It’s simple: Dealers failing to heed warnings could be out of business in a matter of hours. That’s what our industry could see if the latest hurricane warnings from NOAA aren’t heeded.

Do the terms “hyperactive” and “extraordinary” catch your attention? They’re being used in predicting the Atlantic hurricane season that officially starts this Saturday and runs through Nov. 30. It is the most active season outlook NOAA has ever issued in a May projection.

The odds of hurricanes making landfall on our coasts this year are above average due to an unprecedented combination of air and ocean conditions that could trigger extreme activity. According to NOAA administrator Rick Spinrad, this season looks to be an extraordinary one in a number of ways. He’s forecasting an above-normal season with 17 to 25 named storms, of which eight to 13 will become hurricanes, and four to seven will be Category 3 or greater.

The projected numbers are well above the 29-year average (1991-2020) of 14 storms, seven hurricanes and three majors each season. Moreover, the Caribbean’s average temperature is already higher than the peak reading for the entire 1991-2020 period. And the Gulf of Mexico is also warmer than average, already 87 degrees off southwest Florida and likely to climb into the 90s soon.

In today’s busy dealerships and marinas, it’s easy to think about getting ready if a hurricane seems likely to hit. But advance planning well ahead of such threats can prove the business-saver. Ask dealers in Texas who lived through Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm that made landfall in south Texas and caused $152.5 billion in damages and dumped more than 30 inches of rain to flood Houston. Or talk to dealers in Louisiana, where Hurricane Ida in 2021 inflicted widespread destruction topping $75 billion.

And Hurricane Ian in 2022 caused $114 billion in damage as it devastated southwest Florida and left Fort Myers Beach unrecognizable. In the last two years, Florida has endured a Category 5 and a Category 3 hurricane. And the potential this year is deemed even greater.

Aside from high water temperatures, a strong El Niño system in the tropical Pacific that packs strong wind shear to weaken or break up hurricanes is weakening.

It’s being replaced by La Niña, which has the potential to fuel storms because it doesn’t pack the same wind shear that can tear Atlantic storms apart. And it’s happening as the Atlantic has record temperatures, an unprecedented combination of air and water conditions.

In anticipation of hurricane threats, dealers and marina operators should be taking time now to draft a written hurricane-preparedness plan in which all employees have input and review. The input should include identifying every area where the business is most vulnerable to wind and flooding.

Every department should be required to identify all equipment, locations and specific timetables that will be needed to secure their areas ahead of a storm, and record it in detail in the written plan. Such contingency planning will also allow you to ensure the needed resources and sufficient manpower will be available, and each staffer will know, in advance, how to execute their specific responsibilities.

By planning now, rather than when waters rise and winds wail, it will mean any overall downtime could be greatly reduced. And it can eliminate the chaos that comes during catastrophic weather events.