Do Recent Weather Headlines Spell Disaster For So. Fla. Hurricane Season?
MIAMI (CBS4) - All the inclement weather hitting various portions of the U.S. has brought a question into the minds of many South Floridians as we enter into the beginning of hurricane season: are we in store for devastation when storms brew in the Atlantic?
First there was the jaw dropping tsunami that wiped towns away creating a nuclear mess in Japan. Then the Mississippi flooded the Midwest. And what was untouched by water was recently subjected to record setting tornadoes. And just when you thought it was over Massachusetts of all places sees a tornado? If you didn't know any better you might think 89 year old Harold Camping, you know the guy who predicted the rapture last month, was right about his October 21st, rapture part two, prediction.
Whether Camping is right one thing is for sure Mother Nature has kicked up this year.
"To say lots of tornados means lots of hurricanes there is not that direct connection," Erik Salna with FIU's International Hurricane Research Center explained to CBS4's David Sutta.
The elements needed for numerous tornados and strong hurricanes are vastly different;
"When we talk about the ingredients to make tornados and the ingredients to make hurricanes. They are not always necessarily the same recipe," said Salna.
But even if we don't see a hurricane make landfall, you may become violent when you see your insurance bill next year.
"We will definitely be affected. I don't know to what extent exactly." Aneiby Ortega of Area Insurance said.
Insurance experts predict premiums will likely go up because of all those tornado claims. The hike coming from a rise in cost for re-insurance, the insurance your insurer buys to keep from going under in a disaster.
And disaster is apparently just a storm away.
"If we have one significant hurricane in Florida, the insurance industry is so fragile that it could be enough to put it in jeopardy," said CBS4 Chief Meteorologist David Bernard.
Regardless of whether we see a storm here in South Florida or it stays beautiful, it appears we can expect to pay next year for disasters outside of Florida this year.
