Nature Contrives to Steer Storms For Repeated Direct Hits on USA - 2008 Storms Breaking Records

MSNBC: Six consecutive storms hit U.S. this season — and that could be a record.

At this point, just after the statistical peak of the six-month season, there is no comparison to 2005, the all-time record-breaker with 28 storms, when forecasters ran out of storm names and had to resort to the Greek alphabet. That year spawned Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans.

On Sept. 18, 2005, Rita formed. It was the 17th storm of the season and eventually became a 180 mph monster, one of the strongest hurricanes in history.

2008 could be record of sorts
But not even in 2005 did six storms in a row hit the United States.

In fact, the U.S. National Hurricane Center says that so far it has not found another year since records began in 1851 in which the United States was hit by six tropical cyclones in a row, but it was still digging through databases.

The tendency to target U.S. shores is partly due to the atmospheric conditions that steer hurricanes. In some years, many of the storms that charge across the ocean eventually curve harmlessly northward without reaching the United States.

"We've had an extensive area of high pressure in the middle and upper atmosphere that has helped to steer the hurricanes west at lower latitudes," Bell said. "They have not recurved into the Atlantic."

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com MIAMI - The 10 tropical storms and hurricanes that ripped through the Atlantic and Caribbean during this busy hurricane season savaged Haiti, Cuba and the U.S. Gulf coast, and conditions are now ripe for more. "Conditions are still favorable for hurricanes. People really need to stay on their toes," said Gerry Bell, the lead hurricane season forecaster for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Wind shear, which is the difference in wind speeds at different levels of the atmosphere and which can disrupt nascent hurricanes, is relatively low. Six consecutive Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes hit the United States from late July to mid-September, causing billions of dollars in damage. Four in a row swamped Haiti, killing hundreds of people.