June First

This is the first day of the 2006 Hurricane Season.

It is to be hoped that it is not even close to the 2005 Season which had: 13 Tropical Storms, and 15 Hurricanes. A total of 28 named storms is a record requiring the first use of the Greek alphabet in history; 15 hurricanes is a record; 4 category 5 hurricanes [Emily, Katrina, Rita, Wilma] is a record; end of the season on January 6 is a record; and hurricane Wilma established the new record for the lowest barometric pressure recorded in the Atlantic Basin at 882 millibars.

The first name for the season is Alberto, not a comforting sign. In 1994, the last time the name was used, Tropical Storm Alberto was a major rain event that came ashore just east of me.

The NOAA forecast is for 13-16 named storms, 8-10 hurricanes, and 4-6 major storms. The good news is that the La Niña condition in the Pacific Ocean has disappeared, which will alter the steering winds to a more normal pattern.

More information at my hurricane page, and we can wait for the official end of the season on December 1^st.

June 1^st:

Events:
1495 – Friar John Cor records the first known batch of scotch whisky.
1660 – Mary Dyer is hanged in Boston, Massachusetts, for defying a law banning Quakers from the colony. She is considered by some to be the last religious martyr in what would become the United States.
1967 – The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is released.
1980 – The Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting.

Births:
1563 – Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, English statesman and spymaster (d. 1612)
1780 – Carl von Clausewitz, Prussian general (d. 1831)

For some reason I didn’t make the list.