Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Calm hurricane season nears close
11-29-2006

TAMPA, USA (UPI): The 2006 hurricane season - set to expire Thursday - has been labeled the most tranquil in a decade.

The calm season has been attributed to a combination of conditions, including an increase in storm-choking Saharan dust over the Atlantic, high pressure systems pushing storms away from the United States and a growing El Nino system over the Pacific shifting winds high in the atmosphere southward, effectively decapitating many storms, The Tampa Tribune reported Monday.

The season marked the first year since 2002 that no storms formed during the month of October and the first year since 1997 that no Category 4 or 5 storms formed.

However, weather experts have warned that the calming may not last into next season. The Atlantic has been on a 20- to 30-year cycle of high hurricane activity since 1995, and water temperatures in the ocean are above normal.