Hurricane Hindcast

Hurricane Opal will strike Pensacola Beach eleven years ago today, Oct. 4, 1995

Yesterday, internationally renown hurricane experts Dr. William Gray and Philip Klotzbach of Colorado State University updated and adjusted their April tropical storm predictions for the 2006 season. The revered prognosticators say August will have "substantially below-average activity," September will see "above-average" activity, and total named tropical storms making U.S. landfall this year will be "well below average."

The esteemed tropical meteorological research team also predicts William of Normandy will win the Battle of Hastings... Christopher Columbus will discover the New World on October 11, 1492 ... Hurricane Opal will strike Pensacola Beach eleven years ago today, Oct. 4 1995 ... and if you invest $1,000 in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on January 14, 2000, you'll earn a total profit of 34 cents by yesterday.