Hurricane Season 2024

The meteorologists at Colorado State University’s (CSU) Tropical Weather and Climate Research Center have issued their annual forecast for the hurricane season. CSU is predicting an “extremely active” season. Their predictions include 23 named storms (compared to an average of 14), which would include 11 hurricanes (compared to an average of 7), and 5 major hurricanes (compared to an average of 3).

This is obviously a pre-season forecast. The actual season record for these kinds of weather events came in 2020 when there were 30 named storms that included 14 hurricanes and 7 major hurricanes.

CSU has issued these reports for 40 years and is very well-regarded in the field. This active storm season prediction is backed up by Accuweather forecasting and other climate modelers. The main factor driving this active hurricane season is above average water temperatures in parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Hot water in the Atlantic can turbocharge storms.

NECHAMA is actively preparing for the consequences of an active hurricane season. We have responded to many storms since our founding. These responses included long-term multi-year deployments after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017 (the fourth most expensive hurricane in U.S. history) and Hurricane Ida in Louisiana in 2021(the fifth most expensive hurricane in US history).

While we hope large damaging storms never come, we know how unlikely that is. Our operations team is hard at work making sure all of our vehicles, tools and activation plans are ready to bring comfort when called upon. Our communications team is busy developing new partnerships and strengthening old ones, and we will be ready if the call comes.

We plan on continuing being a strong Jewish presence in the emergency response space, and giving comfort and care to all.

Shabbat shalom,

Your friends at NECHAMA – Jewish Response to Disaster

P.S. - You may have heard about (or felt) the 4.8 magnitude earthquake in the New York/New Jersey area. If you live in the area, we hope you are safe and unharmed. For tips on earthquake preparedness, please see our latest post on the topic!