JACKSONVILLE, Fl. -- The first outlook for the 2018 Hurricane Season has been released and it's possible another active season is on the way. According to Colorado State University, who conducted this study, the outlook includes 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes, and 3 major hurricanes.
But what does this mean for you and me? Simply put, it's just a reminder. A reminder of how powerful Mother Nature can be sometimes.
All in all, numbers don't mean much. Yes, we can sit and talk about how active the 2017 hurricane season was, with 17 named storms, 10 hurricanes, 6 of which being major. The most active season since 2005. But really, what storm do you remember most? My guess would be Hurricane Irma.
See all it takes is one storm and what hurricane season really boils down to is preparedness. While forecasters and meteorologists are finding ways to improve forecasts (which have improved drastically by the way, this past year the three most damaging storms were forecasted with 25% better accuracy than average), what's more important is local response.
How we as a community interpret and communicate information to stay safe & prepared is more important than category size, wind speed and unnecessary spaghetti plots.
So at the end of the day, we can't control Mother Nature, but we can control how we react and handle whatever cards are dealt.
Hurricane season starts on June 1st and runs through November 30th.
