Tampa, FL - Well its that magical time again and no we are not talking about Christmas, its the second most dreaded day in Florida next to Tax Day… its the start of the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season!
Many of us can unfortunately remember the infamous 2004 Hurricane season and the pain and loss it caused us all, and if you were not down here when that horrible season occurred then count your self lucky for now. 2004 was the worst Atlantic Hurricane season on record since record keeping began in 1895 for both the United States and the South.
The 04′ season resulted in 15 named storms, with 9 of them being Hurricanes, and 6 of them being Major Hurricanes that were about the size of Andrew or Hugo and the class of 2004 was only second to Hurricane Katrina which struck New Orleans a year later in 2005. The 04′ Hurricane season also resulted in $50 Billion dollars of total damage, which torpedoed the housing market slump we are now enduring today, and took the lives of 3,132 people which is just a bit less then the death toll of 9/11 or Pearl Harbor.
However despite the historic and devastating hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005, a new Mason-Dixon poll released today reveals a dangerously high percentage of residents in hurricane-vulnerable states still aren’t prepared, don’t take the threat of hurricanes seriously and have big gaps in what they know about hurricanes – even among those who live within 30 miles of the coast.
“Nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina shocked and horrified the nation, far too many residents are still unprepared for storms,” said Bill Proenza, director of the National Hurricane Center. “Last year’s below normal hurricane season may have resulted in coastal residents being lulled into a false sense of complacency. This hurricane season promises to be an active one, so it is imperative residents get ready before a storm catches them unprepared.”
The Mason-Dixon poll was commissioned by American Initiatives, an organization that today launched the 2007 National Hurricane Survival Initiative at a news conference at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. The initiative aims to educate residents living in hurricane-vulnerable states about the risks they face and the steps they must take to protect themselves and minimize damage.
This the 2008 Hurricane Season, Hurricane Guru William Gray and Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University have put out their initial forecast for the 2008 season, calling for seven hurricanes, with three growing to Category 3 or stronger, The Associated Press is reporting.
That would put next year pretty much in line with an average hurricane season: 11 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes.
The latest prediction is a huge drop from what Gray and NOAA were calling for the 2007 season to produce. Gray and the government called for a hyperactive season. And though there were 14 named storms this year, the season was tranquil for the U.S. Gray’s final prediction of the season, issued in October, called for 17 named storms.
Many of the named storms barely qualified as tropical storms, and some lasted only a day or so. The notable exceptions were hurricanes Dean and Felix, both Category 5 storms.
Gray’s predictions come out six times, starting in December. Actually, he and Klotzbach would have been dead-on for the number of storms this season if they’d just stuck with their December 2006 prediction of 14 named storms.
