Haven't we all been thinking this for a while now? The weather's been so good to us on Dauphin Island this year.
Even though this is a little anti-climactic, and maybe even unwarranted, it's still good to hear it from an expert.
Expert believes this hurricane season may be over
(MOBILE, Ala.) October 12 -- Great news! It's mid-October and our part of the Gulf Coast is still here…above water! There’s even better news, however, from hurricane expert Dr. William Gray. He says this year's hurricane season seems to be over, despite the fact we still officially have 6 weeks left.
Gray says because of the unforeseen late summer onset of "el Nino" conditions in the Pacific, which allow warmer water to move east, therefore weakening storm activity, the chances of another hurricane striking the U-S this season are slim.
Even with Dr. Gray's latest prediction, the Mobile County Emergency Management Agency is not letting its guard down. In fact, Director Walt Dickerson says they’re using this down time, if you will, very wisely. “Since we've gotten a little relaxed, we've been more upbeat and the tempo of this agency is to be better prepared. We've purchased better communications equipment. We've done a lot of training exercises. We are recruiting, making plans, forming task forces.â€
Charlie Story of Daphne says he's relieved we've reached mid-October and haven't been affected yet. He says we needed this break, but he's not taking anything for granted because he knows a hurricane can still happen. “I feel a little bit better, but I won't feel totally relieved until we get probably into November.â€
As most people know, in the 2004 and 2005 seasons, our part of the Gulf Coast had a lot of bad luck. Not with more hurricanes forming than normal, but with many more making landfall than usual.
Even though Dr. Gray and his team at Colorado State University were not exactly right with their first prediction of an active season, we'll take his latest prediction that this year’s hurricane season is over… then we’ll all pray that this one is right.