Hurricane Boris Regains Strength

Hurricane Boris regained hurricane strength July 2, 2008, after briefly degrading into a tropical storm. The first hurricane of the 2008 season, it reached Category 1 strength July 1 in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and is not expected to make landfall as a damaging storm.

Photo: Joint Typhoon Warning Center

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Hurricane Boris, the first hurricane of the season, regained hurricane status after losing it for a period of time, the National Hurricane Center reports. The tropical cyclone is still expected to lose strength and degrade into a tropical storm within a day or two, and before making landfall.

Hurricane Boris, which formed as a tropical storm over the weekend west of Baja California, became a Category 1 hurricane July 1, with sustained winds of nearly 75 mph. The Category 1 hurricane is headed more or less toward Hawaii, but is not expected to make landfall as a damaging storm.

Storm watchers in the United States typically watch the Atlantic basin more closely, because the more destructive storms are more likely to form there.

There, a well-defined tropical wave in the far eastern Atlantic, some 300 miles southeast of the Cape Verde Islands, is becoming better organized. But even if it forms into a tropical storm forms (it would be named Bertha, Arthur having arrived right at the start of the season June 1), it would not even become a tropical depression for a couple of days, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The forecast from the government's Climate Prediction Center says it's likely that 2008 will be an active year for hurricanes in the Atlantic basin, which includes the Caribbean. For gamblers, there's a 65% probability that we'll see an above-average storm season, a 25% chance it will be average and just 10% that it will be below average.

What does that mean? It means there's a good chance we'll see 12 to 16 named storms, including six to nine hurricanes and two to five major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale). Average is 11 named storms including six hurricanes, two of them major storms.

The hurricane season officially begins June 1, though storms typically reach a peak in late summer.

Joint Typhoon Warning Center

2008 Tropical Storms and Hurricanes - Pacific

Alma brought heavy rains and winds to the Central American nations of Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala after forming May 29.

Boris formed near Baja California and headed west into the Pacific, before reaching hurricane strength July 1.

Cristina formed near Hawaii June 29 but dissipated before making landfall.

Douglas
Elida
Fausto
Genevieve
Hernan
Iselle
Julio
Karina
Lowell
Marie
Norbert
Odile
Polo
Rachel
Simon
Trudy
Vance
Winnie
Xavier
Yolanda
Zeke

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