- Brazil lifts ban on Musk's X, ending standoff over disinformation
- Harris holds slight edge nationally over Trump: poll
- Chelsea edge Real Madrid in Women's Champions League, Lyon win
- Japan PM to dissolve parliament for 'honeymoon' snap election
- 'Diego Lives': Immersive Maradona exhibit hits Barcelona
- Brazil Supreme Court lifts ban on Musk's X
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Six-year-old girl among missing after Brazil landslide
- Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
- Mexico president rules out new 'war on drugs'
- Israeli defense minister postpones trip to Washington: Pentagon
- Europe skipper Donald in talks with Garcia over Ryder return
- Kenya MPs vote to impeach deputy president in historic move
- Former US coach Berhalter named Chicago Fire head coach
- New York Jets fire head coach Saleh: team
- Australia crush New Zealand in Women's T20 World Cup
- US states accuse TikTok of harming young users
- 'Evacuate now, now, now': Florida braces for next hurricane
- US Supreme Court skeptical of challenge to 'ghost guns' regulation
- Sparks fly as Orban berates EU 'elites' in parliament trip
- US finalizes rule to remove lead pipes within a decade
- Solanke hungry for second England cap after seven-year wait
- Gilded canopy restored at Vatican basilica
- Zverev scrapes through, Djokovic cruises to Shanghai Masters last 16
- Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Putin: Bob Woodward book
- Gauff answers critics: 'It's hard to win all the time'
- Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained
- China says raised 'serious concerns' with US over trade curbs
- Boeing delivers 27 MAX jets in September despite strike
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of other sex crimes
- Italy seek Nations League consistency as Germany continue rebuild
- From boom to budgeting as reality bites for Saudi football
- Stock markets diverge as Hong Kong sinks, oil prices fall
- US trade gap narrowest in five months as imports slip
- Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
- England 96-1 after Salman's century lifts Pakistan to 556
- Hollywood star Idris Elba champions African cinema in Ghana
- Djokovic rolls Cobolli to make Shanghai Masters last 16
- Milan's Hernandez receives two-game suspension after referee rant
- Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
- Ex-Barcelona and Spain great Iniesta retires aged 40
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for 'foundational' AI breakthroughs
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China slaps provisional tariffs on EU brandy imports
- Ex-skipper Skelton eyes Wallabies November return
- Spanish great Iniesta leaves indelible legacy after retirement
- Indian Kashmir elects first regional government in a decade
- Hong Kong stocks crash, oil prices retreat on fading China boost
- Man City accuse Premier League of 'misleading' claims after legal case
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for key breakthroughs in AI
Atlantic faces 'extraordinary' hurricane season: US agency
The North Atlantic hurricane season, which starts on June 1, is forecast to be "extraordinary," with up to seven storms of Category 3 or higher expected, the US NOAA weather agency said Thursday.
Category 3 hurricanes pack wind speeds over 111 miles (178 kilometers) an hour and wreak devastating damage on houses, uproot trees and often cut off electricity and water for days or even weeks.
"This season is looking to be an extraordinary one in a number of ways," said Rick Spinrad of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which cited warm Atlantic ocean temperatures and conditions related to the La Nina weather phenomenon in the Pacific for the expected increase in storms.
It said human-caused climate change was warming oceans and melting ice on land, leading to sea level rises that worsen storm surges.
"The forecast for named storms -- hurricanes and major hurricanes -- is the highest NOAA has ever issued for the May outlook," Spinrad said. "It only takes one storm to devastate a community."
According to the agency, between 17 and 25 named storms in total could develop with winds over 39 miles per hour, including eight to 13 forecast to reach hurricane strength.
"It's reason to be concerned of course, but not alarmed," said National Weather Service director Ken Graham, as he urged Americans to prepare for the potential arrival of a storm.
The Saffir-Simpson wind scale designates Category 1 hurricanes as having wind speeds at least 74 miles per hour, up to Category 5 storms with winds of 157 mph or higher.
The North Atlantic hurricane season runs from early June to late November.
Oceanic heat in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea creates more energy to fuel stronger storms, which can be devastating in both human and material terms, particularly in the US South.
Hurricane Ian, which struck Florida in September 2022, caused 152 deaths and losses worth $112.9 billion.
Scientists are warning of exceptional heat build-up in the Atlantic in recent months, a condition that is also harmful to coral.
La Nina in the Pacific generally fuels a more intense hurricane season in the Atlantic, and the chance of La Nina forming between August and October is about 77 percent, Spinrad said.
The opposing weather phenomenon El Nino was present last year, and tended to moderate hurricane activity in the North Atlantic.
Astrid Caldas, a senior climate scientist at the Union for Concerned Scientists, said coastal communities must be on guard.
"The fun-filled summer season has increasingly become a time of dread for the dangers that await," she said. "Reining in heat-trapping emissions driving the climate crisis is... essential."
D.Cunningha--AMWN