Director of the Bermuda Weather Service Roger Williams yesterday addressed members of the Hamilton Rotary Club and said forecasters in the US had taken a big interest in Storm Karen that hit last month.

He said in some ways, this year's hurricane season had been normal, but in others it had been quite unusual, and said Karen was just one aspect of that.

The weatherman said that over the Atlantic and Caribbean there had been several minor systems - known as tropical depressions - some of which appeared to have potential, but were never able to develop.

And the east coast of America has seen little action.

However, Mr. Williams said Bermuda had had several near misses, including Humberto and Gabrielle, some distance to our west, and Erin, which was almost dead in the water at one stage, but then resurrected and intensified into a category three hurricane as it passed only 90 miles to our east.

Then, of course, there was Storm Karen three weeks ago, which was not officially named until she had passed over the Island.

Talking about Storm Karen, he said: "There was a common conception that the storm was a complete surprise and that the public was not informed. This is not so.

"Thursday's gales and rain had been predicted several days ahead. Basically, the storm started life on the Wednesday as a small wave depression on an old cold front, lying to our south.

"Numerical computer models forecast the low to deepen and pass by just to the west of the Island on the Thursday night. The track and timing was good.

"However, the models did not predict the rapid deepening of the system, which occurred during Thursday afternoon."

Mr. Williams said the barometer gave the clearest indication that something quite nasty was brewing up when it took a "spectacular dive" just after noon on the Thursday.

He added: "We issued gale warnings (34 knots and above) as early as 5.30 a.m. on the Wednesday, and a storm warning (sustained 48 knots and above) was issued at 2 p.m. on the Thursday for that evening."

He said the warnings were widely promoted by the media, but the fact that the gales started by Thursday morning meant it was too late for many boat owners to take further precautions.

"The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) in Miami have now indicated great interest in the storm, which they only designated as a true tropical system (Karen), after it had passed Bermuda," he added.

"Apparently, the storm is quite unique in their experience, and in ours at the Bermuda Weather Service. "It's the first time the NHC have real data on what was essentially a non-tropical system, be it described as "hybrid" or "sub-tropical", whatever, developing winds up to hurricane force (64 knots), before transitioning to the true tropical phase.

"The director of the NHC, Max