Hurricanes

Rising ocean temperatures have stoked the growing fury of hurricanes, according to a study made public Thursday that intensifies a debate over the link between global warming and the ferocity of storms.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Forecasting teams are calling for the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season to be slower than normal, although not by much. AccuWeather.com predicts 12 named storms, including five hurricanes, two with sustained winds greater than 110 mph. Weather Services International, or WSI, a part of the Weather Channel, projects 11 named storms, including six hurricanes, two of those intense. Both forecasts would translate to a slightly slower than normal season: On average, there are 12 named storms, including six hurricanes, three of them major.

What likes the ocean and warm temperatures and goes at least 74 miles per hour? Hurricanes are powerful forces of nature that can arise given the right conditions: They need not only moist areas such as oceans and warm temperatures but also low air pressure and tropical wind patterns. It's now hurricane season in the Southern Hemisphere.

When: 4 p.m. PST. Where: RBC Center. On the air: TV: Prime Ticket; Radio: 830. Records: Ducks 25-25-10, Hurricanes 23-26-11. Update: The Ducks' eight-game odyssey will finally end in Raleigh. The Ducks are 4-1-2 on the journey after a 3-2 loss at Tampa on Tuesday that ended their point streak at nine games (6-0-3). Goaltender Jonas Hiller has started 19 straight games for the Ducks and is 12-3-4 in that span. This is the first of two games left for them before the trading deadline and could help determine if they stand pat or become sellers.

The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season is essentially over, even though it does not officially end until Nov. 30. So says William Gray, Colorado State University hurricane forecaster. Because El Niño has created strong wind shear over the tropics, "the odds of a storm are very, very small from this point on," said Gray, who closed the book on the 2009 season Thursday. However, according to the National Hurricane Center in Florida, it's possible that the wind shear could relax over the coming weeks, and the waters in the Caribbean are still warm enough to support storm formation.

The Atlantic Ocean hurricane season this year will be more turbulent than usual, continuing a trend that began in 1995 and culminated last year when four hurricanes lashed Florida, a team of scientists said in Ft. Collins. The June-through-November season will bring 13 named storms, seven of which will develop into hurricanes, said Colorado State University scientists William Gray and Philip Klotzbach.

Hurricane expert William Gray downgraded his forecast for the 2006 Atlantic storm season again, predicting one more hurricane this year, two more named storms and no intense hurricanes. The new report calls for a below-average hurricane season, with a total of six hurricanes and 11 named storms. Gray and fellow Colorado State University researcher Philip Klotzbach cited developing El Nino conditions in the Pacific for the reduced number of storms.

This year's first East Coast hurricane will be named Arlene, and the first one in the West will be Adrian, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced.

Atlantic Ocean hurricane activity this year may be as much as 75% above the historical average as warm water provides fuel for storms, London-based forecasters at Tropical Storm Risk said Wednesday. The forecasters estimated 17 tropical storms would form, with nine reaching hurricane force and four of those becoming major hurricanes with winds topping 111 mph. As many as five storms, including two hurricanes, may make landfall in the U.S., according to the forecast.

The Atlantic will probably see 14 named storms this year, 8 of them hurricanes and 3 of them intense hurricanes, a storm researcher said Friday. The revised forecast by William Gray and his team at Colorado State University includes one more named storm than the previous forecast. The long-term average is about 10 named storms, including six hurricanes. Of those, two are "intense" hurricanes, defined as those with sustained wind of at least 111 mph.

Beneath a Meth Moon A Novel Jacqueline Woodson Nancy Paulsen Books: 189 pp., $16.99, ages 12 and up If there's any common thread among drug addicts, it's an aversion to feeling uncomfortable emotions. The cause of the emotion is unimportant. What matters is the individual's inability to deal with it healthily. This unsettling cause-and-effect pairing has long been a theme in the ever-expanding young adult canon, but it gets a timely makeover in "Beneath a Meth Moon.

If the Ducks are to have any hope of returning to the playoffs this spring they're going to need a lot more gutsy performances like the one they turned in Wednesday at Honda Center, where they beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-2, in overtime. And they're probably going to need a lot more breaks like the one that set up Corey Perry's game-winning goal. Perry inexplicably avoided a tripping penalty after sending Carolina's Jussi Jokinen to the ice two minutes into the extra period.

Robert Cardwell voted early in Florida's Republican primary, but that doesn't mean the campaigns have stopped trying to win his vote. Campaign advertisements blare at him from the television, pop up on the Internet, make their way onto his answering machine. "Some of them are pretty annoying," said Cardwell, 75, a retired airline pilot. "I try not to turn on the TV during the day. " Thanks in part to "super PACs," independent political organizations that since 2010 have been allowed to raise unlimited funds from corporations and individuals, Florida's airwaves have been swamped with advertisements leading up to Tuesday's primary.

The Los Angeles County Arboretum, where Santa Ana winds wreaked havoc on the historic collection of plants, is slated to reopen Monday, a week ahead of schedule and in time for holiday visitors. The Arcadia botanic garden, one of the largest in the nation with more than 10,000 types of plants from around the world, has been closed for cleanup and rehabilitation since hurricane-force winds tore through the San Gabriel Valley on Nov. 30. It will reopen in time for the thousands of visitors who typically arrive during the week between Christmas and New Year's, when many people are in the area for the holidays and the Rose Parade.

If it had not caught the attention of a handful of important readers, Jesmyn Ward's "Salvage the Bones" would most likely have quietly faded into obscurity; many worthy books do. Now, however, this novel about a poor Mississippi family in the weeks leading up to 2005's Hurricane Katrina has a prominent place in bookstores and boasts the gold medallion that comes with winning the 2011 National Book Award. Book awards are marvelously idiosyncratic. While major film and music awards are based on the votes of a large group - meaning there is a general consensus or popularity - book awards are frequently selected by just a few people.

Strong Santa Ana winds could create dangerous fire conditions in Southern California over the next several days. The National Weather Service issued a high wind and fire watch for Wednesday evening through Saturday, with possible hurricane-speed gusts of 80 mph or more in the mountain passes of Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties. Gusts of more than 60 mph are possible in some lower-lying areas. The winds, which could shape up to be the strongest offshore event the region has seen in years, are expected to reach their highest intensity Wednesday night through Friday morning, potentially toppling trees and power lines and creating hazardous driving conditions, as well as a significant fire hazard.