Hurricane Center

After 1995's near-record hurricane season, experts figured that 1996 couldn't be as bad. But it was worse, killing more people and spawning stronger storms.This year, hurricanes have caused $4.1 billion in damage in the United States alone and killed 147 people in the United States, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean islands, according to preliminary estimates from the National Hurricane Center.And with this year's season set to draw to a close Saturday, experts are already looking ahead with apprehension to next year.

Hurricane Edouard's approach is likely to kick up dangerous surf, high tides and coastal flooding at the beaches this Labor Day weekend. The National Weather Service has begun to urge the expected crowds of holiday boaters and beachgoers to be careful.Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center also said yesterday that chances were growing that the storm would lose its steering currents in the coming days and become "extremely unpredictable.""Since it can do almost anything, we could have the whole eastern seaboard under the gun from a big hurricane, with tons of people at beaches," said meteorologist Mike Hopkins.

Hurricane Felix drew lazy circles in the Atlantic about 250 miles off Cape Hatteras yesterday, coyly biding its time as exasperated storm-watchers puzzled over its next move."

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- As Hurricane Erin churned toward Florida, Hugh Willoughby saw that the world had changed.Mr. Willoughby, a hurricane researcher for more than 20 years, looked at a satellite picture of the west Atlantic and spotted a line of clouds across Cuba. It looked as though it could have been associated with wind patterns usually found farther south, over Bolivia."Something's different," said Mr. Willoughby, who works for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Hurricane Research Division.

MIAMI, Fla. -- The one-story structure with its rooftop row of antennae and satellite dishes may not look that imposing, but don't be fooled by the new National Hurricane Center, probably the safest shelter in South Florida.Dedicated this week to coincide with yesterday's beginning of the 1995 Atlantic hurricane season, the $5 million structure contains 3,000 cubic yards of concrete, enough to build 1 mile of interstate highway.It was designed to withstand 130-mph winds and -- a government brochure says -- a direct hit by a "250-pound projectile at 60 mph."

When hurricane season starts Thursday, the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Fla., will be trading in experience for technology in predicting where killer storms are heading.After years of waiting, the hurricane center is suddenly awash in new equipment and capability. A weather satellite launched last year is ready for this hurricane season and should give meteorologists more accurate ways to track storms.New supercomputers can do more calculations faster on sophisticated programs that better predict where storms are going based on changing climates.

IF A TREE falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound? I think I know the answer to that oldie now.There's always someone there. Nothing can happen anywhere on earth today without being on television. No tree can fall, nor sparrow, unobserved, unheard.This great insight came to me while I was watching The Weather Channel the past three days. Hurricane Emily's slow, ominous progress up the Eastern Seaboard was photographed and reproduced hour-by-hour and mile-by-mile in almost intimate detail.

MIAMI -- Hurricane Emily picked itself up yesterday and began regaining power after a day's demotion to tropical storm rank.It regained it and then some, drawing energy from the heat of the subtropical Atlantic Ocean. The storm's return to hurricane force was announced by the National Hurricane Center at 7 p.m. Even before then, forecasts said it was not only coming back but growing a lot stronger than before: Steady wind speed past 90 mph with gusts faster than 100 are expected by 2 p.m. today.

Ocean City and Maryland officials (and Delaware officials, too) can learn a lot from Hurricane Andrew. For example, how well were the evacuation plans executed in the Florida Keys and the Miami area and in the New Orleans area? And did what happened there suggest that plans in Baltimore's favorite beach resorts need to be changed?Deaths and even property damage from hurricanes are far less today than in the years before weather forecasting was so sophisticated, and federal, state, local and private emergency operations were so widespread.