About Tropical Weather

This site is NOT a source of official forecasts and is not to be used as such. For official information,
please refer to NHC and NWS products.

September 1965 Newspaper Article about Hurricane Betsy refugees (click to enlarge)

That said, what is this site, and why the interest in tropical weather? Living in the southeast United States all my life, I've been on the periphery of storms for years, for decades actually.

I've had to prepare for their landfall, and deal with their aftermath. I've been through hours of howling winds, and felt the summer heat for days without the comforts of air conditioning. I respect nature, and the power that it unleashes, and I recognize the inability of mankind to do anything about it.

My first memory of being in the path of a hurricane was in 1957, when Hurricane Audrey roared through central Louisiana and clipped off our TV aerial. Damage in that part of Louisiana was minimal, in stark contrast to the devastation and loss of life at Cameron.

I recall the long line of cars edging north through Alexandria Louisiana in 1965 as they evacuated in advance of Hurricane Betsy. Ultimately, Alexandria housed over 1,000 refugees from South Louisiana.

Mississippi Gulf Coast, August, 2005, pre-Katrina

In July of 1969, I made the trek from Louisiana to Florida to begin military service. I clearly remember the leisurely drive on U.S. 90 along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, through Pass Christian and Gulfport and Biloxi. Shortly after arriving in Tampa, the newspaper headlines talked of a massive storm in the Gulf, known as Hurricane Camille.

I again drove the Mississippi coast in January 1970, and witnessed first-hand the terrible destruction Camille delivered; only parts of U.S. 90 were opened, and ships were still strewn on the beaches.

In later years, back in Louisiana, we were fortunate in Baton Rouge that Hurricane Andrew left us with only a yard full of debris, and days without power. We made a scheduled trip to New York City a few days later, and it was amazing that Andrew had followed us that far north, with rain and wind the night we enjoyed Stoli and a light meal at the top of the World Trade Center.

Storm clouds from remnants of Hurricane Gustav over Texas, September, 2008

We visited the Mississippi Gulf Coast again on August, 13, 2005, to enjoy a seafood meal at our favorite beachside diner. After 35 years of rebuilding from Camille, the coast looked good, business was booming, and life was normal. Days later, on August 29, Hurricane Katrina changed all of that.

A number of other storms brushed us in Baton Rouge, and again in 2005 we were fortunate, as the wrath of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita only left us without power and air conditioning for days. We were blessed, and we knew it.

We're further inland these days, about 200 miles from the Gulf, and storms like Hurricane Gustav in September of 2008 gave us only a light brushing. But with hurricanes, wind is not the only threat, and rain and flooding are always a possibility hundreds of miles from the point of impact.

Our interest in, and respect for, the power of nature continues. And we have great appreciation for the hard work of meteorologists everywhere, especially those at the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service.

We continue to monitor tropical weather, and present it on this website in a quick, understandable, and easy-to-read format, with links to more detailed weather resources for those readers who require more in-depth information and forecasts.

As we enter the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, we thank the National Hurricane Center, the National Weather Service, Accuweather, WeatherUnderground, The Weather Channel, SkeetobiteWeather, Storm2K.org, and others for providing content for this site, and for their dedication in protecting the citizens along the U.S. coastlines.