La Niña, El Niño, and Atlantic Hurricane Damages in the United States

Roger A. Pielke, Jr. and Christopher W. Landsea

6 April 1999

Submitted to Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society


Figures

Figure 1a. Location of the Niño 3.4 sea surface temperature region (5 N-5 S, 120-170 W). Also shown are the Niño 1, 2, 3, and 4 regions; figure provided courtesy of M. H. Glantz.


Figure 1b. August-October (ASO) Niño 3.4 sea surface temperature anomalies for the period 1925-1997. Anomalies are from a 1950-1979 base period. Values equaling or exceeding +0.4 C (-0.4 C) are shown in red (blue) and termed "El Niñ o" ("La Niña") years. Neutral years are in black.


Figure 2. Normalized U.S. hurricane damage record for 1925-1997. Years designated as La Niña events are shown in blue, El Niño events in red, and neutral years in black. Values less than $500 million are shown as an ellipse o n the X-axis.


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Roger Pielke
Environmental and Societal Impacts Group
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
PO Box 3000
Boulder, Colorado 80307 USA
303-497-8111 (voice)
303-497-8125 (fax)
rogerp@ucar.edu

Christopher W. Landsea
AOML/Hurricane Research Division
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
4301 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, Florida 33149 USA
(305) 361-4357 (voice)
(305) 361-4402 (fax)
landsea@aoml.noaa.gov

NCAR is sponsored by the National Science Foundation