Posted on Fri, Apr. 28, 2006
email this
print this
HURRICANE SEASON
Some good storm news, but expect a busy season
One factor that can enhance hurricane development is diminishing, but forecasters still warn of an unusually active season.
BY MARTIN MERZER
mmerzer@MiamiHerald.com
A dim ray of favorable news lightened the hurricane outlook a bit Thursday, but forecasters urged South Floridians to prepare for another active season and to rely more on themselves than on government agencies for post-storm relief.
Rusty Pfost, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service's South Florida office, said he was shocked by the area's response to Hurricane Wilma, which struck Oct. 24 after days of warnings and yet left many people in immediate search of water, ice and gasoline.
''I'm very disappointed about the way South Florida reacted after Wilma,'' Pfost said during a briefing for reporters. ``The long gasoline lines, etc. It was just disgraceful.''
He, other forecasters and local emergency managers recommend that everyone stockpiles enough essentials to last for at least three days after a hurricane.
In a measure of what passes for good news, given recent busy hurricane seasons, forecasters said they believed that La Niña conditions -- a periodic drop in sea-surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean -- seem to be fading. La Niña conditions are associated with enhanced development and strength of hurricanes.
Nevertheless, forecasters still are expecting above average hurricane activity this year. The six-month season begins June 1.
''It's pretty hard to match the 28 storms we had last year,'' said Robert Molleda, the weather service's local warnings coordinator.
``But what we really have to do in South Florida is get ready.''
In other developments:
• Molleda said he expected the rainy season to begin on schedule around May 20. This week's scattered showers and thunderstorms provided a preview, but the region remains unusually dry.
As of Thursday morning, Miami had received only 0.23 inches of rain in April, according to official records, well below the normal rainfall of 2.84 inches at this stage of the month. So far this year, rainfall in Miami is about half the normal amount.
Fort Lauderdale officially has received only 1.49 inches of rain so far in April, less than half the normal 3.31 inches. Broward rainfall also is well below normal this year.
• Summer temperatures are expected to be above normal, as they have been in recent years. How much warmer? Molleda offered an estimate of ½ degree to three degrees above normal averages.