Cindy_Fitzgibbon's Blog

... the Atlantic basin is for hurricanes- major hurricanes.

Now that the tropics have quieted down considerably- it's been 5 days now since Ike made landfall in Texas and since then no tropical waves are showing any signs of development- we can catch our breath for a moment. We can also pause and reflect on what this season has brought so far. Keep in mind the hurricane season runs through November 30th in the Atlantic basin. We're past peak now though... which typically occurs around September 10th and certainly did this year!

An Average Season Brings:

11 named storms
6 hurricanes
2 major hurricanes (CAT 3 or higher)

Here's what we've had so far.

10 named storms
5 hurricanes
3 major hurricanes

If your keeping track here's the list:

So if the government forecast is to verify this year... that means we're still in line for at least 4 more named storms.... with 2 more of those becoming hurricanes. Let's hope whatever storms that have yet to form stay out at sea. As of this morning, hurricane Ike has been blamed for 51deaths in the US and 80 deaths in the Caribbean before that.... preliminary damage estimates are between 6 and 16 billion dollars in the US alone.

In case your wondering... here are the rest of the names on this years list.
Kyle
Laura
Marco
Nana
Omar
Paloma
Rene
Sally
Teddy
Vicky
Wilfred

Enjoy our quiet weather and break out those sweaters tomorrow morning!
-Cindy