Hurricane Season

Peak hurricane season, which runs between August and October in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the U.S. south Atlantic coast, is certainly nothing to take lightly. Most every year you can see a fair bit of storm activity: according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), on the average there will be 14 to 18 storms, with winds of at least 40 mph, will be generated. Seven to 10 of these storms may be hurricanes, with winds of 75 mph.
Still, the lure of these warm-weather destinations, especially during the off-season, can be hard to resist. Crowds are thin, prices are excellent, perks—like free meals and spa treatments—are numerous, and very often, the weather winds up being perfectly fine (if slightly more humid than in high-season months). So, the question is: are there ways to “hurricane-proof” a vacation—to minimize the chances that a storm will ruin a low-season trip to the tropics?
Indeed there are—although most of the tricks for lessening hurricane risks require some research on the traveler’s part. The Internet can be an indispensable tool for scoping out predicted weather patterns, for example, or for comparing the hurricane policies of different hotels, tour groups, and airlines. Booking accommodations and flights with companies that offer hurricane guarantees (most often in the form of penalty-free rebooking) is a good way to safeguard a vacation; so is shopping around for and purchasing traveler’s insurance (the further in advance, the better).