How will hurricane season impact the oil spill? Katrina with oil...

More storms than average expected in Atlantic, Gulf

Here's an interesting question I hadn't given a lot of thought to before now. Hurricane season is only 2 weeks away. It lasts for 6 months.

We all know regardless of what BP is saying today after getting their small straw into a big hole that the spilling will continue for at least several more months if not longer. That will put us into the prime of hurricane season. And by the looks of things, this year is shaping up to be an "above average" season.

Storms could scuttle cleanup efforts, force containment vessels to retreat, or propel spilled crude and tar balls over vast expanses of sea and beach.

Meteorologists say that climate conditions are ripe for an unusually destructive hurricane season, the storm-prone period that runs from June 1 to the end of November in the Gulf. Oceanographers say that could hurt the clean-up.

"If a storm comes into this situation it could vastly complicate everything," said Florida State University oceanography professor Ian MacDonald.

"All efforts on the shoreline and at sea, the booms and structures and rigs involved in cleanup and containment, could stop working."

Related Story

Even if the spill is completely stopped tomorrow, which it won't be, the oil slick and ensuing cleanup will still take years. Hurricanes coming through, even tropical storms will severely hinder if not completely ruin all previous cleanup efforts. Not to mention possibly destroying any "fix" however small it might be that is already in place.

Each year as storms bear down on the Gulf, we have all held our collective breath as they entered the area of the oil rigs. And they were all supposedly in top working order with all of their safeguards in place.

Do we even want to think of a Katrina repeat with all that oil coming ashore or even raining down on the population along the Gulf Coast? Say it ain't so, Joe.....


[edit on 16-5-2010 by webpirate]

I posted a vid i found on you tube that shows huuricane gets its rain from evaporating water from the ocean,that means the hurricanes this year will al be toxic in nature and do more damage than homes a oil soaked area.some hurricanes have made it as far as tennesse

I suppose that all of us within the general area, and those elsewhere, will have to just wait and see.

I too, have been very concerned about this oil spill/leak/slick in regard to the upcoming hurricane season. A 'cane in the gulf could force it ashore. It could also force it southward, depending upon how a storm interacted with the [already warm] waters. SSTs in the area and southward are already warm enough to support a hurricane -- from Jamaica to the U.S.

On the other hand, I suppose it's possible that a hurricane might "dissipate" some of the oil. Dissipate = spread out to one surface tension of density. ugh. BP was in high regard in this household when we bought our solar panels. Right now, they are relegated to a station just above toejam. *ew!*

reply to post by alchemist2012


You bring up a good point alchemist......... I know that the last 'cane that hit here -- Hurricane Paloma (Nov 2008) -- killed almost all of our garden, and much of the surrounding flora. It wasn't so much the Cat 5 winds that killed plants and trees, although that was certainly a factor. No, mostly it was the salt rain. Rain that was sucked up by the storm from the sea. Burnt the crap out of everything, and for months after Paloma hit us, everything looked gray and dead.

I can just imagine a storm picking up oil in the same manner and raining it down upon a coast. Sorrowful. I hope it doesn't turn out that way. Areas around NOLA are STILL in recovery in a horticultural way. Gustav (2008) also beat much of Texas shores.

They need to get this thang stopped! NOW!!! RIGHT F'N NOW!!

Sorry, got a little passionate for the environment there for a moment. I'm okay now.

I thought of the dissipating as well as taking a lot of it else where too.
I think the biggest concern at the moment has to do with the potential to make it worse by defeating the efforts to limit the flow, however lame they might really be.

But, it could take it to a whole different area too. Storms often come across Southern Florida, and respawn in the warm gulf and then can basically go anywhere. The tracts can take them and the oil back to Florida, further inland in the Louisiana, Mississippi area or much further West into Texas or Mexico.

Basically, this can take a total Charlie Foxtrot and make it into an even greater fuster cluck.

On the positive side, if BP hasn't thought if it yet, if the slick becomes big enough, it might well be cooler than the surrounding waters, therefore robbing the hurricane of loads of potential energy and sparing hundreds of lives that could be lost from a direct hit of a category 5 hurricane.....

[edit on 16-5-2010 by webpirate]

I know oil isn’t very flammable unless it touches a super hot surface, but as soon as I read your post I thought about a FLAMEING HURRICANE, a huge swirling ball of fire. … .. .. . ….now that would be crazy.

Hi winds and all that water would put it right out, unless someone refined that oil into gas and added _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. Then it wouldn’t be put out till it burned out.

reply to post by Sippy Cup


Wow. Don't talk about flaming hurricanes. My wife will want a Sci-Fi disaster movie that she always watches that have to do with those....

Yea, a flaming hurricane lends new credence to the concept of a pillar of fire.