Hurricane season 2010 starts in gulf as oil spill top kill fails

Hurricane season 2010 has begun in the Gulf of Mexico, where a storm surge of oil and toxic dispersants could render parts of the coast uninhabitable. cehweidel.com photo.

Day one of the 2010 Hurricane season was officially Tuesday, day 42 of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010. As the BP oil spill live feed continues to show crude gushing from the depths, the 2010 hurricane season forecast predicts one of the strongest hurricane seasons on record. The oil spill top kill, BP’s best hope so far of capping the leak, failed over Memorial Day weekend. The next option BP will try for stemming the flow of oil, which involves placing a cap with a hose over it, may slow it down but not stop completely stop the leak. Another option, relief wells, are not expected to be effective until August. A spill of up to 100 million gallons of oil and counting is fouling the gulf, where meteorologists say hurricane season 2010 begins in June.

2010 hurricane season forecast

Hurricane season 2010 officially begins June 1 and lasts through November 30. Historically, unlike quick loans same day, big-name hurricanes form thousands of miles away in the Atlantic Ocean, are tracked for days by meteorologists and relentlessly hyped by the media before making landfall in the U.S. But AOL reports that the first storms of the 2010 hurricane season forecast could form along the Southeast coast or in the northeastern Caribbean, but they’re most likely to happen in the Gulf of Mexico.  Early season sea temperatures in the Atlantic aren’t likely to brew up a storm there. Early season storms form closer to land and instead of tracking a storm for a week or more, there may be a warning of just a few  hours or days.

Oil spill top kill fails, leak unabated

The first storm of Hurricane season 2010 could strike quickly and will likely disrupt the response to the BP oil leak . A hurricane could not only push more oil ashore but also cause weeks of delays in efforts to contain the spill. The New York Times reports that after the oil spill top kill failure, BP will try to shear off the collapsed pipe leading from the wellhead, place a cap over the opening and funnel leaking oil through a hose to the surface. After cutting the pipe, the BP oil spill live feed will show a greater flow for several days until the cap is in place. What’s more, when a hurricane heads for the gulf, crews will disconnect the hose and run for cover, leaving the BP oil leak to gush unabated.

Toxic storm surge predicted

Hurricane season 2010 creates the danger of a storm surge laden with oil and toxic oil dispersant that could make parts of the coastline in the Gulf of Mexico uninhabitable. Gerson Lehman Group reports that a comparison of past hurricanes can be used to estimate where the oil spill could be driven in the next few months. A hurricane like Gustav in 2008, which tracked into the west-central gulf, would drive a toxic storm surge west to the Texas coast with its counter-clockwise spin. A hurricane with a track like Ida in 2009, which tracked into the east-central gulf, would move the toxic storm surge into Florida’s west coast. Hurricane-force winds could blow an aerosol of oil and toxic dispersants far inland.

Hurricane season 2010 details

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association hurricane season 2010 forecast predicts as many as 23 named storms, with three to seven major hurricanes. Named storms come with top winds of 39 mph or higher. As many as 14 could turn into hurricanes, with winds in excess of 74 mph. Three to seven could be Category 3, 4 or 5 hurricanes with winds of at least 111 mph. The strongest tropical system recorded in June was Hurricane Audrey, which made landfall in southern Louisiana on June 27, 1957, as a Category 4 storm, with a sustained wind of 145 mph.