The initial whirl of low pressure that grew to become hurricane Katrina was picked up by the British Met Office nearly two weeks ago as it left the coast of Africa and headed out over the Atlantic.
Hurricanes suck up water vapour as they travel. The vapour releases heat as it rises, effectively fuelling the engine of the storm.
Scientists who mapped surface "hotspots" in the Atlantic ocean before this year's hurricane season warned that the temperatures they had recorded were so warm they would significantly boost the intensity of hurricanes this year.
According to Mr Sisko, the Gulf of Mexico is extremely warm by normal standards, at somewhere between 30C and 31C, and was a significant factor that helped Katrina build to a category 5 hurricane, the most powerful.
As Katrina hit landfall, the hurricane was downgraded to category 4, but one million people ahead of the storm had already fled their homes as winds of 145mph began whipping buildings.
The battering winds are not the only danger facing the towns and cities in Katrina's path.
According to the centre, the low pressure at the heart of the hurricane made the ocean rise up in a huge dome some 8m high producing a potentially devastating barrage of water called a storm surge that is dragged along beneath the hurricane.
The high winds exacerbate the threat by producing surface waves in excess of 6m on top of the surge.
The hurricane had been a particular threat to New Orleans, which was built on land beneath sea level, putting it at risk of serious flooding.
Meteorologists expect Katrina to continue north, and without the warm ocean waters to draw on, it will weaken as it goes. "Flooding, especially flash floods, will still be a danger as they tend to hit two days or so afterwards and catch people out," said Mr Sisko.
