Thousands of people have been lost, and [people] continue to be lost today in heavy storms. Yet our numbers are down. So the beneficial change has just been enormous.

The advances in modeling has significantly improved, and probably is the most important increment of the advantage we have today that we didn't have 15 years ago. And I anticipate an improvement in our ability to have a great deal more accuracy in the 24- to 48-hour forecasting range.

This hurricane season shattered records that have stood for decades-most named storms, most hurricanes and most category 5 storms. Arguably, it was the most devastating hurricane season the country has experienced in modern times,

For instance, we're as accurate today on a five-day forecast as we were 15 years ago on a three-day forecast. So that improvement is almost a doubling in the accuracy of forecasting.

We've gone from zero to 100 people round the table.

We've been able to improve our warning system. Our records on tornado warnings, hurricane warnings, on flood warnings have been improving,