Could This Be the Year of The Big Storm?
Planning
on more visitors from out of town this year? I don't mean the college
visitors coming to town who will get this town rocking for a month at
the Charlotte Sports Park on State Road 776, starting Feb. 28. No,
I'm talking about ones who may not come at all: Alex, Bonnie and the
rest of the 2004 Atlantic hurricanes. Alex and his friends could
start their visits in just a little over three months. The 2004
hurricane season gets under way officially June 1, and runs through Nov.
30.
According
to Professor William Gray at Colorado State University, 2004 will be
an active Atlantic hurricane season with more activity than usual. In
his December 2003 extended forecast, Dr. Gray predicts seven Atlantic
hurricanes and 13 named storms. He forecasts the Net Tropical Cyclone
activity in 2004 to be about 125 percent of the long-term average.
The next update from the CSU Department of Atmospheric Sciences will
be in April. For information, check the web page at
http://hurricane.atmos.colostate.edu/forecasts/
If you
are new to the area, you will hear a new term called the
Saffir-Simpson scale. This is a rating system to indicate the
severity of a hurricane, from category 1 being the first level of
hurricane force winds of at least 74 mph, to category 5, the
strongest storm, with winds over 156 mph. According to the Atlantic
Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, a category 4 storm
averages 250 times more devastating than a category 1 storm.
Newcomers need to
understand the difference between a hurricane watch and a hurricane
warning as well. A hurricane watch means to hours
or less. Go about whatever preparation you need to insure your safety
in case the watch gets upgraded to a warning. A hurricane warning is
issued when the threat is 24 hours or less away. A warning means take
urgent action to protect yourself and your family.
With
area hotels reaping the benefits of the upcoming College Baseball
Invitational series and guests are waiting an hour to get seated at
restaurants, it is difficult to envision anything but beautiful
weather and great baseball. Balmy skies now are a great time to order
those storm shutters and update insurance policies. Generators and
chain saws are plentiful now, but they won't be if we go under a
hurricane watch. Now is the time to plan for what you need to do.
Alex
and his friends will have to wait just a little while longer, though.
I'll see you at the Sports Park for the Port Charlotte College
Invitational Baseball series starting Feb. 28, when Urbana plays
Grace at noon in the main stadium. Talk about visitors! The Sports
Park will be rocking until March 27 with colleges from all over the
country playing great baseball on all four fields plus the main
stadium!
Tickets
are adult daily at $3, $2 for a child's ticket. Weekly passes go for
$10, and the whole month can be had for $25! Tickets went on sale
Feb. 18 at Charlotte County Recreation Centers and Papa Johns pizza
stores.
George Mindling
©
2004
