Norcross to sign copies of his book

[HurricaneJoe22]

Bryan Norcross wrote the book on hurricanes

By Ken Kaye
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted July 19 2006

Bryan Norcross could have written a tome about Hurricane Andrew, the buzz-saw system that slashed through Miami-Dade County 14 years ago. After all, the storm made him a household name, at least around these parts.

Instead, the veteran TV weatherman was inspired by the chaos of the past two seasons to write Hurricane Almanac 2006: The Essential Guide to Storms Past, Present and Future (St. Martin's Griffin, $11.99), an overview of hurricane history, preparedness and forecasting.

"Ever since Hurricane Andrew, people have encouraged me to do a hurricane book," says Norcross, chief meteorologist for WFOR-Ch. 4. "But since the hurricane barrage of the last couple years, there were so many glaring issues -- and no comprehensive place to go for hurricane information."

The 272-page book includes details on how Andrew grew into a sudden threat and how Norcross came to coach South Florida through its raging winds.

"I'm going to go home now and get some sleep and I suggest you do, too," Norcross writes, recalling his message to viewers on the Saturday night before Andrew's Monday morning hit on Aug. 24, 1992. "Tomorrow is going to be a very big day, and I'm not sure if we're going to get sleep tomorrow night."

But, mostly, the almanac provides an insightful look at a broad range of tropical topics, from an examination of the South Florida building codes to how to protect your pet when a storm threatens.

It includes chapters on how to decipher hurricane forecasts and cope with living in a hurricane zone. It provides point-by-point steps to prepare disaster kits, deal with insurance issues and shutter windows.

It provides lots of checklists, definitions and quick-hit pieces of information. And it dispels potentially dangerous myths.

For instance, Norcross includes a bit titled, "The Open-A-Window Myth."

"Standard operating procedure for years was to open a window on the downwind side of the house to `relieve the pressure,' during a hurricane," he writes. "That's a BAD IDEA. Air will be pulled out through the open window, creating lower pressure inside the house ... keep all the windows closed while the strong winds are blowing."

The book already has been passed around the National Hurricane Center in Miami-Dade County, where officials preach preparedness, and thus consider Norcross' almanac a good thing.

"It's a commendable effort; it makes it easier for people to get prepared," said Frank LePore, the center's spokesman.

While a helpful tool for the uninitiated -- it could have easily been titled "Hurricanes for Dummies" -- some of the book's most interesting passages address Hurricane Katrina's impact on New Orleans.

Norcross contends: "Katrina was a hurricane catastrophe ... in southern Mississippi. In Louisiana, it was a healthy hurricane hit ... and a levee design/engineering/maintenance/operation debacle ... There is very little, if any, reason to think that most of New Orleans experienced more than a Category 1 hurricane."

Further, Norcross defends Michael Brown, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who was widely criticized for a lax response in Katrina.

"Fired FEMA director Michael Brown did not get a fair shake. His position and power in the hierarchy of the newly created Department of Homeland Security-FEMA structure didn't give him the authority that the position previously had. He was in a bureaucratic box."

Norcross, 55, said he didn't have to do much research, considering he already had compiled most of the information in the course of giving seminars at hurricane conferences and speaking before community groups. He started to write it in November.

But then he was placed under the gun to get it done in short order.

That was after he, by chance, sat next to Phil Revzin, a senior editor from St. Martin's Press, during a dinner party in Charleston, S.C., last December. Revzin suggested that Norcross write the "definitive" book on hurricanes.

"I said, `Guess what: I've got a book under way,'" Norcross recalls.

Norcross, a weather broadcaster in South Florida since 1983, plans to publish updated versions of the Hurricane Almanac each year. He has a companion Web site at http://www.hurricanealmanac.com.

Ken Kaye can be reached at kkaye@sun-sentinel.com.



meet the author

Bryan Norcross will sign Hurricane Almanac 2006 at 7 p.m. Thursday at Borders, 9205 S. Dixie Highway, Miami; 2 p.m. Saturday at Borders, 2240 E. Sunrise Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; 7:30 p.m. July 26, Books & Books, 9700 Collins Ave., Bal Harbour.