Barbadians have been urged to be as prepared as possible as the country braces for an active Atlantic Hurricane season.
This plea has come from Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams and representatives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration during today’s National Hurricane Centre’s (NHC) 2024 Caribbean Hurricane Awareness Tour at the Grantley Adams International Airport.
Abrahams referred to data from Colorado State University that forecasts 11 hurricanes from the 23 named storms, with five of the hurricanes expected to become major weather systems.
He reminded Barbadians that this year’s season, from June 1 to November 30, and the visit of the officials and hurricane hunters who flew in on the United States (US) Air Force WC-130 J aircraft, were extremely timely and instructive.
Director of NHC, Dr Michael Brennan, spoke of the work of the hurricane hunter aircraft and highlighted its impact on the accuracy of forecasts.
“This is one of the ten aircraft from the US Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters that we task to fly directly into the storm to give us direct measurements so we know exactly where the storm is located, how strong it is and what are the tropical storm force winds.
“That data helps our forecasters at the NHC better analyse and improve the forecast about where the storm will go over the next five days. The data also goes into the numerical weather forecast models and makes their forecast track and intensity of forecast ten to 20 per cent better,” Brennan said. (TG)
