Dear Tom,
The hurricane season has finally come to life; might we hope that it will be a quiet season because it has taken this long for it to get going?
–William Stanton
Dear William,
Unfortunately, hurricane statistics do not support that rationale. Dr. Max Mayfield, former director of the National Weather Service’s National Hurricane Center, tells us: “It’s not unusual to have a late start, and the truth is that there is no good correlation between when the season actually starts … and how much activity we ultimately have.” Hurricane Andrew is a case in point. That storm, the first of the 1992 season, was not named until Aug. 17. It smashed across southern Florida with Category 5 intensity (156+ m.p.h. winds) and became the nation’s second costliest hurricane, with damage set at $26.5 billion (behind only 2005’s Katrina at $81 billion).
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Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Pl., Chicago, IL 60618 or: asktomwhy@wgntv.com
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