Take Down Those Shutters, The Weathermen Were Wrong Again

I may be premature in celebrating yet another case of media inaccuracy resulting in pandemonium, but it is hard not to grin at every satellite image that shows NO disturbance in the tropics. Hurricane season draws nearer to its end with every passing day, and every weather report assures us of its benign passage. In previous years, the months of June through September have seen at least some threatening activity that closes schools needlessly, or in extreme cases actually blows a few trees over. Granted, the 2005 season was undeniably destructive. In response to the unexpected mayhem that ensued, experts at the National Hurricane Center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began issuing ominous warnings concerning future hurricane seasons. This year was supposed to be especially tumultuous, with the "El Nino and El Nina" cycles causing an "above normal" hurricane season (see NOAA link at bottom of page). If the years of Charley, Wilma and Katrina were "normal", then imagine an "above normal" season! Interestingly enough, NOAA also sites "warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean" as a cause for 2007's intense hurricane activity. As any concerned Earthling can see, if Global Warming doesn't flood the world, it will rend it to pieces with sheering gale-force winds. Yet here we are, almost to October, with only a few named storms and nothing even remotely threatening stewing in the Atlantic. Despite the fact that NOAA'a and the NHC's predictions are based on top of the line meteorological projections and intruments, they still fail to accurately assess the threat that lies just a few months ahead. However, with my luck we will all be evacuated from our homes to escape a barrage of five or six major hurricanes in the next few weeks. Then you all can say "I told you so". Until then, have no fear.