Florida Division of Emergency Management Issues Apology For 4AM Alert

It was not the way any of us wanted to wake up this morning. At about 4:45AM, cell phones all over Florida were buzzing and chirping. An Emergency Alert test was sent out as many were sound asleep. At least until the alert came in. Turns out the test WAS a planned one. But you were NOT supposed to get it on your phone.

A short time ago, the Florida Division of Emergency Management issued this statement on Twitter:

"We know a 4:45 AM wake up call isn't ideal. @FLSERT wants to apologize for the early morning text. Each month, we test #emergencyalerts on a variety of platforms. This alert was supposed to be on TV, and not disturb anyone already sleeping. We are taking the appropriate action to ensure this will never happen again and that only true emergencies are sent as alerts in the middle of the night."

I suggest whoever hit the wrong button bring a big box of doughnuts into the office today.

Can you believe it's already almost that time of year? We're less than 100 days away from the kick off of hurricane season. The National Hurricane Center has revealed the 2023 hurricane name list. Of all the names they could have chosen, they included the name Lee. As if Lee County wasn't punished enough last year with Hurricane Ian. With the names of this year's potential storms being released, it may be time to start thinking about getting a head start on prepping your home.

The National Hurricane Center is making a change to reporting of the storms for the 2023 season. Instead of the usual 5 day, they’re switching to a 7-day tropical weather outlook. More info and a longer timeline is always better. The yellow, orange, and red color coding for development will not change and we’ll still get regular updates at 2 p.m., 8 p.m., 2 a.m. and 8 a.m. EDT.

As far as the names go, they use a list that repeats every 6 years minus the really bad ones. The 2017 season was ugly. In fact, they've retired three names from that season. Harvey, Irma and Maria. We all remember how Irma impacted Southwest Florida as a Category 3 storm with winds of 115 MPH.

Pronounced: ar-LEEN

In 2017, Tropical Storm Arlene formed on April 16. It was not a major storm, but it kinda let us know what was coming.

The 2017 version of Bret targeted Venezuela in June.

The 2017 Tropical Storm Cindy targeted  Louisiana, spawned tornadoes, and killed 3. 

In July of 2017, Tropical Storm Don formed but didn’t last.

2017 Emily directed effected us. Heavy rainfall produced by Emily caused widespread flooding in Polk and Pinellas counties. Coastal flooding was reported in Hillsborough,  Manatee,  Sarasota, Lee, and Collier counties, causing additional road closures. A tornado touched down Bradenton, destroying two barns and multiple greenhouses. The storm indirectly led to flooding in Miami where 6.97 in of rain fell in 3.5 hours. 

The 2017 Hurricane Franklin hit central America on July 27th.

The 2017 Hurricane Gert skirted by North Carolina’s Outer Banks and then set it’s sights on – Ireland. That’s right, Gert looped all the way back around and was responsible for flooding in Ireland.

Harold is new to list after the 2017 Harvey was retired. However, the name Harold has been used before. Severe Tropical Cyclone Harold was a very powerful tropical cyclone which caused widespread destruction in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, and Tonga during April 2020.

Pronounced: Idalia ee-DAL-ya.

The next new name to the list.

2017 Hurricane Jose was massive and nearly a category 5.  But then, a large mid-latitude low-pressure area offshore Atlantic Canada and the circulation associated with Hurricane Irma resulted in the collapse of steering currents, causing Jose to decelerate and execute a cyclonic loop. Off to sea.

Pronounced: KAH-tyah

In September of 2017, Katia struck Mexico just days after a major earthquake struck the country.

On September 26, 2017 Hurricane Lee became a Cat 2 but was never a threat to land. We do wish, however, that NHC would consider not using the name seeing as how large portions of Lee County are still a mess from last year. It’s not like we need the reminder.

A new name after the 2017 Maria name was retired.

In 2017, Ophelia went to the right. On October 16, Ophelia ceased to be a tropical cyclone after merging with a strong cold front about 310 mi southwest of Mizen Head, Ireland. The extratropical low made landfall on the west coast of Ireland at Category 1-equivalent intensity later that day, several hours before striking northern Scotland.

Pronounced: fee-LEEP

The 2017 Tropical Storm Philippe spawned three tornadoes in southeastern Florida. One of those damaged dozens of homes in Boynton Beach, while another produced a wind gust of 74 mph in West Palm Beach.

Pronounced: REE-nuh

2017 Tropical Storm Rina formed on November 7th and did not make landfall.

The 2011 Tropical Storm Sean was the last named storm of 2011. It formed on November 8th and didn’t amount to much.

Let’s just hope we don’t get this far.

Hopefully not needed.

That’s the last on the list. Here’s to hoping we don’t need them.

https://myq105.com/listicle/5-hurricane-prep-items-you-might-have-forgotten-about/