Don't celebrate the lack of storms yet Six weeks into the
hurricane season and the Atlantic has seen only one named storm.
What’s happening and will we luck out this year? By MARLON A.
WALKER Published July 17, 2006 Eight weeks into the 2005
hurricane season, Tropical Storm Gert was making its way west to
Mexico, the seventh named storm of the season. This year’s
hurricane season has reached week eight with only one named
storm, Alberto, which was barely a tropical storm as it slogged
ashore in Florida’s Big Bend area. Is this reason for optimism?
“It’s very tempting for people to want to read into a lot of
things,” said Jamie Rhome, a hurricane specialist with the
National Hurricane Center in Miami. “That type of philosophy for
people other than trained experts is very dangerous. Bottom line
is you need to be prepared.” While westerly winds this summer
have helped thwart the formation of storms in the Atlantic
basin, the first part of this year’s season is actually quite
average. It was the past two years th