Issue 188, July 15, 2023
This past Wednesday, we heard from speaker Mike Buresh, lead weatherman with Action News. He gave us an extensive overview on hurricane predicting and sharing his enthusiasm for the upcoming eclipses.
So far, we have been very lucky and with the typhoon patterns primarily affecting the Western Pacific, we should have a better year on the Atlantic side.
Buresh emphasized that the multiple predictions before hurricanes hit gets less accurate the closer it gets. Also, the cone images are misleading. It is not the only area to get rain and wind. It is the average of the errors over the past 10 years, based on the conditions.
In 2017, the cone misled the weather-watchers because they didn’t understand that that was not the only area to be affected. Since that time, Buresh emphasizes this point. He said weathermen never know whether or not they’ll be right.
In addition, he shared his background of chasing eclipses. He said the best area to watch will be in Texas but there are a lot of good areas across the country to view them. October will be our annual solar eclipse but with only 60-65% sun coverage. In April, get ready for a total eclipse (but don’t look at it unprotected).
The most important facet of weather information is to be prepared. Make sure your insurance is in order, inventory your belongings, have blankets on hand, trim your trees, freeze water in bags and containers, know where to shut off your gas, drain the pool one-to-two feet, turn off the ice maker and empty it in case of power outages (ice melts and makes a mess), and turn off your water softener if you evacuate.
Our next hurricane will be named Don. He may be brewing as I write this.
Join us this Wednesday as we hear from Jacob Gordon with Downtown Jacksonville (previously Downtown Vision).
Have a great week and don’t forget to bring a door prize to get recognized.
Respectfully,
Jeanne Maron
2023 President
