Community Corner

Peak of Hurricane Season is Here

Irene hit area this month last year.

August begins the peak of the hurricane season. It was this month last year when , downgraded to a tropical storm, hit Northern Virginia with high winds and storms that downed trees and created power outages for more than 100,000 homes.

Fairfax County offers hurricane preparedness tips:

  • Cut dead trees and limbs that could fall on your home.
  • Learn the difference between a watch and a warning.
    • A hurricane watch indicates that hurricane conditions are possible in your area within 48 hours.
    • A hurricane warning indicates that hurricane conditions are expected in your area within 36 hours.
  • If you live in a flood-prone area, identify where to go if ordered to evacuate and the safest route to get there. If there is a flood, you may only have minutes to get to safety. Choose several places – a friend’s home in another town, a motel or a shelter. Remember, public shelters and many motels don’t allow pets in their facilities.

More tips from the county are listed here.

Find out what's happening in Burkewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

So far this year, the hurricane season has been fairly quiet. On Sunday, Tropical Storm Ernesto was expected to dump several inches of rain near the Cayman Islands, and the Honduras and reach Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula by Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

Tropical Storm Florence is forming in the Atlantic near the Cape Verde Islands with winds up to 60 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters were predicting Florence could strengthen.

Find out what's happening in Burkewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Here is the full list of hurricane names for the 2012 season:

  1. Alberto
  2. Beryl
  3. Chris
  4. Debby
  5. Ernesto
  6. Florence
  7. Gordon
  8. Helene
  9. Isaac
  10. Joyce
  11. Kirk
  12. Leslie
  13. Michael
  14. Nadine
  15. Oscar
  16. Patty
  17. Rafael
  18. Sandy
  19. Tony
  20. Valerie
  21. William

According to the National Weather Service, for Atlantic hurricanes, there is a list of names for each of six years. One list is repeated every seventh year. But you won't see another Hurricane Irene.

The only time that there is a change is when a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for obvious reasons of sensitivity, according to the NWS.

If that occurs, then at an annual meeting by the World Metereological Organization (called primarily to discuss many other issues), the offending name is stricken from the list and another name is selected to replace it.

The name chosen to replace Irene? Irma

Since the names rotate every six years, the list from 2011 won't be used again until 2017.

How did you fare during Hurricane Irene? Tell us about it in the comments.


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