Dr. Lixion Avila is a weather forecaster with the National Hurricane Center (NHC). He has been a senior hurricane specialist there since 1987 and is the longest-tenured senior specialist.He is the only Cuban American specialist on the staff and is bilingual in English and Spanish.Avila generally forecasts with a quirky personal touch. Similar to his NHC counterpart James Franklin, Avila occasionally expresses his opinion or sense of humor, often in the discussion areas of advisories. For instance during 2005's record-breaking Hurricane Epsilon, he expressed his frustration at the hurricane's refusal to weaken despite repeated predictions that it would do so: "There are no clear reasons...and I am not going to make one up...to explain the recent strengthening of Epsilon and I am just describing the facts."
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