Andrea Gives Rise To Hurricane-Season Jitters
Pastor Dale Morgan
Andrea Gives Rise To Hurricane-Season Jitters*
Added: May 10th, 2007 7:52 AM
Andrea gives rise to hurricane-season jitters
By Andrea Stone
USA TODAY
Hurricane season doesn't start for another three weeks, but that didn't
stop the year's first named storm from making an early debut off the
southeast coast Wednesday.
Subtropical Storm Andrea gathered about 140 miles southeast of Savannah
and packed winds of about 45 mph as it crawled slowly west toward land.
A tropical storm watch was issued for parts of Georgia and Florida.
Andrea is the first Atlantic storm to be named in May since Tropical
Storm Arlene in 1981 and the third-earliest named squall since 1950.
Tropical Storm Ana appeared in late April 2003 but raged far out to sea.
The earliest hurricane to hit the USA was Alma in northwest Florida on
June 9, 1966.
This year's official hurricane season, which starts June 1 and ends
November 30, is expected to be "very active," according to forecasters
at Colorado State University. As many as 17 tropical storms and
hurricanes are predicted.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami was ho-hum about the threat posed
by this storm, saying Andrea wasn't expected to gain much strength or
drop significant rainfall. Residents along the coast were less sanguine,
though.
"Anytime you're on the beach, you're worried about it," said David
Johnson, manager of Grayco Hardware in Hilton Head, S.C. Having such an
early named storm "doesn't make us feel any better" about this summer's
prospects.
Rene Heidt, owner of Sundial Nature Tours and Fishing, a charter boat
company on Tybee Island, Ga., canceled a birding trip Wednesday because
of 40-knot winds offshore. "I looked at the radar and I said, 'Wow, it's
a pretty big storm out there,' " she said. "It is incredibly rough."
Officials were concerned about Andrea's effect on drought-stricken areas
of Georgia and northern Florida, where fires have scorched 130,000 acres
and forced hundreds to leave their homes.
Copyright 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.