hunker down?

you can't have lived in Florida since august 2004 & not feel like you have had your fill of being warned to "hunker down". on monday, the NOAA released its Atlantic hurricane forecast.

Hurricane Forecasters with the U.S. government`s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are predicting an above-average 2005 hurricane season for the Atlantic Basin. The forecasters are predicting 12 to 15 tropical storms will form in the Atlantic hurricane basin, with seven to nine becoming hurricanes. Three to five of the hurricanes could become major hurricanes-- Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Intensity Scale-- with sustained winds higher than 111 mph. The Atlantic basin averages 10 tropical storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes each year.
The Atlantic hurricane outlook reflects an expected continuation of the above-average activity that began in 1995. Since that time all but two Atlantic hurricane seasons have been above-normal. Hurricane season starts on June 1 and ends November 30.
In 2004, 15 named storms formed, nine became hurricanes and six were major hurricanes. Hurricanes Charley (Category 4), Frances (Category 2), Ivan (Category 3), Jeanne (Category 3), all major hurricanes, made landfall on the U.S. coast.
Since forecasters cannot predict when and where storms will form, government officials recommend people along the Gulf of Mexico and up and down the Atlantic coast begin preparing for hurricane season.

this isn't much of a surprise. we were forewarned of this before the last hurricane season even ended. *sigh* i am tired already. they keep saying that Floridians shouldn't panic because the odds are widely in our favor that there won't be a repeat of last year. i would try to find comfort in this little tidbit but ya know what? they said that after Charley raged through & Frances was taking aim. wouldn't you know it, the storms' paths crossed about 25 minutes south of where i live, making an X right across Central FL. as Ivan squared off with FL in his sights, the meteorologists kept saying "prepare for the worst but there's so little chance of 3 major hurricanes hitting the same state so close together"...RIGHT. and as Central FL breathed a collective sigh of relief that there was no direct hit for our badly ravaged area, we felt the pain of the panhandle residents that *were* hit, the trauma of 2 back-to-back storms still fresh in our minds. of course with our backs turned, watching the Gulf Coast, with wide-eyed fear, just waiting for Ivan to make a last minute turn for the apparent target over our heads, no one seemed to pay much attention to Jeanne who was creeping up with a menacing glare to beat down our east coast & march s-l-o-w-l-y across Central FL, following much the same path as Frances & destroying what little remained standing. odds are? ODDS ARE??! statistically speaking it was near impossible, but we learned that Mother Nature doesn't give a damn about statistics when she's PMSing like that.

last year after the first couple of pummelings, Max Mayfield (the Director over at the NOAA National Hurricane Center) said: "won't someone please turn off the hurricane switch?" personally i think we ought to find out whose job this was & kick their sorry butt. and can't we learn from the past & just shut the darn thing off NOW?! please...?

signing off now from presently sunny Florida & not-so-anxiously awaiting Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Dennis, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irene, Jose, Katrina, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Phillipe, Rita, Stan, Tammy, Vince or Wilma.