Good Article To Read to Start this Hurricane Season

[gatorcane]

All as we start this year's hurricane season in less than 1 hour has I type this, I found this article which I thought makes some very important points especially as we enter an El Nino Atlantic hurricane season:

http://news.yahoo.com/flip-side-years-n ... 54175.html

Though it looks like El Nino should mean a relatively quieter Atlantic hurricane season, we all should remember there are no guarantees with the tropics and all it takes it one. Look forward to seeing everybody on the board.

[abajan]

Thanks for sharing. To quote from the article, "... there are the people who went through smaller storms and think that wasn't too bad and misjudge the bigger storm." I wonder how many have perished over the years because of this sort of thinking.

[MiamiensisWx]

Thanks for sharing. To quote from the article, "... there are the people who went through smaller storms and think that wasn't too bad and misjudge the bigger storm." I wonder how many have perished over the years because of this sort of thinking.

Many board members had that kind of experience with Katrina. Having experienced Camille, they thought, "Oh, I survived a legendary 190-mph storm with 30-foot storm tides that reduced reinforced coastal structures to smithereens. No wonder people chose to stay even then and have a hurricane party [though this was much more fictitious than factual]; even so, I survived!" Of course, they were often on the fringes of Camille, but even those who did survive the peak storm tide made the logical fallacy that "it couldn't get worse." Of course, after seeing the damage done by much weaker, albeit much larger, storms (including Katrina), and having learned that Camille's strength was not quite so legendary as it was made out to be, they learned hard but much-needed lessons.

Then there is evacuation fatigue, which is often poo-pooed by people here but is highly relevant. Evacuations, especially mandatory/mass ones, waste time, money, and resources that could be saved should people simply move a few blocks inland to higher ground. When you live in an area with deep offshore waters, in contrast to the shallow, surge-enhancing Gulf shelf, evacuation is often totally unnecessary unless a storm is very large and intense and/or fast-moving. Otherwise, due to friction overland, winds will be much lower only a very short distance inland. Also, in a small storm like Andrew or Charley, only a miniscule shift in track would mean minimal effects from wind. Plus, those storms typically deliver only a minimal surge due to their smaller size, though Andrew produced a large one because it suddenly shifted from deep offshore Atlantic waters to the very shallow Biscayne Bay. (Charley, by contrast, moved over a Gulf basin that shoaled only gradually, which meant that only larger storms would produce a bigger surge in Charlotte Harbor.)