Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Predicting Weather

Acurate prediction within 24 hours. Hurricanes have a mind of their own and weather conditions can change in a matter of minutes. Remember that hurricane 2 years ago that caused mass evacuations in Florida's history and even shutdown Disney World for the first time in history. Only to have the hurricane miss the entire state of Florida at the last minute and it headed for the Carolinas. Other hurricanes that have made surprizing landfalls Hurricane Camile Hurricane Hazel Hurricane Hugo Hurricane Gilbert Hurricane Donna Hurricane Lenny (this hurricane formed in the Western Caribbean in late November of 1999 and moved East towards the islands instead of the general Western path) Hurricane Lenny has impacted the entire Caribbean, even Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao received severe beach erosion. Tropical Storm Bret (Killed hundreds in Caracas, Venezuela after changing path in the last few hours from North West to South West heading straight for major cities in Venezuela). Tropical Storm Allison (Made a suprising landfall in Houston Texas in 2001 causing massive flooding in the city and a few deaths). In addition many people under estimate the power of a hurricane. Some hurricanes may appear small but are destructive while others may appear big on the satelite but are less destructive. Many people under estimated the strenght of Hurricane Andrew, it appeared very small on the satelite but Andrew was a killer. The same goes for tropical storms, people think tropical storms are not that bad but Allison brought 24 inches of rain to Houston metro area in 2 days causing massive flooding and killing a few people in the summer of 2001. Another thing hurricanes can form rapidly. Andrew became a strong hurricane in just 12 hours. Today you see Tropical Storm Bertha heading for New Orleans while on Friday the weather in the Golf was perfect.