LAT: Eastern, Gulf Coasts Primed for Severe Hurricane Season

[DeepModem Mom]

Atlantic Primed for Heavy Storms
The Eastern and Gulf coasts are in for another severe hurricane season, and the volatility could last for the next two decades, forecasters say.

By John-Thor Dahlburg, Times Staff Writer


TAMPA, Fla. — With the onset of the 2005 hurricane season little more than two weeks away, meteorologists Friday warned that conditions in the Atlantic again were ripe for spawning tropical storms that could slam into Florida or other parts of the Eastern U.S. or Gulf Coast with potentially devastating and deadly consequences.

Last season, Florida was hit by four hurricanes in six weeks, an unprecedented succession of natural disasters in the state that was blamed for 123 deaths and more than $42 billion in property damage.

Although predicting precisely where and when storms will make landfall is impossible, forecasters attending Florida's 19th annual Governor's Hurricane Conference agreed that the Atlantic Ocean was in the throes of an active period that could last two decades or more, and that the resulting increase in the number of tropical storms heightened the chance of one or more reaching the United States....

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"We're in a new era now, and we're going to see a lot more major storms," said William Gray, a professor in Colorado State University's department of atmospheric science, who issues a much-awaited yearly prediction of hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin....

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Gray explained that the rising salinity of a vast stretch of the Atlantic Ocean, caused by evaporation, was making a wide current flow north, pulling warmer water from the South Atlantic and tropics. The added heat carried by that water, he said, is excellent for helping spawn hurricanes....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-hurricane14may14,0,2802301.story?coll=la-home-nation

[Spinzonner]

1. Has Bush's FEMA started staffing up

the assorted criminals and low-lifes that they hired last time ?

[ClintonTyree]

2. I think they privatized it, didn't they?

If they haven't, they will. Halliburton of course, will get the contract. Either that or they'll outsource FEMA to some third world country so they can pay them a fraction of the cost of doing business.

My Mom lives in Florida and lucked out last year. I'm trying to convince her that moving back to NY would be the best thing for her. So far, not much luck, but at least she's listening. I'll keep trying.

[magellan]

3. Oh, I do NOT want to hear this

Charley, Frances and Jeanne each tracked over our house last year. We were without electricity for 6 days after Charley, leaving us totally dependent on the generosity of emergency relief stations for ice and water. It was a great lesson in community spirit. We picked up as much ice as we could find the first day and distributed it to our neighbors, who reciprocated the following days. We BBQ'd and shared. During the day we hunted down pieces of siding and tried to figure out whose house they belonged to. At night we listened to the radio by hurricane lamp.

Frances and Jeanne weren't as bad. But having to evacuate three times within about a month and not knowing what we'd return to find was HORRIFIC. And we were the lucky ones; our mobile home was intact. Several others nearby were destroyed.

I survived the Northridge quake in '94 and now Florida '04. These are not experiences I'd wish on my worst enemy! (Let alone my family, again!!)

[bunny planet]

5. me either. My husband, myself and our kids were in a shelter last year

with Charlie headed straight for our little house. C. changed course in just the last 15 minutes otherwise we might not have had a home to go back to. I do not want to have to go through that again. Like you said, one of the worst feelings is leaving your home and wondering what you'll see (or won't see) when you get back. Of course the best thing is to not have anyone hurt.

My mom was bailing water out of her house from Ivan all night long, had some damage but mostly was lucky. She refused to leave the house for Charlie, was hiding in her walk-in closet.

I've lived down there most of my life in the summers, we've never seen anything like it on the Gulf Coast.

[magellan]

6. I'm glad you and yours came through all right too

The shelter must have been rough. But like you said, the important thing is no one was hurt. Things can always be replaced!

I heard about a month ago that El Nino was forming in the Pacific. That's supposed to be good for us because it seems to put a damper on our hurricane season. But with global warming it's anyone's guess what will happen. Let's hope Mother Nature is kind to Florida this year.

:hi:

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Any DU scientific opinion on this prediction? NT