The neighborhood we have to watch is called … the Caribbean! Unfortunately the 2008 hurricane season is underway (since June 1st) and the first major hurricane has formed; its called Bertha and is thankfully not coming even close to the Cayman Islands. Bertha is now a category 3 storm (1 being the “smallest” and 5 a catastrophic type storm) and may be headed to Bermuda. Lets hope is stays away.

To be sure we are fully aware of the situation and ready, we use the following as our main sources of information:

  • http://www.nhc.noaa.gov The National Hurricane Center of the US government is a great site for Hurricane information and frequently updated news on approaching storms. They even send out email alerts which I get on my Blackberry a few times a day to inform about the progression of a storm.
  • http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/?index_region=at This is probably the most comprehensive site. The “computer models” for each storm is great and shows what respected weather forecasters around the globe think the storm will do by using sophisticated modeling techniques. (see picture below) Of course, they are not always correct. Last year with dean they all though it would be a direct hit on Grand Cayman and in the end it missed the island by 150miles.
  • http://www.stormcarib.com/ This site is great since there are “collaborators” from many islands that send in reports of what is happening in their area. Its great reading. I send in a message once in a while in the Cayman section.

If anything comes towards Cayman, we are 1000x better prepared than last year. We now have full shutters on the house, have already fully revised our hurricane kit/list and would be ready in less than one day. All we really would have to do is get important stuff to my office, bring stuff inside (e.g: satellite dish) and go to my office with dog & bird. Lets just hope we don’t need to!

The computer models I was talking about. Bermuda is the small spec just below 35n and along 65w. If the storm does not turn as planned, then they may be in for some rough weather.