Good morning everyone. Well, we are now 17 days away from the official start of the 2007 Atlantic Hurricane Season. We’ve already had a named storm with the development of Subtropical Storm Andrea last week, and hurricane conferences and events such as the National Hurricane Center’s Hurricane Preparedness Week are taking place. Drills have also been taking place around the country in anticipation for the hurricane season.

The major event taking place this week is the Florida Governor’s Hurricane Conference, which is occurring in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. However, the first day of training sessions has been hampered by the recent set of brush fires that have been happening throughout the Sunshine State recently. Florida as well as Georgia has been dealing with a terrible drought so far this Spring, and that has produced tremendous brush fires, particularly in the Southeastern portion of Georgia near Waycross, and in Northern Florida near Jacksonville. The event is being sponsored by Florida’s State Emergency Response Team, a division of Florida Emergency Management, Florida Emergency Preparedness Association, American Red Cross, and the National Weather Service. In addition, there are many companies underwriting the program as well.

There will be numerous training and workshop sessions as well as exhibits presented. In addition, there will be a general session as well. See the list of activities in the conference’s agenda section.