The 26th Annual Governor’s Hurricane Conference is underway in Ft. Lauderdale. The theme this year is “Twenty Years Since Hurricane Andrew” with an emphasis on what forecasters have learned since then.

Hurricane Rina is spinning off Mexico’s Caribbean coast and is expected to impact the Yucatan Peninsula by Thursday. 

After that, some forecast models have the system heading east.  But, Michael Brennen with the National Hurricane Center said there’s still a lot of uncertainty in the forecast track.

“Folks in southern Florida should still be paying attention to Rina as we go through the work week – it’s still something that could impact the keys and south Florida as we get into the weekend but it’s too soon to tell if there’s going to be a direct threat,” he said.

Rina is currently a Category 2 hurricane but it’s expected to get stronger. This is the time of year when hurricanes typically form in the Caribbean – hurricane season officially ends Nov. 30. 

Experts are meeting in Miami this week reviewing advances in storm forecasting technology and ongoing research. Forecasters have gotten fairly accurate at predicting the path a storm will take – but predicting intensity remains a challenge.

National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read says Hurricane Charley, which made landfall in Charlotte County in 2004, is an example of a storm that intensified in an unpredictable manor. “I wasn’t a fulltime employee at the Hurricane Center but I was detailed over here for Charley and we all had that knot in the pit of our stomach about not being able to forecast that in advance, just observing it.”

Charley strengthened from a category 2 to a category 4 hurricane in less than two hours and made landfall about 100 miles south of Tampa Bay - where forecasters initially said it was headed.

The information exchange between federal and military officials, emergency managers and researchers concludes Thursday with recommendations to improve predictions for the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season which begins June 1.

Hurricane forecasters and emergency officials are concerned too many Floridians are being complacent about this year’s hurricane season.  WGCU’s Luis Hernandez reports.

The official start of the Atlantic Hurricane season is just weeks away and forecasters are predicting a record year for storm activity.  WGCU’s John Davis reports.

Hurricane experts are concerned that communities along the Gulf Coast are losing their natural storm surge protections. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez reports. 

Officials with Citizens Property Insurance Corporation say the state backed insurer is entering the 2010 hurricane season in the best financial condition it’s ever experienced. WGCU’s John Davis reports.

The
2009 Hurricane Season is officially over.  And here in Southwest
Florida it never really arrived.  WGCU’s Valerie Alker has more.

As
hurricane season heats up Charlotte County’s Emergency Manager is
urging residents to have their evacuation plans in place.  WGCU’s
Valerie Alker has more.

Thursday is the 5^th Anniversary of the day Hurricane Charley made landfall in Punta Gorda.  On Friday, August 13^th
2004 The Category 4 storm, packing winds of up to 145 miles an hour, 
decimated  downtown and  leveled nearby mobile home communities.  Trees
and utility poles toppled, roofs were ripped off homes and many
residents waited weeks for utilities to be restored.    The city is
marking the anniversary with a number of events, including a
celebration on Saturday of the “Extreme Makeover” Punta Gorda has
undergone since Charley.  Former Governor Jeb Bush will speak.  And a
group of foreign diplomats is also touring the town.  That event was
organized by Punta Gorda Chamber of Commerce President John Wright –
formerly of the British Consulate in Miami – who spoke to WGCU’s
Valerie Alker.