We were out of town this weekend, and as is often the case when we travel I lose track of what’s going on in the world. So, I was a bit surprised to pick up today’s Chron upon our return and read about Hurricane Felix.
Hurricane Felix churned toward Central America today, sending enormous waves crashing to shore as the Category 4 storm drew strength from the warm waters of the Caribbean. Forecasters said it could hit the coast with catastrophic winds shortly after daybreak Tuesday.
As Felix headed west with 145 mph winds, tourists jammed the airports and locals stocked up on food and plywood or moved to higher ground. The storm was projected to reach Honduras on Tuesday and then slam into Belize, where many residents were still cleaning up from last month’s Hurricane Dean.
“We are ready to face an eventual tragedy,” said Douglas Fajardo, fire chief on the Caribbean resort island of Roatan.
[…]
Felix seemed likely to make landfall at the Honduras-Nicaragua border, along the remote Miskito Coast, which was already being pounded by heavy rain Monday. Honduran lawmaker Carolina Echeverria said officials were still trying to find enough gas to fuel boats evacuating people in the region, where isolated Miskito Indians speak a mix of Spanish and creole.
[…]
Felix, which briefly reached category 5 status today, is the second Atlantic hurricane of the season following last month’s Hurricane Dean, which killed at least 28 people as plowed through the Caribbean and then slammed into Mexico as a Category 5 storm.
This is only the fourth year since 1886 that more than one Category 5 hurricane was recorded in an Atlantic season, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Only 31 Category 5 hurricanes have been recorded in the Atlantic since 1886, and eight of them have formed in the last five seasons.
I know this still feels like a fairly quiet hurricane season, all things considered – and let’s be honest, after 2005 almost anything will feel quiet by comparison – but any season with two Cat 5s can’t reasonably be called quiet. And that last sentence quoted above should give us all pause for the future. SciGuy, as always, has more.