And while the dry season is one thing, the hurricane season is another. This year hurricane expert Dr. William Gray predicts there'll be 17 named storms and 10 hurricanes. At least ten of those will become hurricanes and in that bunch 5 will be intense hurricanes, that is a category three or above. What does this mean for Belize? Well our Chief Met Officer Carlos Fuller says think 1961 and Hurricane Hattie.
Carlos Fuller,
"We had about four close misses last year if you remember, Wilma and even one in the Greek alphabet storm and may have produced some deaths both in the air and on sea so indeed even though we might not have a direct impact, they certainly affected us and yes we were fortunate last year and it is possible that one of them could affect us this year. Of the 17 storms expected, one of them could easily affect us, if not more than one. It is interesting to note that one of the anomalous years that Professor Gray is looking at that this year looks like is 1961 and in 1961 we were hit twice by Hurricanes Anna and Hattie and of course Hattie was a major hurricane and this year seems to be very close to the 1961 pattern in the atmosphere and in the sea."
The regional forecasters will present their findings and forecasts on Friday.
