NOAA forecasts another busy Atlantic hurricane season
Federal forecasters say we can expect another busier than average hurricane season this year.
The National Weather Service says there’s a 60 percent chance the Atlantic season could again be busier than normal. Forecasters say that means we could see between 13 and 19 named storms, with up to 10 hurricanes, and 5 major hurricanes.
Warm sea surface temperatures, probably the number one contributor, uh, to the whole thing.
Ken Graham is Service’s director and oversaw the National Hurricane Center in Miami between 2018 and 2022. He says the absence of an El Nino weather pattern that can help weaken storms is also a factor.
Graham and other officials declined to answer questions about cuts at local weather offices, which issue warnings as storms near. They said no forecasters had been cut at the hurricane center.
The hurricane center's fully staffed and I'm gonna make sure that our offices, when there's a hurricane threat, that's gonna have the resources that they need to make sure every warning goes out.
About 550 employees have left or been fired from the National Weather Service, according to a letter released by five former weather service directors.
Hurricane season
Hurricane season is only two weeks away. And WFIT’s Rick Glasby reports there’s turmoil within the Federal Emergency Management Agency:
The head of FEMA rescinded the agency’s strategic plan. That’s the document that guides agency priorities when responding to disasters. A new plan has yet to be put into place. In a memo sent to FEMA employees on Wednesday, the acting FEMA administrator wrote, “The Strategic Plan is hereby rescinded. It contained goals and objectives that bear no connection to FEMA accomplishing its mission.”
Meanwhile, Gov. DeSantis says he’s not that worried about turmoil within FEMA, because "FEMA isn’t really all that important." DeSantis thinks that state and local governments are strong enough to handle what comes.
Former state emergency management director and current US Representative Jared Moskowitz said FEMA can’t be eliminated - it’s Florida’s lifeline after disaster strikes. But Moskowitz wants to remove FEMA as part of the Department of Homeland Security and make it an independent agency.
Florida leads nation in hate groups, Southern Poverty Law Center says
Florida leads the nation in hate groups according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s latest report on hate and extremism in the U.S.
SPLC’s Rachel Carroll Rivas says there are 100 hate groups in Florida, including white supremacist, Neo Nazi, anti-LGBTQ, anti-immigrant, and anti-government groups.
She says the rise in these groups have been fueled by false claims of white genocide spread mostly online.
“We really saw this idea grow in popularity across the far right as they use this conspiracy to target immigrants, black people and other people of color and LGBTQ folks.”
Overall, hate crimes across the country dropped last year, but Rivas says that doesn’t mean these groups are any less active.
SpaceX Memorial Day weekend rocket launch
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will potentially carry Starlink internet-beaming satellites into low-Earth orbit on Saturday, May 24. The Launch window is 1:19 p.m. to 5:50 p.m from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Weather permitting and depending on cloud cover, the rocket launch from Florida’s Space Coast could be visible from Jacksonville Beach and Daytona Beach to Vero Beach and West Palm Beach
More: www.floridatoday.com
