HURRICANEFRANCES GETS HERSELF TOGETHER AND CALMS DOWN: A monstrous looking
Frances (left) approaches the Florida coast becoming more organized and angrier by the hour.  Right, a
calmer category 1 Frances after GEO TECH's application to weaken the storm. Note how organized the
weaker Frances is with an eye clearly visible, indicating how much stronger and devastating this
hurricane would have been.

The 2004 hurricane season was a lively one. There were lots phone calls, some screaming, recrimination and ignoring all of that but most of us came through it alive and well. Unfortunately, this season would signal the beginning of an increase of abnormal hurricane activity that would continue into the following year. Storms of an unusual number, frequency and strength would occur as never before, especially in the vulnerable Gulf. When we called the Florida office of Emergency Management, we said we would weaken hurricane Frances but there was yet another storm headed towards the state. We explained that we could do a better job of protecting them if they would pay us. Still, even after we weakened hurricane Frances as promised, they seemed wholly unimpressed. They just gave us the run-around like everybody else. The tracks of hurricane Frances (below) as well as those of Ivan and Jeanne, illustrates this weakening, even while Ivan and

GEO TECH weakened hurricane Frances from a category 3 to a category 1 in just about 48 hours.
 

Jeanne restrengthen themselves repeatedly. Without compensation for our work, and consequently unable to maintain an overnight staff, these storms had the whole night to regroup. Although hurricanes usually go down a category or two after making landfall, this is not always the scenario. A fatal exception was hurricane Andrew (1992). Could Florida's Office of Emergency Management have actually forgotten how this hurricane restrengthened after landfall at category 3, to a category 4? GEO TECH makes storms lose strength faster and more reliably. We also dramatically reduce storm surge, flooding and most other conditions that accompany hurricanes at landfall. This we did for the State of Florida free of charge since they wouldn't acknowledge it or pay us (New Orleans would pay, less than a year later). While we were working, authorities feared that hurricane Frances would strengthen again as it came off the west Florida coast and reentered the warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico. With GEO TECH, this did not happen and its weakening increased as it continued on its way.

Hurricanes Ivan (left) and Jeanne (right) at deadly play. See how hurricane Ivan breaks up
on its left outer side. This break and a slight wobble to the right (see track below) spared
New Orleans. Note this same break in hurricane Frances (top of page, right) where the
characteristic gash in the storm occurs over Velusia county and areas to the southeast.

In years past, it would be unusual to see hurricanes coming in twos. Now suddenly they were coming one right after another. Next was hurricane Ivan. Ivan snaked its way through the Caribbean and into the Gulf as we desperately programmed it to miss our favorite spots. It can be seen weakening, heading straight for Jamaica and then just turning away. It strengthens again but misses both Cuba and the Yucatan peninsula. Further on, at its landfall, a slight wobble to the right takes it away from New Orleans. (This took all night.) A great gash in the storm's western side (see picture above) also spared the city from the storm's outer bands. Without the necessary personnel to assist us, Ivan was a difficult storm to control. It loved the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea, refusing to weaken until it reached the mouth of the Gulf where it was really dangerous and we finally stopped trying to get some

GEO TECH snakes hurricane Ivan through the Caribbean with a dramatic turn away from
Jamaica. You can see the storm start to really wobble in its track as it enters the Gulf and
we fight with it to keep it away from New Orleans. Both efforts required some overnight
application. After landfall, it sneaks back to the Gulf as a very unsuspecting non tropical
low, only to wreak havoc on Texas as a tropical storm.

sleep at night. This struggle can be seen along the track above by the intermittent jumps between category 4 and 5 along its way before it reaches this position. The jumps back up to cat. 5 probably occurred during intermissions overnight. Note how the storm weakens after landfall, skipping one whole category down to 1. Although category 3 Ivan still caused a lot of damage on the Gulf coast, this would be nothing compared to the following year.