2011 Hurricane Season Starts Today

Today marks the start of the Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Central Pacific hurricane season.   From now until November 30 the local weathercasts include weather satellite imagery from the Caribbean, the Atlantic coast off western Africa and the mid Atlantic.   Our ears start perking up in H-town when the weatherman starts talking about tropical waves or depressions that we know all too well have the potential to turn into dangerous storms.     

We also start reviewing our family hurricane preparedness and evacuation plans and learning what the differences are between Category 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 storms are on the Saffir-Simpson scale

The list of hurricane names for the 2011 season has been released.    Since 1953 the National Hurricane Center has come up with six rotating lists of pre-approved names for tropical storms and hurricanes in English, French and Spanish for our sector of the planet.  The lists had only female names until 1979 when they were revised to add male names as well.  

Storms are also named chronologically.   The 'A' name on the list corresponds to the first storm of the hurricane season, and so on.  Names with 'Q' or 'U' aren't used, and when you run out of names as we did during the 2005 hurricane season when there were 27 tropical storms or hurricanes, the Greek alphabet is used.

Names on the rotating lists are retired when a deadly or costly hurricane makes landfall     This year's list was used during the extremely active 2005 hurricane season, so you'll note that the name Katrina was retired for obvious reasons.   Dennis, Rita, Stan, and Wilma were replaced as well

2011 Hurricane Names

Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irene, Jose, Katia, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rina, Sean, Tammy, Vince, Whitney

Because of long memories about trans Katrina evacuees such as Sharlie Dominique being mistreated at area shelters,  last year the Houston TG Center compiled lists of people in the area willing to house trans people in the event of a hurricane evacuation either here or from other areas of the Gulf Coast.   

Will have to check with Cristan to see if that program is in effect for this season as well.

So for the next six months we'll be casting a very nervous eye toward the Gulf of Mexico hoping we don't get another Carla, Alicia or Ike type storm in the area.

It's Hurricane Season

June 1 is not only the start of a new month, but for those of us living on the Atlantic and Gulf Coast it's hurricane season.

It reminds us that from now until November 30 we'll have to cast a wary eye on satellite images of clouds building up off the west African coast, the Caribbean or the western Atlantic for signs they are developing into tropical waves, tropical storms or hurricanes.

The 2010 NOAA predictions are for 14-23 named tropical storms to develop, 8-14 to become hurricanes with 74 mph winds, with 3-7 turning into major hurricanes of Category 3,4 or 5 level (winds of 114 MPH or higher).

We get refresher courses and news coverage on the differences between a Category 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 storm. We update our family evacuation plans in case we have to leave the area. We check generators, our emergency hurricane supplies and make sure those generators and flashlights have fresh batteries in them.

Hurricane Ike whacked Houston while I was gone, but ironically still came up to Louisville to affect me anyway.

At the same time, hurricane prediction numbers, while they are a concern, also depend on where they form as well. In 1983 we had only 4 named storms that made US landfall. One of them was Hurricane Alicia, the last Major hurricane to hit the Houston-Galveston area until Ike.

So yes, hurricanes just aren't a concern for those of us in the coastal zones. After they make landfall and begin breaking up they can dump massive amounts of rain in a very short time or create conditions for large tornado outbreaks depending on the type of storm.

So here's hoping that my first hurricane season since returning to the Gulf coast, despite the initial predictions from NOAA, is a relatively quiet one.

Houston Trans Community Preparing For Hurricane Season

The start of hurricane season is fast approaching, and with memories fresh in our minds about how several trans Katrina evacuees were mistreated in area shelters in 2005, the Houston TG Center is getting prepared to avoid a repeat of that scenario.

Because some of our community members are estranged or separated from our families, it impacts our abilities to expeditiously react to an oncoming storm or to recover from and rebuild our lives after it has made landfall.

The Houston TG Center is compiling a list of people willing to house trans evacuees in their homes in the vent of an evacuation.

If you need more info, follow this link to the TG Center blog.

Ike's Targeting Houston

It's been 25 years since the last Category 3 or above storm blasted the Houston area. With memories of Hurricane Alicia fresh in my mind I've been concerned ever since Ike finished beating up on Cuba and reemerged in the Gulf of Mexico.

I checked in with my family and so far, they are okay, but I am a little worried. They were caught in the massive traffic jam on I-45 north trying to get to our relatives in Dallas during the botched 2005 Hurricane Rita evacuation, which brewed up as a Cat 5 storm only three weeks after Katrina waylaid New Orleans.

It took them 17 hours to drive the 100 miles north to Huntsville, a normally 2 hour trip on I-45 and rode the storm out there until it slid further east, weakened and made landfall along the Texas-Louisiana border. This time they're taking a wait and see attitude and staying put.

Most of my relatives live on the south and west sides of Houston, and they'll be first up to feel the effects of Ike's rain and wind bands as it draws inexorably closer to the area.

I knew it was a matter of time before Houston's luck ran out and with this storm, it looks like it's about to replicate the conditions of Alicia's San Luis Pass landfall. It's still over 300 miles away from Galveston as I write this, but its predicted 15-22 foot storm surge is already being felt along most of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans.

As a long time Gulf Coast resident until 2001, I and anyone who lives there takes hurricanes seriously. I've ridden out two Cat 3 storms, Betsy and Alicia. After Alicia's August 18, 1983 landfall, I noted the devastation it caused to many downtown skyscrapers thanks to loose roofing gravel and the varying levels of wind damage some neighborhoods took. I made it clear to friends and relatives that if a Cat 4 or 5 hurricane were approaching the area, I was boarding up the apartment windows and heading up I-45 north.

Those of us who grew up in the Houston area know all too well the story of the 1900 storm that almost obliterated Galveston when it made landfall on September 8.

It killed 6000 people in Galveston alone and still ranks as the worst natural disaster to ever strike the United States. It also altered the course of Texas history by putting Houston on the path to becoming the dominant city not only in the region but the state as well.

This storm is large, almost 700 miles across. It got weakened to a Cat 2 after traveling the length of Cuba, but could possibly be a low Category 3 storm by the time it makes landfall later tomorrow.

Even if Ike does make landfall further south along the Texas coast, Houston will get some of the effects before it moves further inland.

It's also going to affect you at the gas pump. Once again you have a hurricane traveling through an area where you have oil rigs drilling away. In addition to that problem, in the Houston-Galveston Southeast Texas area alone are 26 oil refineries. One fifth of the oil refining capacity in the United States is concentrated between Houston and New Orleans. If you do the drive along I-10 you will pass numerous refineries between Houston and Lake Charles.

You readers may not experience the winds or wrath of Ike, but you will feel it in your pocket at the gas pump.

Ironically after it makes landfall Ike's projected path takes it all the way up here to Kentucky. Even being 1000 miles away from the Gulf Coast doesn't keep me from experiencing tropical storms or their effects.