Will El Niño return in 2010? Too early to say
El Niño, take a bow. The atmospheric condition, famous for shedding storms, made this a surprisingly mild 2009 Atlantic hurricane season. As of Monday, it’s officially over. Assuming no storms form in December, the season will end with nine named storms, including three hurricanes, two major. That made it the s

QuikSCAT satellite dies
The QuikSCAT satellite has finally died. RIP. NASA reported its main antenna ceased working on Monday. It was due to go, anyway. It was launched in 1999 with a two-year life expectancy. Although it was used to monitor weather worldwide, QuikSCAT was perhaps best known for helping the National Hurricane Center track distant tropical systems. It also earned notoriety in

Forecast: Wet turkey day, 'glorious' holiday weekend
It might be a rainy Thanksgiving, at least during the day. After that, however, the long holiday weekend should be “glorious,” with much cooler temperatures and plenty of sunshine, said meteorologist Rusty Pfost of the National Weather Service in Miami.

Think Oasis of the Seas telegraphs messages in ALL CAPS?
By next hurricane season, public advisories posted on the National Hurricane Center’s web site might be written in normal lettering. AS OPPOSED TO LIKE THIS. That’s because the World Meteorological Organization, based in Zurich, Switzerland, might relax the all-caps requirement. “So perhaps there is

It might be a cool Thanksgiving
The next round of cool, dry air might arrive in time for turkey day. However, it shouldn’t be “terribly cold,” said meteorologist Robert Molleda of the National Weather Service in Miami. Lows on that Thursday evening might dip into the 50s and highs on Friday might reach the mid to upper 70s, he said. If that prediction holds, it should be pretty nice. Most people pr