Hurricane Bill and tropical storm Danny in late August had all of the east coast thinking this would be a hurricane season to remember (for waves). It wasn't even September and we had two solid storms send us great waves for days at a time. Those swells had all of us giddy and thirsty for more. The only downside of those two events was that they occured in the summer when the water was still packed and the beaches still open for business. (It will be interesting to see if there is any coverage in the newspapers or beach closures when the next storm comes our way...)
Long Island's dedicated surfers had to be feeling good about the prospects of surfing these same types of swells in the Fall with half the crowd and no beaches closed. September did not pan out that way unfortuanetly and October is off to a poor start...Yesterday's wind swell felt more like summer than fall with weak waist high peaks that left us all hungry for more....It's all part of being a surfer in this part of the world I guess and while it hasn't been what we wanted there is also still plenty of time left in the season.
According to the National Hurricane Center, El Nino is to blame for the lack of storms in the Atlantic: “El Niño continues to develop and is already affecting upper-level atmospheric pressure and winds across the global tropics,” said Gerry Bell, Ph.D., lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. “El Niño produces stronger upper-level westerly winds over the Caribbean Sea and tropical Atlantic Ocean, which help to reduce hurricane activity by blowing away the tops of growing thunderstorm clouds that would normally lead to tropical storms.”
This time of year we also start seeing Noreasters come up the coast....these storms can generate huge fetches and cause beach erosion just as bad as hurricanes. We still have waves to come and we also still could get hit by a major hurricane.
Answer the poll question on homepage please!Days left in the official Hurricane season as of October 5th: 56
