Thank goodness BP is making such good progress on stopping the leaking well, because hurricanes are coming!

June and July did not live up to predictions by the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center, but conditions in the Atlantic’s main hurricane -forming region are now ripe.

The CPC says 70% chance of 14-20 named storms, 8-10 hurricanes and 4-6 major hurricanes.

Warm ocean temps & La Nina, yikes! Mid-August is the time when the action revs up.

Colorado State’s forecast calls for 18 named storms (which include Alex and Bonnie), 10 hurricanes, and five major hurricanes.

Unlike the CPC, the university team, led by atmospheric scientist Phil Koltzbach, produces broad forecasts for landfalling storms. The entire US East Coast, including the Florida Peninsula, faces a 50 percent chance of at least one storm making landfall there, compared with a long-term average of 31 percent. The Gulf Coast, which is still working to mop up after the BP oil rig blowout, faces a 49 percent chance of at least one storm striking, compared with a long-term average of 30 percent, Dr. Klotzbach’s outlook indicates

CPC sees a 90% chance of at least one hurricane making landfall on the Atlantic Coast, and 80% chance of one strike on the Gulf Coast

How bad can the BP oil leak be for the Gulf & for the US? Pretty bad - and we can’t see all of the goop underwater.

Oil prices up today, even though futures don’t really seem to be trading on supply and demand. Oil has a life of its own

If that’s not enough for you, forecasters are predicting a fierce hurricane season. How will water & oil mix?

Emily Yoffee is a human guinea pig. She does things so you don’t have to, and writes about them in Slate.

In 2007 she took a 24-hour ‘vacation’ on an oil rig.

You simply must read the whole article. A synopsis can not possibly do justice.

Emily flew by helicopter 150 miles into the Gulf of Mexico to the Ocean America rig (same one that had the explosion the other day). She was immediately outfitted with hardhat, safety-glasses & steel-toed boots and had to remove all jewelry.

She toured the rig which sounds an awful lot like a submarine to us: small quarters, a place for everything and everything in it place. Food is available 24/7.

Standard rig menu: steak on Tuesday and Saturday, seafood on Friday, fried chicken on Sunday

Emily ate, toured the whole rig with drilling supervisor, Rusty Critselous, watched some of the crew fishing from 90 feet up, slept overnight.

It certainly opened our eyes.

Poor, poor Haliburton didn’t make as much money this quarter due to contracts it signed when oil prices were slumping last year. (gasp!)

Oil and natural production has been rejuvenated in the big old Texas oil field of Granite Wash. The new technique? Drilling sideways.

Sources of growing oil demand: #1 China, #2 Saudia Arabia. Sort of the opposite of NIMBY.

Analysts thought the price of oil was heading higher. Enter the Goldman Sachs debacle and the volcano and down it goes. Probably not for long, though.

Steven Chu was really talking about the arguments of ASPO that we are already there, when he spoke of ‘Peak Oil.’

Ford refutes 5 bits of auto advice you learned at mother’s knee.

1. Change your oil every 3,000 miles. FALSE. This used to be true, but no longer. More like every 5,000 miles. Put that extra $50 back in your pocket.

2. You need to warm up your engine in cold weather. FALSE. Maybe 10 seconds is all you need. Save your gas.

3. Premium gas is a treat for your car. FALSE. Unless your car specifically needs it, you’re wasting your hard-earned bucks.

4. The number on the side of your tire is the recommended tire pressure. FALSE. No, silly, that would be the maximum tire pressure. Look inside the door for the recommended amount and make sure that’s the pressure in your tires. You waste gas by driving around on under-inflateds.

5. Buy gas in the morning before it ‘heats up.’ FALSE. Those gas tanks are underground in non-metallic tanks. It would take quite a bit to raise the temp even 1 degree.