Date added: Tuesday August 21, 2006: 4am ET

Another Catastrophic Hurricane; Cat 5 Dean Hammers Yucatan

By HurricaneNow.com
Chief Correspondent Jeff Flock

Dean is Worse Than Katrina

It is actually packing what will likely be even more intense conditions than Katrina brought to the Louisiana coast. The widespread devastation may not be the same because of the peculiarities of New Orleans and the Louisiana Bayou but be sure that the scope of devastation from this Cat 5 hurricane will be tremendous. The wind speed, forward speed and pressure should all top Katrina at landfall in the US. The Yucatan, with much more recent experience with devastating hurricanes, may be more ready but this will be very bad. We now turn to our chief correspondent, Jeff Flock, for perspective on hurricane Dean.

From HurricaneNow Chief Correspondent Jeff Flock: "Extraordinary Run of Cat 5 Storms"

There have now been 11 Category 5 hurricanes in the Atlantic basin since I began covering hurricanes in the mid 1980s, begining with Gilbert in 1988. That's 11 cat 5s in 30 years. Now seven or essentially three quarters of them have been in the last four years. Is there any doubt that we are in a period of extraordinary activity?

As we have said in this space many times, predicting hurricanes in advance is essentially impossible despite the many hurricane forecasts put out by academics, weather gurus and the federal government. Just because the conditions are ripe for hurricane development doesn't mean there will be any (see last season). Predicting the amount of damage that will be caused by hurricanes is also impossible. Even if storms do develop there is no guarantee they will threaten land (see also last season which was not all that bereft of hurricanes---it was just that none threatened the US). But to have 7 catastrophic Category 5 hurricanes (Isabel, Ivan, Emily, Katrina, Rita, Wilma and now Dean) in the space of less than five seasons is something that has, as far as recorded history goes, never been experienced. For The Record: Here's Your List of Cat 5s:

* through Tuesday August 21, 2007

Check the minimum pressure readings of the last handful of storms. The pattern is of steadily strengthening intensities. We'll see how Dean winds up. Also check out the HurricaneNow list of the dealiest storms since the 60's below. This analysis gives us even more evidence of the extraordinary times we appear to be in.

First HurricaneNow List puts Katrina, More Recent Storms, in Perspective

While we specialize in reporting live pictures and sound from hurricanes the "now" part of our mission also makes us focus more on the "now" of where we are in the cyclical trends of weather and tropical activity. The experts seem to agree we are in an active period, last year notwithstanding. We're compiling and releasing a new set of hurricane records which focus on more recent history as a means of putting some of the storms many of us have experienced in a new perspective. The hybrid lists differ from the National Hurricane Center's "all-time" records. First List: "Deadliest Hurricanes Since the 60's"

Our first focus is on the most serious of impact of storms: loss of life. The listing is of the most deadly storms since the 60's. Over the course of this hurricane season we'll roll out rundowns of the most costly storms of recent memory, the the most intense, most damaging and several "Top Ten in the Last Ten" listings of record hurricane activity over the past decade. The lists will include exclusive HurricaneNow analysis.

Another Possible System Looms...

There is a large area of disturbed weather northeast of the Leeward Islands associated with a tropical wave. Conditions look good for that to develop and early model runs suggest a generally westward track. It's way too early to get a feel for this but it is developing in an area of the Atlantic that would suggest a possible east coast landfall, either Florida or farther north.