Florida = love
I'm going BACK to Florida for New Year's now. hehehehehehe.
I think I'm going to move there.
Are you serious about moving here? To what area? Where are you going for New Year's? Orlando?
Winters are great down here, it's the summers (and hurricane seasons) that suck.
Laura, did you see this article? It was in the Miami Herald
Posted on Wed, Aug. 03, 2005
HURRICANES
Even more storms expected this year
Record heat bathed South Florida last month, and the hurricane season could be more active than had been projected, experts said.
BY MARTIN MERZER
mmerzer@herald.com
Though the day was generally balmy, two pieces of unpleasant weather news arrived Tuesday for South Floridians:
What we have seen so far during this historically active hurricane season might only be the introduction. And last month was the warmest July on record in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood -- and the second warmest in Miami Beach and West Palm Beach.
The around-the-clock average temperature last month reached 85.14 degrees in Miami, 84.9 degrees in Miami Beach, 84.11 degrees in Fort Lauderdale and 84.3 degrees in Hollywood.
The outlook for this month: more of the same -- normal rainfall, above-average heat.
''It's miserable,'' said Rusty Pfost, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service's South Florida office. ``Thank goodness for air conditioning.''
In most cases, the record temperatures were about two degrees above normal and fractionally higher than the previous records.
Pfost attributed the record heat to several factors, including unusually warm overnight temperatures that elevated the 24-hour average.
That might have been caused, he said, by persistent nighttime clouds that served as an insulation blanket, preventing daytime heat from melting away.
Higher-than-usual ocean temperatures also contributed, he said, just as they contributed to the record start of the hurricane season.
Seven tropical storms formed during the first two months of this season, and two of them, Dennis and Emily, became hurricanes.
''Everything is interrelated,'' Pfost said.
SOUNDING ALARM
Also Tuesday, with the peak of the hurricane season just over the horizon, government experts dramatically upgraded their full 2005 forecast -- and they again sounded the alarm.
They now expect a total of 18 to 21 named storms, with nine to 11 becoming hurricanes, five to seven of them intense, with winds over 110 mph.
Before the season started, they predicted 12 to 15 named storms that grow into nine hurricanes, three to five of them intense.
Right on cue, the eighth tropical depression of the season formed Tuesday in the open Atlantic, posing a modest threat only to Bermuda.
''The Caribbean and the United States are at an increased risk of being hit by hurricanes,'' said Gerry Bell, a meteorologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
``Historically, when we have more active seasons like this, an average of two to three hurricanes strike the United States during August to November.''
`DEEPLY CONCERNED'
Said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in west Miami-Dade County: ``I'm deeply concerned about the lack of public preparedness as we enter the peak of the hurricane season.''
Before the season started, government scientists predicted 12 to 15 named storms that grow into nine hurricanes, three to five of them intense.
On May 31, a team led by private forecaster William Gray of Colorado State University predicted 15 named storms that turn into eight hurricanes, including four intense storms.
That team plans to release an update later this week.
The six-month season ends Nov. 30.