Hurricane Season Finally Here (Kind Of)

In 2004 and 2005, we were told, the effects of global warming were being brutally demonstrated by increasingly severe hurricane seasons. Not only were there more storms, but they were stronger as well. In 2004, Florida was hit by four strong hurricanes, while in 2005 Katrina devastated New Orleans and southern Mississippi, Rita slammed into the far-eastern Texas coast, and Wilma inflicted much damage on south Florida. And then the onslaught tapered. This year, the El Nino effect, caused somehow by warm waters in certain places in the Pacific Ocean and which somehow stunts tropical storm growth in the Atlantic, has been going on strong. And the Atlantic tropical storm output has reflected this, with the first named storm (Ana) not occurring until relatively late in the season, just a few days ago. As Ana trudged westward across the Atlantic toward the Lesser Antilles, it began to weaken. Meanwhile, Bill, the next of our storms, began to develop in the eastern Atlantic, roughly following Ana's path. And then, presto!, seemingly out of nowhere, Tropical Storm Claudette, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and rainstorms almost entirely on its eastern side, materialized in the Gulf of Mexico and soon thereafter hit the Florida panhandle. Now we're left with the original two: Ana, a mere tropical depression now, going through the Greater Antilles (where even more weakening is expected); and Bill, strengthening into a full-fledged hurricane but whose path is forecast to take it eventually into the northern Atlantic, away from land.

Being a Floridian for almost my entire life (much of it in south Florida), I have gone through periods of intense personal interest in hurricanes and their paths. It is a bit exciting when one appears to be heading my way, even though the odds tend to work against a direct hit. I do think, though, that the media tends to go a bit overboard when covering mere tropical storms (maximum sustained winds between 39 and 73 mph), especially the weaker ones (like Claudette). It is as if the act of sticking a name to a storm gives it more news "pizazz"!