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2010 Atlantic Hurricane Names

Time to get ready for the 2010 hurricane season! In April and May many States and Municipalities in the Southeast start their public campaign to ready the public and properties for the upcoming tropical season. Updated information regarding emergency contact numbers, shelter locations and local regulations are usually broadcast via news, the internet and by mail.

Many towns urge their property owners to perform and complete all outdoor maintenance, such as major tree trimming and removal of vegetation, along with the installation of any new shutter material before June 1st.

This is also a good time to review your homeowners and flood insurance policies – make any necessary changes before the start of the season. You agent will not be able to make changes once a named storm is headed your way. Updating your home inventory, along with taking pictures/videos of your home and belongings to store in a safe place is another step in pre-season preparation.

Okay, now here are the names:

Alex, Bonnie, Colin, Danielle, Earl, Fiona, Gaston, Hermine, Igor, Julia, Karl, Lisa, Matthew, Nicole, Otto, Paula, Richard, Shary, Tomas, Virginie, Walter

If you recognize some of the names as being repeats from previous years you are right. Unless they are retired, names will repeat when they run through the set of names, which is approximately every six years. A hurricane name is retired (and replaced with a new name) if the storm associated with that name was especially costly/deadly, out of respect.

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Evacuating the Florida Keys

evacuation route

Even though it seems that the worst of hurricane Ike will be south of the Florida Keys, officials decided to go through with the mandatory evacuation orders for residents starting Sunday, September 7th. The tourist evacuation took place on Saturday, with about 15,000 of them leaving - taking their $$$ with them.

The resident evacuation takes place in phases, with Key West first starting at 8 a.m., the Middle Keys (Marathon area) at 12 noon, and the Upper Keys (Key Largo area) at 4 p.m. When the decision was made, hurricane Ike was a category 4, so they decided to take no chances.

We know how these things go, a last minute bump to the north and those who left the Keys will be glad they did - those that stay may be in for a wild ride. It appears that many residents (especially those in the Upper Keys) are taking their time, making hurricane preparations, and waiting to leave. Contrary to news reports, gas stations are not crowded here, nor are they running out of gas. We, along with most of our neighbors filled our cars days ago.

We are leaving today, but only out of boredom - with the boat out of the water and businesses closing, there’s really not much to do.

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Hurricane Ike Predictions

As stated in the previous post, Ike is the storm to watch……and that’s all we can do, because the National Hurricane Center doesn’t have a clue as to where it is going at this point - 4 days out. Being in the upper Keys, along with having property and family in Palm Beach County, we are watching every hurricane update. Since it appears that the hurricane will impact South Florida in one way or another, we are starting our hurricane preparations today by taking the boat out of the water and bringing things inside.

Most of the state is in the “cone of uncertainty” and the most recent updates have been progressively moving the center to the south - currently appearing to cross throug the Keys. Of course, the path will probably change many times between now and the next four days, wavering in intensity from 4 to 2. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that it continues to be pushed farther south - better yet, that the front coming from the west would make it turn to the north before it gets here.

The steering currents guiding Ike are so unpredictable, that this hurricane looks to be one of those last minute calls. Memories of hurricanes Andrew and Wilma are reminders of how erratic strong hurricanes can be. Everyone continues to remain calm, going about their business in paradise, but we all agree that this flipping the coin is getting old!

windy | 2008 Hurricane Season, Ike | Comments Off