Mad Mariner's new Weatherman on Deck feature allows you to chat directly with a meteorologist from the National Weather Service on our forums page, getting quick and thorough answers to questions about weather systems, charts and where to turn for more information.
Douglas Hilderbrand works at the National Weather Service, teaches weather prediction at the college level in Washington DC and writes for Mad Mariner. He looks forward to educating readers through this forum, answering your questions and debunking the endless number of weather myths that prevail.
All you have to do is post a question and Doug will answer it as quickly as he can, often within 24 hours. If he cannot answer it directly, he'll suggest where you might turn for answers. Doug's advice is no substitute for experience and training – he's not here to advise us on seamanship – but he can help us learn about how weather works.
Doug has been fascinated by weather since his first big childhood snow buried his home in four feet of powder. Doug earned a Masters of meteorology at North Carolina State University in 1999, the same year Raleigh was struck by hurricanes Dennis and Floyd, confirming his decision to make a career out of the weather. Years later, he would take his bride storm chasing on their honeymoon.
He's a great resource, and we welcome him to the forums.
Welcome aboard. What DO you think of the hurricane prediction?
Since 2004, Florida has invested in increasing capacity for evac routes, especially east-west roads. Complacency is always the danger. I work in Emergency Managment and remember invalids calling our EOC and 911 center during the storm because their care givers had panicked and left, we were under lock down and could not respond for several hours. Fortunately, these callers survived as there was not tornadic or flood damage.
 In 2004 we were hit as hard as anywhere in Florida's East coast by Francis and several weeks later Jeanne. Our area was in the National Guard "Red Zone" for damage. People flying in to our airports for the first time thought every house had a pool, it was blue FEMA tarps over damaged roofs they were seeing. The city marina has yet to rebuild it's floating docks. I had gone to several yards to get my boat on the hard as soon as the "cone of uncertainty" swung towards us. It was too late, I got lucky.
 Regards
Ft. Pierce Florida