The residents on the coast of Texas and Louisiana are enjoying beautiful sunsets these days thanks to dust blowing from the Sahara Desert.
Perhaps more importantly, they are also enjoying a very quiet start to this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, which kicked off on June 1.
June is typically not nearly as busy as August, September and October when it comes to tropical cyclones, but the dry air from Africa is making it especially hard for these storms to develop. The dust which is making for the wonderful twilights on the Gulf Coast is a symptom of the arid air that is dominating the location in the ocean that typically sees the formation of the most, and the strongest, hurricanes.
This is certainly good news. Hopefully, the prevailing weather pattern will last for the long term, as fewer hurricanes will mean a lower possibility of these storms striking the Texas and Louisiana coastline.
However, weather patterns can change over the course of the summer and early fall, and conditions more favorable to the develop of hurricanes and tropical storms can develop. More importantly, all it takes is one strong hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast for there to be millions, or billions, of dollars in property damage.
While we of course hope for the best during this new hurricane season, residents of the area should be prepared for a hurricane-related disaster. These preparations should include thinking about how they will handle any hurricane property damage insurance claims they may need to file after a storm. After all, these claims can involve complex legal issues which may require professional assistance.