Hurricane Frances: RNC Killer?

fakane

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Saturday August 28, 2004 · 2:31 PM PDT

2004/08/28 · 14:31

Bad news brewing for Florida, and also the Republican National Convention. A strong Category Four hurricane (with winds of 135 mph), currently west of the US Virgin Islands, continues to intensify, and is forecast to move into the Southwestern Bahamas by Tuesday afternoon (the first day of convention coverage). Frances will be approaching South Florida on Wednesday afternoon (the second day of coverage). On Thursday (the night Bush speaks) this storm may strike the East coast of the United States.

If there is one thing that will turn all public attention away from the RNC, it is a killer hurricane (possibly reaching Category Five, winds in excess of 155 mph) threatening the Eastern Seaboard. Because the intensity and track of this storm are eerily similar to that of Hurricane Andrew (1992, the most destructive natural disaster in US History), the media will be in a full-on feeding frenzy. This storm will dominate the news cycle all next week, pushing RNC coverage even further out of the public eye.

Of course there is a chance the storm may turn harmlessly out to sea, but the numerical models are all in unusually close agreement in keeping the storm moving west, towards the Southeast United States.

Projected Track of Hurricane Frances
(National Hurricane Center)

Latest Advisory for Hurricane Frances
(National Hurricane Center)

It's going to be an interesting week if this pans out. Unfortunately, Florida does not need another hurricane.
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