2006 Hurricane Outlook Downgraded
Yesterday I was pleased to see that NOAA downgraded their 2006 hurricane season outlook, albeit by one storm in each category, so not much, but at least it is down.
Living in my previous homes in Colorado and Oklahoma, I never really gave much thought to hurricanes and their impact. I certainly didn’t have any idea what they are like to live through. Actually when I moved here, I didn’t really think there would be much of a threat from hurricanes as we are in the Orlando area, after all, and it had been decades since anything of significance had threatened here.
Well, in 2004 that all changed with four hurricanes hitting Florida and three coming right through our neck of the woods. It really did change the way I watch hurricane information now. In fact, I pretty much check the latest outlook almost every day. It is really rather fascinating watching them spin out of Africa and slowly make their way across the Atlantic. I have learned that the models are pretty much a joke. I wonder if the creators really take them very seriously. Some of them I have yet to see make something remotely close to an accurate storm path. Others will be so, so, but none of them have I noticed pegging a storm early on and tracking it what I would consider very closely.
My family is all back in Oklahoma and they worry every time the news reports a new tropical storm that may become a hurricane. They worry about me being here. Heck, I know a week or two in advance that a storm may make it this direction and can start making plans. They, on the other hand, might get five minutes warning on a good day that a tornado is forming, or has formed, and is meandering around a few blocks from them. Given the choice between the two, I’d rather deal with the hurricane.
I got a taste of hurricanes first hand back in 2004. I guess you could say that Charley took my hurricane innocence. Charley, like the other two, hit on a weekend (so much for getting out of work due to a storm!). We didn’t leave, we didn’t board up, we just sat here and rode it out. We did get extra non-refrigerated food, extra water, and filled up the cars and spare gas cans, that was the extent of our preparation. We sat here for hours and watched the news as we watched the storm move in out the patio door.
Thankfully Charley moved through fairly quickly and when it was done, we were fine. We had some branches down, but that was it for us. We didn’t even lose power or cable. As soon as it had cleared out of our area, we hopped in the car and headed to the office to make sure everything there was okay. One of the two entrances to our neighborhood was completely blocked by downed trees so we had to go the other direction. I don’t believe there was a single traffic light working between our house and work, eight miles away. There were trees down, debris everywhere, pretty much a mess. When we got to the office, the power was out but otherwise everything looked fine.
After hearing all of our friends and co-workers telling their various horror stories, when Francis was bearing down on us, we bought plywood and covered the windows on the front and sides of the house. Francis lasted a very long time when it hit, again on a weekend. It just kept churning and churning. Once again, we never lost power or cable TV so we could watch everything as it happened. When it was all over, we once again had branches down, but no other damage.
The last one that affected us was Jeanne. Jeanne hit over Labor Day, this time ruining a holiday weekend that we were planning on spending in New Orleans. As it got close to time for our flight out, it was getting pretty evident that Florida was going to get hit yet again so we cancelled our reservations so we could be here to protect our property if need be. That was a tough decision because prior to that, we had spent the previous nine consecutive Labor Days in New Orleans. Nonetheless, we decided to stick it out at home and be ready to take action if needed. Though this storm lingered over us for hours, when it was done, we went outside and saw that we still had no damage–we had 26 truck loads of debris that had to be hauled off, but we had no home damage. In fact, we once again didn’t lose electric or cable TV/Internet!
I’m glad it’s been a slow start to the season and I’m pleased to see the “experts” have lowered their original predictions. In reality, I’d be even happier if we got to go another forty years with having another hurricane here in central Florida.