Re: More bad news

Misifus <raf_seibert@xxxxxxx> wrote in news:dqPRe.8292$dm.2642
@lakeread03:

> I believe the frequency of hurricanes in the last couple of years
> is comparable to the occurances of the 1950's. So, fifty years
> ago there was a similar surge in the numbers of serious storms.
> Iirc, there were very serious storms at about the turn of the
> last century. Is this a pattern? Possibly, not one I'd bet a
> lot of money on, but the rise and fall of the numbers of serious
> hurricanes does seem to vary on a regular basis. Since global
> warming, whatever the causes, has been steadily increasing over
> the last century or so, it's unlikely to be the cause of a
> cyclical pattern in storms.

Yeah, there are cycles within cycles, and nobody really knows what's
going on.

I'm a South Florida native who remembers the storms of my childhood like
Donna, when I had to help push towels under the front door to keep water
from seeping into my parents' house. Later in life, I remember thinking,
all the way through the 70's and especially the 80's.... where are all
the hurricanes? What happened?

There was a big lull in activity during that period, when (compared to
the historical record) we should have experienced major storms. Instead,
it was a very quiet period... which unfortunately lulled many people
into a false sense of security, and contributed to the building
standards that made Andrew such a disaster, later on. It was even
getting to the point where the ecology of Florida Bay was getting
seriously messed up (too stagnant), because it wasn't getting the
regular flushing and sediment removal that the big storms provide.
Hurricanes cause massive negative impact on human populations, but they
actually serve a purpose in local ecologies like that.

Hurricane Andrew was the wakeup call that reminded people that these
things are NORMAL for the area. And the Florida Keys are way overdue for
a killer storm.

Mike Barrs
.

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