Hurricane ramblings

I have been keeping the Weather Channel on all night. And getting a little bit peeved at their gushing misuse of the English language.

For this to be a historic hurricane season then a few things need to happen.

Yes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma all reached Category 5 which makes this season a bit unique. Except there is something very important they are failing to mention, Katrina and Rita did not make landfall as Category 5 and Wilma is not either. They were all Category 5 while at sea. The only Category 5 storms to make landfall in the US are: the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, Camille, and Andrew.

It is not historic in number of storms until Alpha is named, then it would break the 1931 record of which the 2005 season is now tied with.

If Alpha becomes a hurricane, then it will break another record if you believe NOAA-NHC's assertion that 1969 had twelve hurricanes, though my personal opinion is this season has already broke the record of number of hurricanes in one season. So in this case the season is historic.

Looking at a study NOAA has on their site about population density along the coastline, I found an unsettling fact. As of 2003, 53% of the American population lives on the coastlines. What is 53% of the population you ask? In 2003 there were more American citizens living on the coastline than the 1930 census counted in all of the United States, which was 123 million people. This puts into perspective on why the most recent storms have caused so much death and destruction, population density.

And while looking at the Weather Channel's projections, it is looking like I might have been right about Hurricane Wilma's landfall. Coming ashore on eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula, south of Cancun, and looks to go across it. I have also noticed over the past two days, the projected path of Wilma has kept shifting westward while Governor Bush, FL has pushed back until Saturday a mandatory evacuation of south Florida. Now Weather Channel is saying Texas and Louisiana are paying close attention to Wilma. So that right hook NOAA-NHC has been predicting might be fizzling.

So once again, stay tuned. Pay attention to the news. And be prepared.