What affected hurricane development?
There was one major factor playing a role in making this hurricane season so quiet: a moderate El Nino event has been developing since early 2009. The El Nino produced cooler-than-normal water temperatures across the western Atlantic Ocean for much of the summer; preventing storms from crossing the Atlantic and taking aim at the U.S. East Coast. The El Nino was also responsible for stronger-than-normal wind shear, or varying winds throughout the atmosphere. This wind shear can rip a storm apart or keep it from forming altogether, and that is what happened in 2009. Five tropical storms dissipated in the open ocean in locations typically conducive to tropical development. Meanwhile, strong wind shear over the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico kept tropical development to a minimum. Often these parts of the Atlantic Basin are a major thoroughfare for hurricanes, with several storms crossing the Gulf of Mexico in a year. This is the path taken by 2005`s Katrina, Gustav and Ike last year, and 20
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