Member-only story
The Hurricane Association Condemns the Use of Performance-Enhancing Markers
Where Will the Madness End?
Trump display[ed] a modified National Hurricane Center “cone of uncertainty” forecast, dated from 11 a.m. on Aug. 29, indicating Alabama would in fact be affected. The graphic appears to have been altered with a Sharpie to indicate a risk the storm would move into Alabama from Florida. — Matthew Cappucci and Andrew Freedan, The Washington Post, Sept. 4, 2019
“The NWS Forecaster(s) corrected any public misunderstanding in an expert and timely way, as they should,” McLean wrote. “There followed, last Friday, an unsigned press release from ‘NOAA’ that inappropriately and incorrectly contradicted the NWS forecaster. My understanding is that this intervention to contradict the forecaster was not based on science but on external factors including reputation and appearance, or simply put, political.” — Kayla Epstein, The Washington Post, Sept. 9, 2019
The Hurricane Association (HA) is dedicated to supporting our member hurricanes in an overachieving world. Each season, more of our members swirl themselves up the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale to Category 5, a very real category that everyone knows exists.
We recognize that modern hurricanes face enormous pressure to get swole.
Competition drives the search for a competitive edge. There is no shortage of con-men and carnival barkers who are happy to sell snake oil to hurricanes willing to pay. These substances go by many names on the street, but whether we’re talking about “sharpies,” “expos,” or “felt-tips,” our position is the same:
HA unreservedly condemns the use of all performance-enhancing markers (PEMs) by hurricanes seeking to unfairly extend their destructive paths.
Ethical hurricanes grow as God intended: by twisting moist, tropical air high in the atmosphere, pulling strength from oceans made ever-toastier by human-induced climate change. This formula works. Any hurricane that applies itself will increase in size, and reach further inland, without the need for inky enhancement.
Exceptional hurricanes may encompass multiple states at once, but ethical hurricanes recognize fundamental rules of geography. Neighboring…
