Florida setting amazing hurricane record

Tampa, Florida -- No hurricane has hit Florida in nearly 10 years. It's a dry spell that has kept us safe, but it also creates a huge, dangerous challenge for emergency planners.

This is the longest stretch without a hurricane Florida has experienced since records started being kept in 1851. It's one of the big things they'll be talking about at the free Tampa Bay Hurricane Expo on Saturday at MOSI in Tampa.

This decade without hurricanes in Florida has meant your family and property have been safer, while our tourism economy has grown stronger.

But it also means you're probably not thinking much about things like creating a hurricane plan for your family or getting your important documents together.

NOAA releases predictions for 2015 hurricane season

Atlantic hurricane season starts Monday and emergency planners are living with this difficult challenge: How do you get people to pay attention to the risk?

I asked Preston Cook, Hillsborough County's emergency operations director. His answer? "You have to keep beating the drum."

Appearances on TV and at civic group meetings, and pushes on social media -- before, during, and after hurricane season -- are what it takes to keep the real danger of hurricanes in people's minds, Cook told me.

Florida may be on a lucky streak, but "it only takes one" to devastate your home and shake up your life, Cook said.

One potential help: New technology that can improve hurricane forecasts and give your family more time to get ready for a storm is on its on its way.

There's a fresh push in Washington to invest a ton of money into making hurricane forecasts better.

A bill in the U.S. Senate right now would give NOAA, which includes the National Weather Service, a boost of more than $26 million a year.

They'd invest that in new technology and research into all severe weather forecasts, especially the time frame of two weeks out or further. So from when the storms begin to form, all the way through landfall, the path could get clearer

Much of that funding boost would go to satellite technology, which can improve forecasting in several critical situations, Brian LaMarre told me. He's the head of the National Weather Service office serving Tampa Bay.

This 2015 hurricane season, the National Weather Service will also put out new tools that show specific risks to homes and neighborhoods from storm surge, the element of hurricanes that kills the most people.

As a storm approaches, 10 Weather meteorologists will be able to study and share that storm surge data to give you the best information possible.

You'll be able to hear from local experts, see response equipment, and learn about planning for your family at the 2015 Tampa Bay Hurricane Expo, Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Not only is the hurricane expo free, but all of MOSI is free on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.