The Vincentian public is being urged not to drop their guard this hurricane season, and to ensure that they make the necessary preparations.
This advice came from Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves during his address to mark the official opening of the Atlantic Hurricane Season 2023.
“The predictions, regardless of what they are, I want to re-emphasize, you have to be prepared, we have to be prepared because we can’t say that because it might be average or below average, we didn’t get a blow last year—well we got a series of small events as I’ve just indicated, but not a huge one.
We can’t say that because the prediction is for something normal or near normal that we drop our guard, absolutely not,” he said.
NOAA’s outlook for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, which goes from June 1 to November 30, predicts a 40% chance of a near-normal season, a 30% chance of an above-normal season and a 30% chance of a below-normal season. NOAA is forecasting a range of 12 to 17 total named storms.