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FROM VOLUME 12, NUMBER 3, MARCH 1999

NEWS...
Hurricanes

Item #d99mar42

On Jan. 12, 1999, Nando Media’s NandoTimes (http://www.nandotimes.com) reported that climate scientists Mark Saunders and Chris Merchant of the University College London developed a system to predict the number of hurricanes that will hit the U.S. mainland. For 1999, they predict more hurricanes will make landfall than the norm but not as many as in 1998 because of the mild La Niña conditions and the average sea-surface temperatures of the mid-Atlantic. Also, they expect the number of hurricanes hitting the East Coast will be higher than that hitting the Gulf Coast. Their forecasts are based on observed sea-surface temperatures, high-level winds, and rainfall amounts in West Africa. The work is part of an initiative of a consortium of British insurance companies. Saunders and Merchant are also working on predictions for typhoons in Japan and Korea and also cyclones hitting Queensland, Australia.