Note: The following article originally appeared in the Miami Herald on September 7th, before Ivan hit the coast of Alabama, and caused several deaths in the Florida Panhandle)
MIAMI – (KRT) – Charley, Frances and Ivan. Three major hurricanes. Two assaults on Florida already and possibly a third by next week. Get used to it. This is the new normal.
Scientists say we are in a period of enhanced hurricane activity that could last for decades, ending a 24-year period of below average activity. They also say the law of averages has caught up with Florida, with a change in atmospheric steering currents turning the state into a hurricane magnet…
…A sobering thought: Between 1941 and 1950, seven major hurricanes – with winds higher than 110 mph – attacked Florida. “And that doesn’t include the other less powerful hurricanes,” Goldenberg said. That 10-year period fell in the middle of a cycle of heightened activity that began in 1926 and persisted until 1970.
Now, the combination of complacency bred during a long lull between 1971 and 1994, the new hyperactivity since 1995 and the ongoing mega-development of Florida’s coasts frightens emergency managers and scientists…
…All the other numbers tell the same tale: total storms, total strength, total duration, Caribbean hurricanes, October and November hurricanes, each at least 100 percent – in some cases 500 or 1,000 percent – higher since the lull.
“That’s a humongous increase,” Goldenberg said. “This is striking. This is not a little signal. It would be like saying the average temperature is 15 degrees warmer than last summer. It’s huge. It’s huge.”
Worse, atmospheric steering currents have changed to our disadvantage.
During the beginning of this active period, a persistent and beneficial bend in the jetstream carried hurricanes away from Florida. Now, that phenomenon had disappeared, replaced by a persistent ridge of high pressure over the Atlantic that is pushing them toward Florida.
What can you do?
Only one thing: Prepare.
Mary Ellen KlasMiami Herald
Analysis:
The brethren in Florida have been hammered in recent weeks by the hurricanes mentioned in the article above. As forecasters indicate that September and October are the peak seasons for hurricane activity, it is possible for several more storms to hit the coast this year.
We need to keep all in the path of such storms in our prayers, but especially our brethren. As Paul exhorted the Ephesians to pray “always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 2:18).
