2007 HURRICANE SEASON
Our mentors ar NOAA have released their predictions for the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season in their on line magazine appropriately titled NOAA Magazine, http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/ , which seems to be the basis of much of the media coverage regarding hurricanes this year, for full coverage of their prognostications click on the link above. In short they predict 13 to 17 named storms, 7 to 10 hurricanes and 3 to 5 major hurricanes of category 3 or greater, a more intense season than last year. According to their news coverage the increased activity is due to predicted warmer sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic and the so-called El Nino/La Nina cycle. In spanish this is literally the boy vs the girl, perhaps appropriate. The boy is short for the Christ Child; I'm not sure who the girl is.
An El Nino is formed when temperatures in a specific area of the Pacific are higher than normal. This affects wind patterns over North America and the Atlantic that result in less favorable conditions for hurricane formation. La Nina forms in the southern part of the North Atlantic and produces more favorable conditions for hurricanes. While no La Nina has yet formed NOAA prognosticators think it will and will produce an even more vigorous season as other environmental factors seem to favor that as well. Media has jumped on the band wagon, interesting metaphor eh, and has inundated us with survival tips. Please see a subsequent blog on media and fear.
Preparedness is a good thing and I have always scouted out a new area upon arrival for a safe place for NEREIS and I in the event of a hurricane, right down to the specific spot, my anchor array and even the particular trees to tie to, months and even years prior to need. I always leave 24 hours before anyone else even thinks about it to ensure my spot. So faf this has protected us for over fifteen years.
Thats that for this.
TAKE CARE,
JB
Nice and succinct with some humor too.
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Teri thanks for your comment on the 2007 hurricane season. Humor in all things is a given. Remember pun always intended. They always tell you who el nino is but who the heck is that girl la nina, does anyone know?
Appreciate your interest, check out Tiller Tales excerpts, particularly Rio Dulce Dichotomy, may bring back fond memories, well maybe not all of it but it might bring you back there to that busy street in the village Freya calls Fronteras.
Good voyage,
JB
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Hi John,
That always baffled me about the name Fronteras. Never made sense to me, should be called Rio Dulce City or something. I'll enjoy reading the tale.
Surfed your Global Weather Solutions web site yesterday and I am impressed! It is attractive and easy to use. I liked your hurricane explanation in the hurricane section, Surviving A Hurricane AT Sea. I hope we don't have to put it to use but will remember the starboard tactics just in case.
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Hello Teri,
Thank you for your kind words. Actually the name Fronteras, meaning frontier, appears on at least one topographic map I've seen and I guess this is where Freya Raucher, the author of the criising guide to the area saw it. Before the bridge over the Rio Dulce was built there was a ferry that took cars, trucks and cattle from Cheekies, AKA Tienda Reed, to the dock where all the commercial lanchas moor, right next to the northwestern end of the bridge. There's a short piece in Tiller Tales called "Freya Whare Is Fronteras?" I wrote it after taking a chicken bus ride to Puerto Barrios, where I shortly beame ill with Dengue Fever and tried to get a ride back to "Fronteras." No Guatemalan I asked knew where it was; they all thought I wanted to go to the border of Honduras or Belize. It's almost funny now but no so much at the time.
The village is called Rio Dulce, whose main street is described in one paragraph-long sentence in Rio Dulce Dichotomy, another piece in Tiller Tales, excerpted on this site, there are photographs included of a road sign and the front of the police station at the southern end of the bridge to prove it's named Rio Dulce. Just an interesting footnote to the cruising life, I'm sure you've experienced more than your share.
Take care,
JB
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