Phil Klotzbach is a Research Scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University.
UPDATE: The Washington Post has covered this story – beginning as follows:
The 2015 Northern Hemisphere tropical cyclone (TC) in 2015 stands as the most active season for intense tropical cyclones on record, by a large margin.
The extraordinarily busy year is most directly linked to the strong El Niño event in the tropical Pacific Ocean, which has infused unusually warm water in many parts of that basin, fueling intense storm after intense storm.
A senior oceanographer tells me:
“..attributing the record number of strong storms to el nino is bit like talking about a record-shattering heat wave and saying it is most directly linked to summer.
ENSO is a repetitive cycle, though not as regular as the seasons, and as such cannot explain why something is record-shattering.
Just as summer is obviously directly linked to the fact that it is hot, but can’t explain why it is record-shattering hot.”
As Erich Maria Remarque might have once put it “All Quiet On The Western (Atlantic) Front”.
If I didn’t know better…….or if I watched too much FOX News and didn’t know fact from fiction…..I would say there is a definite trend UP in the number of cat 3+ cyclones.
I don’t watch much FOX News….so I know that an up trend goes from “the lower left….to the upper right.”
FOX News: “Where truth and journalism are dead.”