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At National Hurricane Center, Frenzy Has Become Almost Routine

Posted on: Sunday, 23 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

MIAMI _ With Hurricane Wilma barreling down on Florida Sunday, weary National Hurricane Center meteorologist Eric Blake had his storm supplies ready and his clothes packed in case he needed to ride out the storm at the center.

His chief concern: a Twister.

That's the name of his miniature dachshund _ and Blake needed to figure out who could care for her.

"I think my ex-girlfriend will take her," he said.

As with the other meteorologists, forecasters and support staffers rarely seen on TV advisories from the hurricane center in West Miami-Dade County, the toll of the slow-moving storm and this bizarre, busy storm season is very personal.

But in the last two years, the pace has become almost etched into their psyches and bodies. The mood at the hurricane center on Sunday _as on most days _ was all business, all efficiency.

Last year, a turtle of a hurricane named Frances set the tone for agonizingly slow storm systems. Wilma is no different.

Last week, forecaster Jack Beven lugged into his office grocery bags of canned pasta, vegetable juice and seven jugs of water.

"If I'm preparing," he said, "everyone needs to prepare."

On Sunday, forecaster Rick Knabb _who joined the six-man team of lead hurricane forecasters this year _ was tracking Wilma's progress toward the Florida Keys.

Knabb had put his shutters up at home on Saturday night. On Sunday, after his eight-hour-plus shift, he planned on getting his family settled in at their Broward County home.

Then, later Sunday night, he was expecting to drive back to the hurricane center to spend the night, so he would be in place when the strongest winds raked the region.

"We anticipate having to be flexible with our schedules," Knabb said. "We don't leave town (during hurricane season). We're always available. We will all be tired by the time this season is over with, but this is why we're here."

A few desks away, forecaster Lixion Avila was tracking a tropical depression that had been Tropical Storm Alpha the day before. His mood was upbeat.

It's a typical October storm, slow-moving, he said.

Luckily, he joked, if the power flicked off and the air-conditioning went out at the center, the October air wouldn't be too hot.

Nevertheless, Avila had his shutters up at home and his supplies ready. He also had a suitcase.

In the unlikely scenario that the hurricane center is damaged severely, Avila is one of the forecasters who would leave Miami to continue tracking any storms from Washington, D.C.

"That probably wouldn't happen," he said.

In the early afternoon, huge aluminum trays of pasta and salad _ courtesy of an Olive Garden restaurant _ appeared in the center's small kitchen. Red Lobster was also planning to deliver food later in the day.

Knabb, in a crisp dress shirt and tie, wolfed down a plate of pasta as he sat at the forecast desk.

"It's good," he said before getting back to business studying the radar screen.

___

(c) 2005, The Miami Herald.

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Source: The Miami Herald

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