Today, computers can predict the path of a hurricane well in advance, giving us ample time to avert disaster. In the Washington, D. C. area, we have been preparing for Hurricane Irene since before our freak which went largely unpredicted earthquake. Unless you live under a rock however, there really is no excuse to be caught in a hurricane unprepared. Flash back, nearly 200 years ago, before Doppler radar; what did they do? Meteorologists of the age were no fools. Although they could not predict the path of a hurricane in advance, they could observe and track them with amazing accuracy! Lest the weatherman find himself guilty of hubris, take a look at this map printed in 1840 and see how it compares today’s computer models!
Map From: John Purdy. Memoir, Descriptive And Explanatory, To accompany the Charts of the Atlantic Ocean; and comprising Instructions, General and Particular, for the Navigation of that Sea... Lon: R. H. Laurie, 1840. 8th edition.
"If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking." -General George S. Patton