The 2022 Atlantic Hurricane season starts on Wednesday. Forecasters are predicting an above average number of storms this year with up to six becoming major hurricanes. Weather watchers point to higher than normal temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean as one sign of an active season. Jason Beaman is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mobile. He says a hurricane plan is always a good thing to have in mind before a storm hits.
“You want the same kind of preparations as if…a risk of tornados. So, it’s always give to have that…some sort of plan of action to be ready to go when the time comes,” said Beaman.
Tropical Storm Claudette was blamed for causing two deaths in Tuscaloosa County last year. A father and son were killed when the system knocked a tree over onto their residence. Beaman says even inland cities like Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, and Birmingham should be guard for storms which can cause destruction as they move in from the Gulf.
“We have definitely seen…especially some of our faster moving storms, Hurricane Zeta in 2020…caused significant damage across Central Alabama, well inland from where it made landfall. So, those winds can carry several hundred miles inland.”
Beaman compares a hurricane plan to the kind of preparations Alabamians make for tornado season. That includes an evacuation plan if storm forces residents to head to safer ground.
