Forecasting Change: Earlier starts to hurricane season
Warming waters over past century causing earlier tropical development
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In this image, NOAA s GOES satellite shows Hurricane Irma as it makes its way across the Atlantic Ocean into the Caribbean a Category 5 storm with winds as high as 180 mph at about 3:15 p.m. Wednesday (NASA/NOAA GOES Project via Getty Images). (Getty Images)
Orlando, FLA. – This week on Forecasting Change, we take an early look at hurricane season. For now, the tropics have gone quiet again. But this time last week, we were all focused on subtropical storm Ana.
For the seventh consecutive season, we had an “early start” to the season. And it’s not just the last seven seasons that are setting the new normal.
Updated: 7:17 PM CDT May 27, 2021
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas The Corpus Christi Sea Wall is an iconic piece of the Sparkling City by the Sea’s landscape. Perhaps you have photos with family on the steps, or maybe you’ve brought friends from out of town to walk along its stretch in downtown Corpus Christi.
Credit: KIII
For many of us, it would be hard to imagine downtown Corpus Christi without the sea wall there; the landscape would be drastically different. The wall’s primary purpose is to prevent flooding during a storm surge and massive waves created by hurricanes or tropical storms.
Veronica Vela Whitacre has been the District 6 McAllen City Commissioner for eight years.
She said she decided to become a commissioner because many of her friends encouraged her to run.
“They said, “Veronica, you’ve done everything there is to do in the city of McAllen. The only thing left you have is the city commission,” she said. “I thought, oh wow, and they said, Veronica you’d be amazing. It’d be a good thing for our city to have you. ”
Vela-Whitacre was born and raised in McAllen.
“I remember you could ride your bike anywhere, and we didn’t have a phone connected to us, she said. We were able to ride our bikes and go walking and entertain ourselves outside. We would make little campfires and forts and stuff in the different fields in our neighborhoods. A lot of that is gone because McAllen has grown tremendously. McAllen is booming, and rightfully so, and they’ve done a great job of growing consistently, slowly, and we’ve grown for the benefit
Mr. Biden toured FEMA with Administrator Deanne Criswell, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other top officials.
A February winter storm in Texas offered the U.S. its first brush with natural disasters this year. It prompted the Biden administration to elevate its climate agenda and the need to respond to extreme weather.
“It’s time to get ready for the busiest time of the year for disasters in America hurricane season in the south and east and the fire season out west,” Mr. Biden said. “I’m here today to make it clear that I will insist nothing less than readiness for all these challenges.”
President Biden said the Federal Emergency Management Agency will release $1 billion to states ahead of a hurricane and wildfire season that's expected to produce over a dozen named storms.