2008 HURRICANE SEASON
SEPT., 2008
Vol.6, No.3
After a quiet uneventful start to the hurricane season, Faye, Gustav
and Hanna have reminded us that we must always be prepared.
All 3 storms began as "waves" coming off the African coast that
never really got their acts together until they reached the Caribbean.
Faye didn't have the typical counter-clockwise spin until it was over
Puerto Rico and even then was still considered an "open" low pres-
sure system. Un-named until it was south of Hispaniola, Faye
never reached hurricane status. But as most Floridians will attest to
it didn't have to.
Gustav also was a un-named wave until it was close to Hispaniola.
Unfortunately, this storm chose a different route and pulled itself
together quickly. As a Cat.1 hurricane, it passed over the tree-less
tip of Haiti, causing over 50 deaths- mostly due to mudslides. Then
down-graded to a tropical storm, it meandered over Jamaica bring-
ing torential rain and flooding, but little wind damage. Then Gustav
quickly got its act together, blossoming to a Cat.4 hurricane and
making a beeline for Cuba. The western third of Cuba as well as La
Isla de Juventud were battered with 140-mile-per-hour winds and
much destruction has occurred. However, as of this press release,
no deaths have been reported- which says alot about Cuba's meth-
ods of removing people from harms way. As of this moment Gustav
is about to strike New Orleans as a Cat.3 hurricane. Our prayers
are with the residents there.
As of press-time, Hanna's story has yet to be written. Also a
meandering rainband from the African coast, Hanna stayed more to
the north of the West Indies. After being battered from multiple
directions by wind shear (to the point of being down-graded to a
depression), Hanna is hanging on as a tropical storm. The Turks &
Caicos Islands and the Bahama Islands are next to be threatened
by this storm.
As of this moment, there are 2 more low pressure systems in the
Atlantic basin to be concerned about. The first, which could be
named Ike at any moment, has moved slightly north and may only
be of marine shipping concerns. The second one has just moved
off the African coast and bears watching.
For continuing coverage, we would like to suggest these websites:
www.noaa.gov
www.bbc.co.uk/caribbean
www.jamaicaobserver.com
www.virginislandsdailynews.com
