Today is the last day of October and I think that it is looking more and more like the 2008 hurricane season has come to an end. Over the past week, a strong cold front pushed all the way across the Gulf of Mexico and into the Caribbean Sea, bringing record low temperatures to the southeast U.S. including Florida. Wind shear is increasing all across the Tropics now, and tropical disturbances are few and far between.
The season totals stand at 15 named storms, 7 of those hurricanes and 4 of those 7 major hurricanes. It’s been an active year as far as land falling storms. There was a period of 6 consecutive land falling storms across the U.S. - from Dolly through Ike. Three Category 2 hurricanes made landfall on the U.S. Mainland this season - Dolly, Gustav and Ike, causing over $50 billion in damage and considerable loss of life. There was a tremendous impact across Haiti and the Dominican Republic this season, leaving over 1000 people dead from flooding. With the coming of November, I think that most areas can breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Those of you in south Florida, breathe half a sigh of relief for now. I’m still keeping my eye on that southwest Caribbean Sea. We still need to monitor that area for possible development for another few weeks. Anything developing down there still has a chance of impacting south Florida.
I’ll be preparing a bit of a summary of the season for next week’s post.
