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We are a week and a half away from the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, though we've already seen an early storm materialize off the U.S. east coast. Arthur brought gusty winds and rain to parts of North Carolina before heading out to sea. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration just released its 2020 hurricane forecast and it predicts there could be an active season ahead with 13 to 19 named storms and six to 10 hurricanes.
An average season sees 12 named storms and six hurricanes. Not all of the big systems make landfall. And just like with the weather, not all of the forecasts pan out, though NOAA says its predictions are accurate 70 percent of the time. On the other side of the northern hemisphere a large storm did make landfall this week. Costal communities of northeastern India and Bangladesh are assessing the damage from Cyclone Amphan. At one point it was the most powerful storm ever recorded in the Bay of Bengal. It was the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane. But by the time Amphan made landfall on Wednesday it had weakened to Category 2 status with sustain wind speeds of 105 miles per hour.
Still, its storm surge brought flooding to coastal areas and water and debris have made it difficult for rescuers to get to survivors. The cyclone killed at least 80 people and destroyed the homes of thousands more. And even though an estimated 3 million were evacuated in India and Bangladesh before the storm arrived, that in itself brought an additional challenge of keeping them separated in shelters because of the threat of coronavirus.
Globally health officials say more than 5 million people have now tested positive for the disease. And while most of them have or will recover, more than 300,000 deaths have been blamed on COVID-19 throughout the world. No one knows how long its impact will last. We don't know when we'll be able to return to our studio and when people do return to offices, they'll see a very different looking workplace.
