CNN news 2011-12-05
AZUZ: Now that doesn`t mean there can`t be any hurricanes until next June. These storms can still form any time outside of that six-month window. Before the season starts, experts make predictions about how many storms we`re going to have. Chad Myers is here to tell us how those predictions worked out this season.
Chad, what was the final tally for this year?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Carl, 2011 hurricane season is over. There you go. Three landfalling storms, only one landfalling hurricane. That was Hurricane Irene. Very few people will forget that up the East Coast from Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, parts of North Carolina which did get a direct hit there by the storm.
But Irene will be remembered as flood maker, not so much as a wind maker. We had 18 named storms altogether, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes. Most of them didn`t hit anything. That`s the good news.
On an average year, you should have 11 named storms. We had 17. You should have six hurricanes. We had seven. And you should have two major hurricanes. We had three.
And then the forecast actually, right along what we have here, and NOAA`s forecast right exactly in the middle, a perfect forecast from the NOAA in the August forecast for them. We made it all the way from Arlene through Cindy and Gert, all the way up to Sean.
If your name is Tammy, you didn`t get your hurricane this year. Most of them, other than Irene, will probably be used again. They rotate these names every six years. So if your name`s Tammy, maybe six years from now you have another chance.
Carl?
AZUZ: Thanks, Chad.
Well, this date, December 1st, is World AIDS Day. AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, and it`s caused by human immunodeficiency virus.
AZUZ (voice-over): Your immune system can clear most of the viruses out of your body. But HIV and AIDS attack the body`s immune system and make it vulnerable to other infections. According to the latest estimates, more than 33 million people are living with HIV or AIDS worldwide. The disease has killed more than 25 million people since the first cases were diagnosed in the early 1980s.
World AIDS Day has three main goals to it: to raise awareness about the fight against this disease, to support the people living with it, and to honor the memories of those who died from it.
AZUZ: We want you to send us your iReport. You could do it on practically any digital video camera. We did this on a phone. Tell us in 20 seconds or less what you`re looking forward to in 2012. It could be graduation, getting a driver`s license, or voting.
The only thing is, you`ve got to be at least 13 years old and we only want to hear you talking, so no music or anything like that. The deadline for this is Thursday, December 8th. Send us your iReports in the "Spotlight" section at cnnstudentnews.com.
AZUZ: All right. Before we go today, one of these things is not like the others.
AZUZ (voice-over): Jet, jet, Jetman -- this dude is wearing a personal wing-end engine, and he`s flying in formation with a pair of actual jets. Cruising speed for the personal jet wing is 137 miles per hour. Now that`s the fastest that Jetman can fly, but it`s almost slow enough for the real jets flying near him to stall. The winged warrior has shown off his skills before, flying over the Grand Canyon.
AZUZ: What will he do for his next stunt? Probably just going to "wing" it. Clock says it`s time for us to "jet." I guess time "flies" when you`re having "pun." Back tomorrow to close out the week. We`ll see you then. For CNN Student News, I`m Carl Azuz.