May 19, 2011

Just wonderful - the upcoming Hurricane season

First we had the floods in Fargo, next the weather moved south and now we have the floods in the South Central US -- not to mention the horrible fires in Texas. A brief detour regarding those fires. From the Austin, TX Statesman:
More on FEMA’s rejection of Texas fire disaster request
The Federal Emergency Management Agency late Tuesday rejected Gov. Rick Perry’s request to declare Texas a major disaster area eligible for additional federal money to fight and recover from the state’s wildland fires. In an announcement, a FEMA spokeswoman explained the agency had determined Texas had already received enough assistance.
Now if Texas had carried Obama in 2008... Anyway, it looks like we are in for a bit of a ride -- from Bill Gray and Philip J. Klotzbach (PDF):
EXTENDED RANGE FORECAST OF ATLANTIC SEASONAL HURRICANE ACTIVITY AND LANDFALL STRIKE PROBABILITY FOR 2011
We continue to foresee well above-average activity for the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season. Our seasonal forecast has been reduced slightly from early December, since there is a little uncertainty about ENSO and the maintenance of anomalously warm tropical Atlantic SST conditions. We continue to anticipate an above-average probability of United States and Caribbean major hurricane landfall.
Just what we need -- more fnu... Posted by DaveH at May 19, 2011 9:11 PM