A weather forecaster is warning Southeast and Gulf Coast residents to be alert next month for quick-forming tropical storms that could materialize with little warning as summer temperatures rise.
Joe Bastardi, AccuWeather.com's chief meteorologist and long-range forecaster, said recently that after mid-August the tropics will begin to heat up, creating storms that arise with little warning.
Residents along the Southeast coast and the eastern Gulf of Mexico could be subject to only a few days notice to prepare for those storms, he said.
"It is this lack of time to prepare that will be the big danger of this year's tropical season," said Mr. Bastardi in a report. "People from the coastal Carolinas to Florida, Alabama and Louisiana should be ready well in advance to take immediate action if rapid-developing tropical storms threaten."
Noting the unusually cool temperatures in the Northeast and Great Lakes region, he said there will be a five- to 10-day period at the end of July and early August where there will be more typical summer weather.
He noted that part of the cause of this unusually cool weather can be blamed on an El Ni?o weather pattern.
A week before Mr. Bastardi's warning, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a statement announcing the arrival of an El Ni?o climate phenomenon.
NOAA said the system has significant influence on global weather, ocean conditions and marine fisheries. The warming of central and eastern tropical Pacific waters is expected to last through the winter of 2009-2010, the government service said.
While not predicting what effect this weather pattern would have, NOAA said that generally, the El Ni?o can help suppress Atlantic hurricanes and bring beneficial winter precipitation to the Southwest, less wintry weather across the North and reduced risk of wildfires in Florida.
Mr. Bastardi, however, suggested that the recent unusually cool summer weather pattern in the Northeast will mean a cold winter for that territory.
The pattern can increase winter storms in California and increase storminess across the United States, NOAA noted.
So far this year, no named storms have developed in the Atlantic; however, the Pacific is witnessing a third named storm dubbed Carlos, which reached hurricane status before dropping down to a tropical depression in the Pacific.
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