NASSAU, Bahamas – The 13th annual Bahamas Weather Conference began Thursday morning (April 16) at the Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort in Nassau, Bahamas. The annual event brings together top officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), National Hurricane Center (NHC), emergency managers and academia.
Max Mayfield, former director of the NHC, coordinated the presentation of papers on relevant hurricane topics from tropical climatology and global warming to the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Seasonal Outlook from Dr. Phil Klotzbach and Dr. Bill Gray of Colorado State University.
Overviews from each session are available via the Bahamas Weather Conference Web Channel, www.bahamaswxconference.com.
Bahamas Minister of Tourism Hon. Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace opened the conference with a reminder that the destination, comprised of 700 islands stretching across 100,000 sq. miles, is a large region and that hurricanes passing across the southern islands of Inagua or Mayaguana may have no effect on weather in Nassau.
Session highlights from Thursday include:
The Colorado State University outlook for the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane season calls for 12 named storms, 6 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes.
NHC Director Bill Read and Max Mayfield discussed the Saffir-Simpson scale and the addition of new storm surge warnings to better advise the public on the threat of storm surges.
Max Mayfield provided a simple outline for developing a family disaster preparedness plan and visual tour of what should be in everyone’s disaster kit.
