NOAA's National Hurricane Preparedness Week ran May 3 through May 9, weeks before the Atlantic season begins on June 1. The agency's guidance is plain: understand water and wind risk, prepare before the season, understand forecast information, know when to move, stay protected during storms, use caution afterward, and act now. [1]

Florida's emergency managers issued the same message in state language. The Florida Division of Emergency Management called on residents to know their zone and home, make a plan, stay informed through multiple alert channels, build a disaster supply kit, keep fuel tanks at least halfway full, evacuate tens of miles rather than hundreds when ordered, and avoid floodwater and generator hazards after a storm. [2]

This is the part of hurricane journalism that does not wait for a name. Once a cone appears, the work becomes reactive: gas lines, pharmacy runs, hotel searches, and arguments over whether to leave. Before the first named storm, the work is cheaper and calmer.

The divergence is between drama and usefulness. Social feeds are good at tracking the first swirl. The useful story is the boring list finished before the swirl earns a name. Florida's note says last season produced minimal activity in the state but still calls the state extremely vulnerable; that is the right grammar for hurricane risk, because a quiet prior year is not protection. [2]

-- NORA WHITFIELD, Chicago