Another Bad Hurricane Season Predicted

[PaulT]

The Atlantic Seaboard and the Gulf Coast could be in for another bad hurricane season, one of the US government's top forecasters said Monday.

Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, predicted 12 to 15 tropical storms, seven to nine of them becoming hurricanes, and three to five of those major hurricanes, with winds of at least 111 mph.

"We can't predict this far in advance how many will strike land," he said. But given the active season, "be prepared for two or three of these to make landfall."

[BARRYK]

Hi
when is Hurricane season ? :wacko:
Barry

[OKWTink]

It's starts June 1. Someone want to tell that system brewing over the caribbean that it's NOT hurricane season yet!

It's one of the earliest potential hurricanes in history. Ain't we jissst tooooo lucky. :rolleyes:

[american idol]

jeez is it that time again already :eek:

[Josette]

I am scared being down there June 6-20...:eek:

[chips]

It's starts June 1. Someone want to tell that system brewing over the caribbean that it's NOT hurricane season yet!

It's one of the earliest potential hurricanes in history. Ain't we jissst tooooo lucky. :rolleyes:Where did you read that or hear that from OKWTINK:rolleyes:?????

[Dawn]

You sure it's not a meteorologists prank to get you all practising your hunkering? :tut:

[ukwdwnut]

not again, jeez. one every few years wil do please mother nature

[Whitequeen]

Oh NO!!! Not 'Hunkering Down' time again.
I sure hope it doesn't get as bad as last year. :sigh:

[Rosie0610]

Keep in mind that they said there is no way to know this far ahead of time. I mean really, they can't even get tomorrows weather forecasted correctly!!!

[JuniorMickey]

The storm Tink's referring to was "born" in the pacific (where their hurricane season begins May 15). The storms usually move west but for some reason this one is bound and determined to move east. It's was a tropical storm last night, whatever the "A" name is.... looks like it's going to be a long season.... someone remind me why I moved towards the east coast of the state?

[wdwgrandma]

As long as there aren't any while we are cruising the Caribbean!

[ukwdwnut]

The storm Tink's referring to was "born" in the pacific (where their hurricane season begins May 15). The storms usually move west but for some reason this one is bound and determined to move east. It's was a tropical storm last night, whatever the "A" name is.... looks like it's going to be a long season.... someone remind me why I moved towards the east coast of the state?

jm does the west coast not suffer with them then or just not as much?

[JuniorMickey]

Not as muc Nut becuase the water of the pacific over there is much cooler than that of the Atlantic

[wdwgrandma]

You mean the "west coast of the US" not the "gulf coast of Florida", right, JM?

[JuniorMickey]

Correct Grandma. This storm will be crossing through the Gulf if it lives long enough

[BevW]

As long as there aren't any while we are cruising the Caribbean!

I second that! We're going to have to start doing a MoJo dance to ward off hurricanes during September.....:lmao: And to think, the only thing I thought we had to worry about was...oops...never mind.

[mom2my3kids]

Keep in mind that they said there is no way to know this far ahead of time. I mean really, they can't even get tomorrows weather forecasted correctly!!!


Right on!!! Here in Indiana, they say its going to be sunny. Well wouldn't you know its a big storm outside.. Crazy weather people... :blush:
(example) its not really raining today, but we are suppose to get a storm later this afternoon..


Tammy

[JuniorMickey]

Up until landfall there is no definate way to know. As the residents of Punta Gorda know, you never really know where these monster storms are going.

[SorcererMickey]

This weekend, Mrs. SM and I are going shopping for hurricane supplies :yes: .

Need to buy a few wood panels and cut them to size for the windows, a pack or two of shingles and roofing nails, a strip of roof vent... She will be taking care of the interior supplies like batteries, flash lights, candles, etc.

[JuniorMickey]

Be sure to do it within the tax break period SM :D

[BevW]

I remember having to do the Hurrican Shuffle! Nailing up those boards over the windows....buying extra bottles of water and food....matches, hurrican lamp oil...
Aaahhhhh Memoriessssss in the corner of my mind........

[SorcererMickey]

Be sure to do it within the tax break period SM :D

That just flew over my head, Mrs. SM handles the money and I've been completely disconnected from the world, can't even remember the days of the week :rolleyes: . Can you educate me? :D

[BevW]

Is this what happens when you come back from a cruise? You get all muddled in the head? :lol:

[JuniorMickey]

Much like the state does a tax break week for back to school items, it's doing one for hurricane items this year. Took a bit of searching on the Senate website, but you can find the particulars here (http://www.flsenate.gov/cgi-bin/view_page.pl?Tab=session&Submenu=1&FT=D&File=hb600100.html&Directory=session/2005/House/bills/billtext/html/)

[SorcererMickey]

Is this what happens when you come back from a cruise? You get all muddled in the head? :lol:

Did you say cruise... I want to go again :sigh: .

