Strong Hurricanes Weaken Before Hitting Gulf Coast According to
new research, cool waters just below the surface of the Gulf of
Mexico cause the strongest hurricanes to lose intensity before
they hit that part of the U.S. coast, reports USA Today. The new
research could help scientists better predict the storms during
this year’s hurricane season. According to the study, published
in the Journal of Weather and Forecasting, most of the strongest
hurricanes have decreased in intensity just before hitting the
Gulf Coast, where two-thirds of all hurricanes hit in the U.S.
As disastrous as it was, "even Hurricane Katrina wasn’t as bad
as it could have been," study co-author Mark DeMaria of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a
statement.Â He said that of the 12 most powerful hurricanes in
the Gulf between 1979 and 2008, 10 weakened during the 12 hours
before making landfall. "It’s something special about the Gulf
of Mexico," DeMaria said in a statement. "In the center of the
Gulf, de