Federal Judge Overturns Hurricane Shortage in Gulf of America, Orders Two Storms to Hit US Now
NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge on Friday vacated what he called an “unlawful shortage of tropical cyclones” in the Gulf of America and ordered two hurricanes to make landfall in the United States without delay.
U.S. District Judge Hugh Jassole ruled that the current absence of named storms constituted an “arbitrary and capricious weather pattern” that federal agencies had failed to correct. In a 14-page order, Jassole directed the National Hurricane Center, NOAA, and “any responsible atmospheric parties” to produce two hurricanes “immediately” and steer them into U.S. territory.
“The Gulf of America has gone too long without delivering,” Jassole wrote. “This court will not sit idle while the public is deprived of the storms to which it is entitled.”
The order did not specify storm names, categories, or exact landfall points, only that both systems “shall impact the United States.” Attorneys for the government had argued that hurricanes are not subject to injunctive relief. Jassole rejected that claim, noting that courts regularly compel agencies to act and that “meteorology is not above the law.”
Weather officials said they were reviewing the ruling. Forecasters noted that no tropical systems were currently developing in the basin. Jassole set a compliance deadline of “as soon as the atmosphere can be made to cooperate.”
A spokesman for the court said the judge was unavailable for comment, citing a busy docket and “other acts of God still pending.”
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