Hurricanes can pile on to the oil spill problems

Leading hurricane forecasters are currently predicting above-average activity for the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, with above-average probability of United States and Caribbean major hurricane landfall this year. Forecasters at Colorado State University’s Tropical Meteorology Project anticipate a total of 15 named tropical storms, including eight hurricanes – four of which will be classified as “major,” with winds in excess of 110 miles per hour.

No one knows how much oil is below the surface. Once a hurricane stirs up that oil and the waves begin to roll:

• It’s hard to predict how oil slick would affect a hurricane
• The storm surge could force oil from shore miles inland
• Oil could slow the storm’s growth, or make it stronger