Thanks for the info JM, I'll pass it along to my accountant (aka Mrs. SM) :wink: .

[JuniorMickey]

No problem :) If you can save the 6%, that's a good thing (like I stock up on pens and the like during the school supply tax break time)

[OKWTink]

Tropical Storm Adrian (or Adrienne, not sure of which gender) is still tracking north east. :sigh:

Sorcerer Mickey, in your Hurricane Supply buying trip will you let me know if you find any plastic tarps. :blink:

Couldn't find any last year.

Let's hope, regardless of where this storm goes, no one is hurt by it's making landfall. All areas had a terrible time last year. Barbados had much damage as did Grenada and many of the other islands.

Punta Gorda is still struggling to recover. My friend there is still living with her brother as her house was so badly damaged as to render it uninhabitable, and it's still not yet repaired.

It's totally minor, but I'm STILL waiting for a replacement of the replacement kitchen cabinet, one of the ones damaged by the storms last year.

The road signs in Brevard county are still not back up. County claims that there is a shortage of the material used to make the signs. :huh:

The panhandle is still scrambling too.

It was a rough season last year. Let's hope there are no repeats for this season.

And please, do me one favor? DON'T say "hunkering or hunkering down?" I am so totally sick of that phrase... :sigh:

[JuniorMickey]

i double what Tink says. Can't Mother Nature give Florida a break? PLEASE?

[happymealUK]

i double what Tink says. Can't Mother Nature give Florida a break? PLEASE?All this talk has made me realise how different parts of the world are affected by different things. Over here, (in the UK) we moan when there is the odd occassion that we get too much snow, too much sun etc... whereas you guys over there seem to get the worst of everything :sigh:

[OKWTink]

Not just us. The islands were badly hit too. :( Those folks have less resources to recover with, so they need even more of a break. :blink:

It's expected to reach hurricane status, but only category one, and no one is yet talking about landfall or danger to any particular island.

Let's hope this is just a fluke, eh? :Please:

[JuniorMickey]

It's sad when we talk about hurricanes and say "only catagory one" isn't it :sigh: I'm not ready for another hurricane season. Seems like the last one just ended.

You're right Tink. Those in the islads are far worse off than us in the states.

[OKWTink]

Yeah, isn't it? :sigh: It's seems like it only just ended because there are so many things yet to be done to clean up and repair from the last season. Did it take this long to recover from Andrew? I mean, there are still blue tarps on roofs! Many roofs!

[JuniorMickey]

Andrew was a couple of years before I moved down here - I came down July of 94. Andrew was in 92 I believe. There are parts of South Miami-Dade County that were recently rebuilt from Andrew - over 10 years later

[OKWTink]

Gosh. That's a very long time. :(

[Shanrich96]

We had just to Mississippi from Connecticut and been in our house for a month when hurricane Ivan hit here. Of course with our incredible luck of timing my husband had to leave for San Diego the Friday before we had to evacuate.....Luckily I had talked him into cutting the storm shutters 3 days before he left. It was the craziest experience I have gone through getting up to board the house, pack up the car, the kids, the dog, the rabbit, trying to figure out what to take, worrying what would be here when I got back....Then driving a 4 hour drive in 6 hours (thank goodness I left a day early). We ended up with only 1 downed tree, but there was a lot of damage to the beaches and road signs.

I drove through Pennsicola in November and was amazed by the amount of damage I still saw. I grew up in Upstate New York where the worst you got was a ton of snow or a bad rain. If it was that bad there I really can't imagine the damage the islands must suffer.

Well hopefully this new storm will quit before it come this way...we haven't even taken the shutters out of the attic yet....:lol:

[psdjmem]

You sure it's not a meteorologists prank to get you all practising your hunkering? :tut:
We lived down in south florida during hurrican andrew I have not heard the word "hunkering" since then .... what ever happened to that meterologist that told us all to hunker down" Brian Norcross was that him -- any of your Floridians remember him?? Sitting in the dark in the hallway listing to that wind and stuff flying with DH, two kids and MIL, FIL, Dh grandma, SIL #1 SIL #2 BIL and thier four kids and did I mention they brought ther incontient lab dog with them .... which was worse hurricane andrew or that hallway!!

[JuniorMickey]

Brian Norcross is still on channel 4 :D

[Mermaid]

Oh dear...doesn't seem long ago since the last one!!!....

[~Minnie~Mouse~]

Yuck, well here in Missouri we have lucky tornado ally thats just a joy but at least tornados dont last to long. I still get freaked out though every time the sirens go off ......... and last year the tornado sirens werent working correctly and well that was a very bad day.........

[~Minnie~Mouse~]

I just hope everything either wont happen or will be resolved by June 7-14!!!! :D

[victorlowe]

Just for folks living in Florida:

Hurricanes are just a part of the Florida experience. They are inevitable.

