As the Gulf Coast gears up for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, beginning June 1, forecasters are keeping an eye on the Loop Current in the southern Gulf of Mexico. The current is formed as warm water flows up from the Caribbean Sea into the Northern Atlantic around the Greater Antilles. In some cases, the current forms a channel deep into the GoM that can break off into a circulating area of warm water as the original current restructures - similar to how bubbles are blown. Except instead of air, a spinning bubble (eddy) is filled with warm water that can make hurricanes more dangerous, according to Nick Shay, professor of oceanography at the University of Miami. Shay said forecasters are worried that present conditions in the GoM could lead to an eddy early in the season, similar to 2005 (Hurricane Katrina). As tropical depressions or storms move into the GoM, chances of a hurricane rise as it move over warm waters. "I have been monitoring ocean heat content for more than 30 years as a marine scientist," Shay wrote in The Conversation. "The conditions I'm seeing in the Gulf in May are cause for concern ... The Loop Current has the potential to supercharge some of those storms." Shay pointed to a Colorado State University forecast that predicts an above-average (19-storm) season. AccuWeather predicts even more. (Source: Chron 05/18/22) How the Gulf of Mexico's Loop Current may make storms more intense this hurricane season (msn.com)
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