By Justine Calma , a senior science reporter covering energy and the environment with more than a decade of experience. She is also the host of Hel

Atlantic hurricane season is coming to an end — will the US be ready for the next one?

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2024-11-26 19:00:03

By Justine Calma , a senior science reporter covering energy and the environment with more than a decade of experience. She is also the host of Hell or High Water: When Disaster Hits Home, a podcast from Vox Media and Audible Originals.

This is the last week of a truly shitty Atlantic hurricane season. It was record-breaking. People are still recovering. Misinformation managed to make things even worse. Now, we get a six-month-ish break before it starts over again — perhaps with fewer federal resources to respond in the US.

At the very least, we knew what was coming this year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast an “above normal” season before it started in June. The agency published a recap yesterday with some data on how it all played out; the TLDR: these are some big numbers.

There’s also some subtext in there. It took a huge coordinated effort within the agency to put out forecasts and communicate risks to the public. Any efforts to gut the agency during the Trump administration could make that critical work much harder to do.