The Atlantic Ocean is extremely warm right now—fuel for gnarlier hurricanes. But will a burgeoning El Niño butt in and stop the storms before they start?
Like a massive, watery battery, the Atlantic Ocean powers hurricanes. As the ocean warms throughout the summer, it sends moisture into the atmosphere—heat energy that combines with wind to spin up storms.
And the surface of the North Atlantic has never been hotter at this time of year—the early stages of hurricane season—at least since routine satellite measurements began in the early 1980s. This year’s temperatures are the thick black line on the graph below, soaring way above previous years. (SST stands for sea surface temperatures.)
On Tuesday, the North Atlantic had a recorded surface temperature of 23.4 degrees Celsius (74.12 degrees Fahrenheit), beating the previous record by half a degree. Fractions of a degree may not sound like much, but it takes a whole lot of energy to even slightly heat up such a huge body of water.
Read more at Wired
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