Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Hurricane Season 2010 Begins Today


Official Hurricane Season
June 1 - November 30

June 1st is the official start of the 2010 Hurricane season that runs through November. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its outlook for the Atlantic and E. Pacific Hurricane Season.  Hurricane Preparedness Week ran from May 24 - 29 with daily focus on different aspects of preparedness.  We devoted many column inches to this topic because we believe strongly that an educated public is the best defense against tropical cyclones.
To read the entire series, see 2010 Hurricane Preparedness Call to Action which summarizes the week's information and provides links to all the blog posts.  You can also select individual topics using the search feature of the blog or selecting an article from the blog archive.    We have a static tab, Weather,  which provides information and links for Hurricanes as well as Typhoons, Tsunamis, Tides & Currents; Volcano Eruptions.  Bookmark these two posts for quick reference to important links in the event of a tropical storm.

NOAA's Atlantic outlook calls for a 85% chance of an above normal season

The Caribbean is an area that typically gets impacted by one or more major tropical cyclones during the season.  With increased activity, the likelihood of landfall in a particular area is also increased.  It isn't possible to predict landfall probabilities in advance, so NOAA doesn't include that in their outlooks.

Does that mean that all travel to the Caribbean and other parts in the Atlantic Basin should be postponed until after November?   The ultimate decision will be up to you.  How much risk do you want to take?   Can you deal with change?   Are you hurricane prepared?    

I devoted an entire blog post to the question...  What happens if there's a hurricane predicted at the time of my cruise?   Read Hurricane Preparedness for Cruisers for the answer to that question. Then you should be able to decide if you want to cruise to the Atlantic during hurricane season or not.

As we have in the past, our blog will continue to provide updates on tropical cyclones (we've already had our first named storm in the Eastern Pacific, Tropical Storm Agatha Forms in Eastern Pacific).   You'll notice that we have added RSS feeds to our navigation pane (left) for active tropical storms.  

Contact us if you still have unanswered questions relative to cruising during hurricane season.  


No comments: