As Ilifted my kayak paddle out of the waters of ThomasBayin SoutheastAlaska, I paused for a moment to listen to the soft susurration of rainon the surfaceof the water.
The 2012 hurricane season has gotten off to a robust start, though meteorologist Thomas Downs of Expert Weather Investigations attributed that to a cyclical warming of Atlantic waters.
At 3:15 in the morning, Jamie Powers and Kevin Thomas, environmental conservation officers for New York state, ease their 31-foot boat into the inky waters of Jamaica Bay, which bisects the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.