1950
In the Atlantic, it is year of the most destructive storms: 8 strong hurricanes were observed.
1969
The most number of hurricanes in the Atlantic in a season - 12 hurricanes.
1995
With regard to number of storms in the Atlantic, this is the second year after 1933: 19 storms.
2004
* Ivan (August — September) — Caribbean Sea, Cuba, USA (Florida);
* Jeanne (September) — Caribbean Sea, Haiti
Jeanne:
According to the Associated Press, the death-toll as a result of downpours, floods and mudslides can touch the 2000 mark on Haiti, caused by hurricane “Jeanne”. As of September 23, about 1100 deaths and 1250 missing persons was recorded. The most numbers of deaths was in the city of Gonaives, in the northern part of the island. According to the authorities, 1013 deaths were recorded. Representatives of the Red Cross are afraid of the spreading of epidemics through water in which bodies of dead people were found floating for several days together. At places, the water level exceeds 4m and new dead bodies are found in the process of its recession. The President of Haiti named this as a humanitarian calamity and urged help from the international community. In May 2004, the island already survived one of the most terrible floods in all its history, during which about 2500 deaths were reported.
2005
Katrina (August) — on August 27, it passed over the coast of Florida not far away from Miami and turned towards the Gulf of Mexico and on August 29, it reached the southeast coast of the USA around the states of Louisiana and Mississippi.
2006
Saomai — on August 10, it reached the coasts of China in the southern part of the province Zhejiang. The wind strength in the epicenter touched 60 km/sec (250 km/hr) and according to weather forecasters, it is the strongest typhoon, forming in the territory of China for the last 50 years. |
