I grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis. We had blizzards and tornadoes and windchill… but obviously never hurricanes. So I had some hurricane myths that I had to unlearn when we moved to Florida several years ago.
Quick funny story about windchill. I was visiting friends and we were chatting with her kids. I was talking about Minnesota and the winter and how cold the temperature was with windchill. The conversation went on for awhile and then out of nowhere one of her kids stopped us and said “What is a windchill?” I could not stop laughing and was also so jealous that they had no clue about how horrible negative windchill can be!
I think that in every area of the country there are negative weather issues. Midwest and Northeast has blizzards and tornadoes. California has earthquakes and fires. Northwest has rain for days. Arizona melts you into a puddle. The Southeast has hurricanes. Before we moved to Florida I definitely had misconceptions about hurricanes actually worked.
Here are some of the things that I needed to unlearn:
Myth #1 : hurricanes happen quickly
The truth is that you watch hurricanes for weeks before they actually hit land. You get warnings about a storm forming and then watch for literally a week or more while they determined which path the storm will take. Even if you end up needing to evacuate, you have several days notice.
Myth #2 : you will have to evacuate because of hurricanes often
Not only do you have ample notice if you do need to evacuate, it is also unlikely that you will need to. Unless the hurricane is very strong and hits very close to your location you will probably stay put at home.
Myth #3 : the preparation for hurricanes is tricky + extensive
If you do have a strong hurricane hit your area your preparation list will probably look like : pack up your family and important possessions, put hurricane shutters on your house, make sure you have a full tank of gas, and drive north somewhere. It isn’t tricky or extensive. One of the best tips I got was just to make sure your gas tank was never super low during hurricane season and that has been really helpful!
Hurricanes can be devastating and definitely not something to take lightly if they are headed our way. Our area saw one not that many years ago that many of our neighbors to the East are still recovering from. That being said, I had to unlearn those hurricane myths listed above so that I could effectively know how to plan for hurricanes in real life. We keep our gas tanks full. We watch certain weather updates online ( I am a big fan of people who don’t sensationalize how bad things will be! ). And we make plans if we are in a potential path. If you are a transplant to the Destin or 30A area, too, I hope this helps you have a better understanding of what you need to know about hurricanes.
