Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Hurricane myths versus reality
Like many catastrophic phenomena, hurricaneshavebecomeencrusted withmythology.
Frombad advice on howto protect your home, to erroneous ideas about the most dangerous regions within a hurricane, meteorologists hear all sorts of lore fromthe public. Some are harmless baloney, others are genucording inely dangerous.
“There are a lot of hurricanemyths out there. Many contain a grain of truth. That’s how they got started,” said Steve Letro, a retired meteorologist with the National Weather Service inJacksonville. “Ourchallengeis to convince the public that official information is actually going to be more correct thanwhatthey heardfromthe guy standing in line atWalmart.”
Here are some of the myths, ac- to Letro and Chris Landsea, science and operations officer of the National Hurricane Center. They spoke last week at the Governor’s Hurricane Conference in Fort Lauderdale.
To prepare for a hurricane, tape up your windows with masking tape. This idea actually appeared in publications of the old U.S. Weather