As a person born and raised in Florida, I am always amazed at how New Arrivals think that Mother Nature would never dare to bother them with hurricanes, after they paid the big bucks for their badly-built houses.

Residents may as well make detailed plans to go to a Shelter, and just be grateful if the Hurricane Season passes by without that being necessary.

Forgetting all about hurricanes in Florida is akin to thinking there will be no snow this winter in Chicago, no hot weather this summer in Texas or no rain in Blighty.

[Josette]

I remember when Ivan went up the east coast, and turn my basement into a swimming pool.

This year my dad is prepared with a sump pump. (I think that's what they're called)

[~Minnie~Mouse~]

Hum I dont know just guessing but the storm is coming within the next few days??? Or weeks I dont really know about that stuff except I leave in a few weeks and want everything to be safe and well regular happy Disney :D

[spike]

When is the hurricane season due to finish? friends of ours were unable to fly out of Orlando last year due to one of the hurricanes, if I remember rightly that was in early September, is that a normal time for hurricanes to be around?

[Whitequeen]

I don't think it offically finishes until the beginning of November, Spike. :(

[minnie17_6]

Last time i was in Florida it was 5 years ago and hurican irene was starting i hope there is not another one for when i am going back to Florida :blink::tears:

[fillerup]

oops

[minnie17_6]

Well am hoping i miss them :fingers:

[fillerup]

There’s a good deal of discussion on the various boards about last year’s hurricanes and what might be expected this year. This is entirely understandable, since experiencing one or two of these storms is not only scary, but doesn’t serve to enhance a vacation. But I think a little perspective is needed.

The most widely watched forecaster is Dr. Wm. Gray of Colorado State Univ. Depends on who you ask, I suppose, as to whether his predictions are any good or not. He issues his first call in March or so, revises it in May, and then again in August. The media and the local meteorologists fawn all over him as though he were Moses with the tablets. It’s a nice gig really – kind of like betting on a football game and being allowed to change your wager a couple times as the score changes.

Remember also that prior to 2004, the last hurricane to hit Orlando directly was Donna in 1960. I’d agree that a 44 year hiatus is probably an anomaly, but 3 storms in one year are probably even more rare.

And it’s not just hurricanes that can have some nasty effects.

In mid-November, 1994, TS Gordon crossed the peninsula, dropping a ton of rain and knocking power out to tens of thousands. Mine was out for 6 days.

Just yesterday (5-24-05), a severe thunderstorm alert went up for an area north of Orlando. The Sanford airport recorded winds up to 77mph. Several small planes were overturned, baggage carts were blown into a parking lot and damaged cars, and a 29 year old man is in critical condition from a lightning strike.

And finally, on February 22, 1998 (a usually benign month) – severe storm alerts were issued at about 11 pm. I can’t describe adequately what an awesome weather event this was to witness – but it was equally tragic. From 11:37pm to 12:40am, tornadic cells hit Osceola, Orange, Lake, & Seminole counties. Around 1500 structures were destroyed, almost 300 people were injured, and 43 people lost their lives.

Now, I’m not posting any of this to either alarm anyone, or to downplay how awful last year was. (By the time Jeanne rolled through, we were so fed up that we checked into the Boardwalk - I just felt like listening to someone else’s windows rattle and watching someone else’s shingles blow down the street.)

My point, I guess, is that I wouldn’t do my vacation planning with hurricanes in mind. And I definitely wouldn’t waste an ounce of energy worrying about this in advance. I think we should all pay attention to forecasts when the first depression becomes TS Arlene.

[BevW]

As long as there are NO hurricanes during the month of September, then I'm good to go. :thumbs:

[JuniorMickey]

For those asking, hurricane season runs from today, June 1 through and including November 30th. Who knows how bad this season is going to be, Last year was the worst of my 11 years down here and yes, hurricanes are a fact of live in Florida but that does not make them any less scary

[OKWTink]

Couldn't agree with you more JuniorMickey. Auto accidents are a fact of life, but no one wants to be in one of those either. :eek:

There were four named hurricanes that did significant damage in Florida last year and TS Bonnie. She's often forgotten about, but she laid the foundation for some major damage in the panhandle that was soon to be brought by Hurricane Ivan.

Weather is predictable in only one thing, it's unpredictability. Hurricane season is a time to be alert to weather reports, have supplies on hand, or a plan to evacuate and then get on with your life.

WDW is one of the best places to be during a hurricane. I evacuated there myself! Once during Hurricane Georges (1998) and then this past season. The buildings are strong, the staff are well trained and the location is about as far inland as you can really get between the two coasts.

Even those who were camping at Ft. Wilderness were safe as WDW moved them to resorts to provide adequate shelter.

[Tinker]

I can't believe it's hurricane season already . I hope one doesn't hit while I'm there in August/September . All I've been through up here is floods from remnants of Ivan and that was scary enough .