The NOAA predicts that “conditions in the atmosphere and the ocean favor a near-normal hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin this season”. The NOAA announced on May 24, 2012 their 2012 Hurricane outlook.
The six month hurricane season officially begins on June 1. The NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center estimates a 70% probability for each of the following ranges of activity during 2012:
- 9 – 15 Named storms
- 4 – 8 Hurricanes
- 1 – 3 Major Hurricanes
This outlook reflects the possibility of “competing climate factors”, in combination with several circulation and sea surface temperature (SST) features. This would suggest a less active season compared to those in recent years.
The seasonal outlook stops short of predicting the number of storms that will strike land.
Visit http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane2012/May/hurricane.shtml for the complete press release from the NOAA. NOAA will prepare a mid-hurricane season assessment in August of this year.
Be reminded that this is the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew that devastated Miami and the southern tip of Florida on August 24, 1992. Hurricane Andrew was a category 5 storm that caused an estimated $26.5 billion in damage to the area. Get prepared for hurricane threats by visiting www.ready.gov/hurricanes.
May 27 – June 2 is Hurricane Preparedness Week.
93% of companies that lost their data center for 10 days or more due to a disaster filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster. 50% of businesses that found themselves without data management for this same time period filed for bankruptcy immediately. 
Companies that aren't able to resume operations within ten days (of a disaster hit) are not likely to survive. 
6% of all PCs will suffer an episode of data loss in any given year. Given the number of PCs used in US businesses in 1998, that translates to approximately 4.6 million data loss episodes. At a conservative estimate, data loss cost US businesses $11.8 billion in 1998. 
31% of PC users have lost all of their files due to events beyond their control.
34% of companies fail to test their tape backups, and of those that do, 77% have found tape back-up failures.
60% of companies that lose their data will shut down within 6 months of the disaster.
Every week 140,000 hard drives crash in the United States. 
Simple drive recovery can cost upwards of $7,500 and success is not guaranteed.
Less than 50% of all organizations have a business continuity plan, 43% of companies that do have a business continuity plan do not test it annually, 80% of companies have not developed any crisis management to provide IT coverage sufficient to keep the business functionally effectively, 40% of companies that do have crisis management plans do not have a team dedicated to disaster recovery. 
30% of all businesses that have a major fire go out of business within a year. 70% fail within 5 years 
American business lost more than $7.6 billion as a result of viruses during the first six months of 1999.