Giant clouds devour the light from the sun and fade to black on the right of the screen.

Tropical Storm Bret is Coming

The weather has been increasingly chaotic and unpredictable if you follow the trend of the recent few years. We’ve written several articles reporting on the concerned meteorologists and climate scientists pointing to trends regarding increased quantities of tornadoes, rainfall, storms, hurricanes, and shifting dates. Part of our mission here at Elephant Safe Rooms is to provide our customers with an option to protect themselves or families without breaking the bank. If you still haven’t opted for a Safe Room, that’s understandable. A lot of people want to wait because hurricane season has barely begun this year. Yet, the tropical storms are coming early, and Bret is the first. The National Weather Service calls the formation of tropical storm Bret this early in the season “extremely unusual.” This doesn’t necessarily mean a trend can be deduced from one out of place and time storm. However, when making assessments of previous years and the current situation one can absolutely deduce that the weather isn’t returning to normal anytime soon. This prediction is actually in line with the predictions from most weather scientists and meteorologists.

The Atlantic Ocean usually doesn’t get much activity this point in the year. In general, the Atlantic region doesn’t receive these notable storms until much later in the year. Also, in the past, these storms are only comparable to two other seasons in recorded history yet still beat arrival predictions by months. The years in question were also home to some of the most devastating and historic storms in history. Does that mean that this year will have some of the strongest storms ever recorded? No. What it does mean is that severe storms are likely to be predicted with more consistency and frequency this year. This is troubling to say the least.

What it Means to Be Prepared Now

The general population is not prepared for these storms, and certain areas don’t even have mandatory safe rooms for residents of urban areas. This is where you can take your life and safety into your own hands. The unpredictable weather catches everyone off guard, because there’s no meter for seasons and the actions one takes within them like personal history. For example, scientists have recently conducted studies that show the more frequent weak tornadoes that come in between the larger ones in tornado alley are actually causing significantly increased injuries and property damage. In short, it was said that residents of these high danger areas are becoming accustomed to not preparing for smaller tornado warnings in their area due to the prevalence of occasions where they really didn’t need to prepare because the tornado ended up hitting somewhere else. Thus, when the larger tornadoes touch down in heavier storms or smaller tornadoes become bigger ones the residents are unprepared for the true danger of the events. It’s easy to suspect this will become ingrained habitually over time as more people realize safe rooms are necessary year around, not three days before a record-breaking tornado or hurricane hits.

 

 

The image below is provided by NASA and the National Hurricane Center. 

Elephant safe room with dimensions 6 x 20