At 6:49am this morning, I watched my first-of-the-2006-Atlantic-Hurricane-Season Weather Channel ‘Tropical Update’—and it looks like another above-average, very busy season.According to NOAA, those of us watching the Atlantic can expect 13-16 named storms, eight to ten becoming hurricanes—and four to six of those becoming ‘major’ hurricanes (Category 3 or higher). Colorado State University (another big player in these things) runs along the same lines, predicting 17 named storms, nine hurricanes, of which five could be classified as major. September usually sees the peak of the season, while June is typically pretty slow. Jeff Masters, a Weather Underground blogger, says that while sea temperatures are above normal (though below last year’s) we’re unlikely to see anything the first couple of weeks, predicting only a 10% chance we’ll see anything by June 15. (He's so confident in his prediction that he's taking a two week vacation starting tomorrow, ack.)
Why is hurricane a subject on a God-talk blog? Well, for one, I’ve seen my share of hurricanes in the five years I’ve lived in Alabama, so suffice to say these things work their way into my daily thoughts and routine once the season starts. But more so, storms are one of those things that remind who God is and leave me in utter awe. For more on that, see here.
So, for now, this is your Deep South storm watcher signing off. Happy chasing!
(Image: From Jeff Master's WunderBlog; Graph of hurricane frequency for the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season. Image credit: NOAA.)