Hurricane Awareness Week Gets Underway

Today [May 27] marks the beginning of Hurricane Awareness Week, and the Bermuda Weather Service, operated by BAS-Serco on behalf of the Department of Airport Operations, has met with Government stakeholders and now urges the public to review their state of readiness for the upcoming season.

A spokesperson said, “Members of the public and organizations are encouraged to make preparations by dusting off their hurricane plans, checking their supplies and clicking on the HAW logo on weather.bm to view our featured HAW 2014 videos “Storms Surge” and “Tropical Update Bulletins” to ensure you understand the products.

Footage from 2010 showing the beginning stages of Hurricane Igor

“The public should be particularly cognizant of the fact that even though the seasonal forecast predicted by NOAA and other agencies is expected to be below average, in part due to a strengthening El Nino in late summer, they should still be prepared.

“Below average” seasonal numbers does not correlate with impact and landfall. There is historical evidence that during strong El Nino years the tracks tend to be focused on Atlantic storms that skirt around the Bermuda-Azores high pressure area.

“This high sits over Bermuda and protects us early in the season, then shifts east to the Azores during September, leaving a path nicknamed “Hurricane Alley” between us and the US East Coast that not only leaves Bermuda vulnerable but also the US East Coast and Canadian Maritimes.

“A simple reminder is that Hurricane Emily 1987 occurred in a strong El Nino year, with only 7 named systems. but that year was a very busy season for us locally. The NOAA Hurricane Hunters are interested in deployments from Bermuda, if necessary, throughout this season. For this reason, BWS has created a special HAW video explaining what the Hurricane Hunters do and why this is important for Bermuda.

“The new National Hurricane Centre products include coastal inundation due to storm surge this year. These maps are only available for the US coast lines presently, but may include other countries in due course. Inundation, as witnessed in Sandy and Katrina, highlight the deadly impact of water during tropical events. Challenges in communicating the risk to communities have been addressed through the partnership with social sciences and has resulted in the recent surge in focus on storm surge and inundation.

“To understand the differences between wind waves, swell, storm surge and run-up please click our HAW logo and watch the “Storm Surge” video.

“The best efforts in meteorology are futile when a population is complacent or unprepared. The job of the Bermuda Weather Service is to try to prevent such surprises by communicating the expected local conditions and relevant watches/warnings to the public; it is your job to decide what action you should take in advance of, during, and after a storm, with the guidance of the EMO.”

“For updates on the current conditions, forecasts, warnings and tropical advisories, please visit Bermuda’s only official source for weather, watches and warnings weather.bm, listen to 977, 9771, 9772 or 9773, view the Bermuda Weather Channel on WOW or CableVision or listen to Marine VHF Channel 2.”

#Weather

Category: All, Environment