Is There a Downside to the Lack of Hurricanes?

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During and after the extraordinarily active hurricane season in 2005, the global warming doomsayers told us hurricanes were going to be worse as earth's temperatures warmed. There were only two things wrong with that forecast:

  • Earth's temperatures have been flat since 1997.
  • We are only a few weeks away from the U.S. going ten years without a major hurricane, shattering the previous record from 1900 (after the Galveston Hurricane) to 1906.
The lack of major hurricanes has saved literally tens of billions of dollars in losses and has saved hundreds of lives. It is hard to see a downside.

But, there might be one.
The chaos of the Hurricane Rita evacuation, 2005
Since we have almost gone ten years without a major hurricane, we have lost many of the experienced emergency managers who knew how to handle these major storms. This includes both private and public sector managers. Yes, in many cases procedures are written down but that does not replace experience when something unexpected occurs. 

About the only thing we can hope for is that the "hurricane drought" continues the rest of the 2015 hurricane season and into future years, as well. 

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