In light of Hurricane Kyle charging to Canada on Sunday and Subtropical Storm Laura now flirting with Greenland and the United Kingdom, you have to wonder what’s going on in the North Atlantic.
Is there a reason tropical activity is firing up so far to the north while the normal storm development region in the deep tropics remains quiet (at least for the moment)?
Has global warming already changed atmospheric patterns so dramatically that residents in places like New York City or Boston will have to start buying hurricane shutters?
In short, is the entire Earth turning into a sauna?
Nope, said senior hurricane specialist Richard Pasch of the National Hurricane Center.
“You see these systems forming at high latitudes every year,” he said. “It shows you the Atlantic basin can produce tropical storms or hurricanes over a large area.”
On the other hand, he said, it was somewhat unusual for Laura to form as far north as it did. He said the waters were “just warm enough” and the wind shear relaxed at just the right moment.
“It was in the right place at the right time,” he said.
At 5 a.m. today, Laura was 485 miles southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland, Canada, moving north at 13 mph with sustained winds of 60 mph.
The projected path continues to aim the system toward Ireland and Scotland. If it holds to that forecast, it could potentially surprise Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster.
