Its winds strengthened from 110 mph to 135 mph in 14 hours. Similar sudden and unexpected intensification just before landfall happened with Hurricanes Allen and Camille leaving little time to warn people and prepare for evacuations. The discovery, resulting from a joint effort between Shay and Peter Black of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Hurricane Research Division, could save lives and millions of dollars spent on unnecessary evacuations by helping to accurately predict how powerful a storm will be when it strikes land. This is the heat. It's like a big fuel-injector in the middle of the ocean.
Meteorologists know warm ocean temperatures fuel hurricanes.
Typically, sea surface temperatures of 79 degrees Fahrenheit or higher only extend down about 30 to 40 meters. A passing storm draws some energy from the warm water as it passes, but it also stirs it, mixing it with cooler water from below and lowering the temperature of the surface water. The cooler surface water then provides less energy for the storm, keeping it from intensifying. The warm area shown in green in the Gulf of Mexico on Oct. 31 this year, is warm enough to sustain a tropical cyclone, Shay said. Forecasters used to rely on sea-surface temperature data to determine the intensity of hurricanes.