Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz said last week his agency is redeveloping plans about evacuations and shelters, while also adding facemasks to the state’s stockpile of storm supplies.
The need to revise storm plans amid the pandemic comes as forecast models lean toward an active hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean.
Last year, the six-month hurricane season produced 18 named storms, of which six became hurricanes, three reaching major storm status.
Researchers from North Carolina State University have gone with 18 to 22 named storms, of which eight to 11 are expected to grow to hurricane status, with three to five reaching major hurricane strength.
Last week, AccuWeather meteorologists upped their initial forecast of a “normal” season of 14 to 18 storms, with seven to nine becoming hurricanes, to a more-robust prediction of 14 to 20 named storms, of which seven to 11 would reach hurricane strength.
