Forecaster

This winter could end up being one of the coldest the United States has experienced since the 1980s, according to AccuWeather.com chief long-range forecaster Joe Bastardi, who said temperatures are expected to continue to average below normal from the northern and central Plains into the East through at least the middle of next month.

The 2008 hurricane season “was one of the most destructive years on record from a damage perspective,” according to forecaster Phil Klotzbach of the Colorado State University (CSU) hurricane team.

The 2008 hurricane season “was one of the most destructive years on record from a damage perspective,” according to forecaster Phil Klotzbach of the Colorado State University (CSU) hurricane team.

Much of the eastern United States is poised to experience one of the coldest winters in several years, according to AccuWeather.com Chief Long-Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi.

Much of the eastern United States is poised to experience one of the coldest winters in several years, according to AccuWeather.com Chief Long-Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi.

An extended winter weather forecast, released Tuesday by Chief Long-Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi and his AccuWeather.com team, calls for a cooler than normal beginning and end to this winter, wrapped around three months of higher temperatures that could make it a warmer season than last year and one of the 10 warmest winters ever for the southeastern United States.

Just days after the 2006 hurricane season officially — and quietly — ended (see NGI, Dec. 4), a respected London-based forecaster issued a much stormier outlook for 2007, predicting that 16 tropical storms are likely to occur in the Atlantic basin next season, including nine hurricanes and four so-called “intense,” or Category 3-5 storms.

Just days after the 2006 hurricane season officially — and quietly — ended (see Daily GPI, Dec. 1), a respected London-based forecaster on Thursday issued a much stormier outlook for 2007, predicting that 16 tropical storms are likely to occur in the Atlantic basin next season, including nine hurricanes and four so-called “intense,” or Category 3-5 storms.

Twenty or 30 years from now, Hurricane Katrina may be remembered as a “warning shot” for hurricane activity to come, Joe Bastardi, AccuWeather senior forecaster, told a Houston audience Tuesday.