http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/~maue/tropical/ Note!!! To Drudge Report visitors-- it is "Northern Hemisphere" Tropical Cyclone Activity Lowest in 30 years. This includes the Pacific ocean as well, which has seen dramatically below average activity. When combined, historically LOW levels of "hemispheric" activity are being experienced. The North Atlantic has seen an "above-average" season with another tropical storm (Paloma) forming this week near Central America. Where have the Northern Hemisphere Tropical Cyclones gone the last 2 years? Upon examination of all tropical cyclone activity in the basins throughout the Northern Hemisphere for the past 2 years, a remarkable downward trend in cyclone energy has continued and reached historic levels of inactivity. Even though North Atlantic hurricane activity was expectedly above normal, the Western and Eastern Pacific basins have produced considerably fewer than normal typhoons and hurricanes, respectively in 2008. The image below shows the previous three decades of cyclone energy (as measured by the ACE, a popular metric of climatologists used to measure hurricane energy) for all global ocean basins (green) and for the Northern Hemisphere (blue). Using a 24-month running sum, we see that Northern Hemisphere ACE remains at historical lows. Moreover, there has only been 1 Category 5 typhoon (Jangmi) during the past year. This cyclone activity is consistent with continued colder conditions in the Pacific Ocean and the previous strong La Nina last spring. http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/~maue/tropical/maue_2007.php And now the most riveting two minutes of television, the latest from the Political Grapevine. While NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other scientists predicted above average hurricane activity this year, the northern hemisphere is actually experiencing near historic inactivity so far in 2007. Florida State University Meteorology graduate student Ryan Maue says during the last 30 years, only in 1977, 1981, and 1983 have had less activity based on what's called the "Accumulated Cyclone Energy Index," which factors in storm intensity, frequency, and duration. It is the same index, by the way, used by NOAA. Maue points out the year is not over yet, and things could change. Some global warming alarmists, you remember, issued predictions of an era of stronger and more frequent hurricanes following the devastating storms of 2005. But Maue says the ocean's north of the equator are in fact calmer than they have been since 1977.
