It probably goes without saying that the focus this week will be on a lady out in the Atlantic Ocean called ‘Sandy’! This Hurricane has already passed over Cuba, the Bahamas and is now heading up the East Coast of the United States. And this is where the concern lies!
If predictions are anything to go by, this mother of all storms as it has already been called, will hit near Washington DC and further up the coast to New York where it could cause a lot of discomfort for the inhabitants of many states along the eastern seaboard. To compound the situation even more, there is front moving in from the south west and to compound the issue even further, there is a full moon which will result in higher than normal tides on the east coast!
But, what needs to brought home is how organised, prepared and disciplined people are in the United States when it comes to Hurricanes, Tropical Storms and Tornadoes. All one needs to do is check out www.hwn.org – or Hurricane Watch Net to see how it is done and with tornadoes possibly on the increase in South Africa, we have many sites from which we can learn a lot!
Sandy at present is a Category 1 Hurricane. The Hurricane Warning Network are keeping a close watch with regular updates and indicating the various coastlines that could be affected.
Public Advisories are issued on a regular basis and one can refresh to see if there have been any changes. This advisory is also issued in Spanish!
Under discussion, the intensity, characteristics and all other information about the cyclone is discussed in detail to keep the readers up to date on almost a minute by minute basis.
Wind speed and position update is also posted on a regular basis and on the final segment of the locator page the predicted path of the cyclone is also shown!
One can only but marvel at the amount of information posted on a regular basis by the authorities in order to keep the public updated on any eventuality and precautions that should be taken.
With tornadoes on the increase in South Africa, I wonder if we eventually may also find ourselves in such a situation where we need to track incoming cyclones from the Indian Ocean.
Does that sound far fetched? Only time will tell.
Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha – ZS6BUU.
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