The price tag on a weather forecast can be steep.  With hurricane season just around the corner,  it's a fact business owners around Hilton Head Island are all too familiar with this time of year.

The economic impact of a storm's mere forecast was the hot topic at the annual hurricane forum on the island Tuesday.

Strong winds and heavy rain: the kind of scene we try to avoid, and rightfully so.  But Beaufort County's Emergency Management Director says the bold-colored maps and warnings from the pros often put small businesses near the red when real danger is no where close to the island.

"All we have to have is a meteorologist stand up and say, “the east coast of the United States may be threatened by this storm,” and the ball game has started,” Beaufort County Emergency Management Director William Winn said.

Joe Catalano, who runs The Kickin’ Gator Surf Shop is quite familiar with the curve balls a forecast throws his way.

"People who are unsure how the beaches are going to be will just cancel,” Catalano said.  “So the two days of threats could turn into a week or two weeks of lost revenue."

Keeping tourism alive in hurricane season is a top priority for the Chamber of Commerce, but their efforts are also vital when strong storms start heading toward the Lowcountry.

"We work very closely with Emergency Management to let them know how many visitors we have on the island,” Charlie Clark, Vice President of Communications, said.  “How did they get here? By car?  By plane?  It's all important in that if we needed to get them off the island, how could we make that happen?"

Tuesday’s forum was open to the public but many who came were small business owners.  Studies show that 80 percent of small businesses do not recover from a hurricane.