You might think it is too early to start thinking about the tropics and potential tropical storm activity, but this is actually a great time to review hurricane forecasts and prepare for the season. That can include things like taking inventories of equipment for insurance purposes in case you get hit by a storm and making a family plan for how to keep yourselves safe in high wind and high water with the potential for a lengthy loss of power. Last year after Hurricane Helene many families along the path from Florida through Georgia into South and North Carolina lost power for extended periods of time and many others lost power for up to a week. This blog post from Brian McNoldy, a senior research associate at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Sciences, provides an update on the hurricane forecast cone and a refresher on how forecasts are made and communicated to the public. You can read it here.
