Even with all the modern updates, we still get slammed by hurricanes from time to time. But it was not that long ago, when there was no warning system at all. The beach could be filled with tourists or locals, the weather gets a little overcast and folks would go about their business as if nothing was out of the ordinary. And then - WHAM. Out of nowhere, a category 4 or category 5 hurricane would blow in and lead to not only massive destruction of property, but also many many thousands casualties.
And, you can thank a guy named Grady Norton, a weather guy pioneer from Miami who worked to create many of the safety features we take for granted today.
Check out this cool episode of a show called Man Behind the Badge for a half hour TV dramatization of Grady Norton and the way they used to try and predict Hurricanes. Pretty interesting, we have come a long way over the last 60 years.
In this show, Grady Norton is played by an actor named Milburn Stone.
In the real world, Grady Norton looked like much more of a mild mannered science nerd.
And here we are in late August 2009. Hurricane Bill has just been upgraded to a category 4. Hmmm, something tells me that old Marvelettes song might come into play. You remember the song - Don't mess with Bill. Here's the latest Bill updates from the National Hurricane Center at NOAA.
