The annual Bahamas Weather Conference focused on
tropical weather, mainly hurricanes. This year, a recap of 2008
was impressive with Ike and Gustav making big impacts along
the Gulf Coast. That was mainly the focus to begin the conference.
Looking back at the past year with a panel of emergency managers and forecasters taking center stage.

They engaged over 100 meteorologists by answering questions on the
storm surges of the two most impactful storms of last year. The day ended looking at the forecast for 2009 which appears to be above average for named storms but average for the strongest of hurricanes.

The final day of the conference looked ahead to the 2009 season and
how active it will be and what forces will influence it.

Dr. Steve Lyons and Dr. Chris Landsea shared research on the Saffir-Simpson scale which was designed in part by a wind engineer. This scale, not doing storm surge due justice, is under examination as those at the National Hurricane Center look to upgrade or amend it.

There was also due justice given to those who suffer losses from such catastrophic storms. Presentations on building safer homes, better alert systems when power goes out, and how and what type of insurance you need were on the agenda.

There was also a climate change panel that debated how if in any way tropical systems are affected by global warming. There seems to be little correlation at the moment as research is young and there are many other major contributors like ocean circulations and El Nino.