You can’t have a conference in Florida during hurricane season without a little bit of planning.
Historical Context
Since 1852, 62 tropical storms and 53 hurricanes have come within 100 miles of St. Pete Beach, with 16 tropical storms and 14 hurricanes occuring in October. Furthermore, the variation in size (typically 300 mi in diameter) and asymtrical impact (Northeast corner is most heavily impacted) of storms mean that some of those events would not have directly impacted the St. Pete Beach area. That is all to say, a hurricane is not likely but certainly possible.
Learn more with the NOAA Historical Hurricane Tracks.
Tracking Storm Status
Atlantic hurricane season is now considered June 1 to November 30. We recommend several sources of information.
NOAA produces two and seven day outlooks of storm formation.
Once a storm has formed, the CNN Storm Tracker provides several visualization that you may find useful.
Mitigation Planning
Often when weather events occur, plans do not need to be significantly adjusted (think really bad thunderstorm). Nevertheless, safety is of the utmost importance, and mitigation plans are underway, should we need to make changes due to weather conditions. If bad weather is likely to occur, registrated participants can expect frequent updates from the general chairs. Further, web and tech chairs will be prepared to move conference activities to hybrid or virtual, as necessary.