SeaWinds data combined with other weather-watching data, like NOAA's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer, paint a picture favorable to hurricanes this season, Liu said.

CNN: graphic

Timothy Liu, project scientist for a weather-watching NASA satellite called SeaWinds, said it was Floyd that finally prompted him to look for an explanation for this season's train of storms.

CNN: graphic

The SeaWinds satellite, managed by NASA for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, carries a scatterometer instrument that has measured those sea winds via microwaves bounced off the ocean's surface since the satellite's launch in June.

CNN: graphic