I live in Central Florida. While all areas of the nation have severe weather problems from time to time, my primary issue from June to November is our hurricane season.
Each year I seek out internet sites that will give me projections, tracks and data on tropical storm and hurricane activity. One of my favorites sites each year has been Mike's Weather Page. Mike provides an aggregation of data from a number of sources to include the infamous Spagetti Models Plots - a demonstration of how little we really know about climate and weather patterns.
The Spagetti Models are an aggregate of a number of learned guesses from commercial and institutional experts on storm tracking whose computer models in the early days of the track provide wide variance in the best projections available on the possible tracks of a storm. The complexities of weather and storm tracking are reduced to computer models (systems of mathematical equations) which may differ in the weight they give each of the many variables in a weather track. The result is that the many models available from different sources may not show much agreement initially in their projections. But as the storm comes closer, the models frequently begin to converge and clear patterns become apparent and more useful.
Mike's Weather Page is free to access - although they provide a "donations" button on the site - which I recommend. This site is a excellent presentation of information on dangerous storms and there are costs in providing the site.
The following image presents just a portion of the interesting and relevant data on current tropical activity and progress of named storms. Check out the live site where you can click on each section of the page to get an expanded view of the data source presented in each frame.
Realtors on the Atlantic seaboard or Gulf Coast may find it useful to provide a link to Mike's Weather Page on your web site with links to storm preparedness information for your clients and viewers of your site. (Mikes Weather Page provides a number of outside links to explore for information) You will note that I have added Mike's Weather Page to my links on my Active Rain blog viewed to the right of this article (right next to the US Debt Clock link !! - an even greater threat to all of us - but that is for another day)
Plan ahead before you are looking at an approaching storm with family evacuation plans or food and water supplies for several days without power and utilities in your area in the wake of a storm. Good information sources can keep you informed on developing weather threats. Remember that insurance companies will not bind additional coverage once there is a named storm on the charts.
On a lighter note(s) - Jimmy Buffett's "Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season" video with some spectacular photo images of the Florida Keys. <click link>
Take care and be safe during the 2011 Hurricane Season.
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