[SE Mom]

What Rush was referring to was the hurricane in 79 after the enormous spill off the coast of Mexico- he said the hurricane never actually made landfall and there was speculation it may have been due to the spill... which was many times larger than this one

[F. dAnconia]

Ixtoc I oil spill was only 6 months old when the Hurricane season ended in 1979. Therefore the oil spilled by that point was just about 2/3rds of the total (roughly). That would be less less then Horizon depending on what estimate you look at. Even if the total amount were in the Gulf at the time it still would still not be enough.

I am sorry, but the speculation Rush was referring to is flat wrong. I like Rush, but he is miss informed.

What Rush was referring to was the hurricane in 79 after the enormous spill off the coast of Mexico- he said the hurricane never actually made landfall and there was speculation it may have been due to the spill... which was many times larger than this one
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This is absolutely incorrect. The oil is neither large enough in scope or uniform enough on the surface to have any appreciable affect on a Tropical system. It is simply a matter of scale. Despite how large the spill is, it is not nearly large enough. We did these types of calculations in Meteorology Graduate school. These were done to mainly to debunk the shysters that are developing a film to put over the water to stop a hurricane. It simply cannot happen at these scales.
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Rush stated that the oil may actually hinder a hurricane. Surface temperature of the ocean may be different.