Gustav Passes, More Storms On the Way

As Gustav moves into the heartland of the U.S., and the southeast, especially the city of New Orleans, breathes a collective sigh of relief, images resulting from a not quite epic storm-swell in the Gulf of Mexico are surfacing all over the web. Gustav lit up some spots along the panhandle of Florida, but the majority of primo-swell took place under the cover of darkness. While many fled for higher grounds, surfers made their way to the beaches in the hundreds and got only a taste of what they were looking for. Now as Gustav moves northward and fizzles out, it appears there will be several more opportunities for storm-chasing surfers to get their fill of hurricane induced swell.

Hanna, Ike, and Josephine are the next 3 storms lined up and are slowly spinning their way to land. They are the next round of tropical disturbances in what is becoming an increasingly busy year in the Atlantic Ocean. Weather forecasters are expecting this trend to continue and have even gone as far as predicting up to 4 hurricanes for the month of September. “We predict that September will be quite active based on climate signals through August,” said hurricane season forecasting pioneer Dr. Bill Gray. While many residents in the prospective paths of these storms shake their heads in disbelief, surfers up and down the east coast look at charts like the one below and brim with anticipation. Don’t be surprised to see an unusually high number of mag-shots coming from the east coast in the coming months. Hanna, Ike, Josephine, and others are on their way.

Posted by Shaun on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 in Surfing.