JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Believe it or not, there's only about two more months until the start of hurricane season.
Hundreds of meteorologists and emergency management officials from around the state were in Orlando on Wednesday morning for the National Hurricane Conference.
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They say homeowners make one major mistake every year and now they want to put a stop to it.
If hurricane force winds bear down on Florida again this year, homeowners taking shelter will undoubtedly try duct taping their windows, thinking it will work.
But the experts say duct taping windows is actually is a total waste of energy.
Consumer advocates are announcing a campaign against it at this year's National Hurricane Convention.
"It makes people feel like they're actually doing something to protect their home when in reality it really doesn't do anything to protect their windows," said Pete Miller, of Home Depot.
Safety expert Miller said duct taping windows is really just an urban myth. Instead, he said the tape often creates a false sense of security.
"The reality is the windows, unless their impact resistant windows, will shatter anyhow and the duct tape will do very little to keep the glass shards from hitting the house," Miller said. "It's really a feel good thing."
Miller said it's never too early to start preparing for hurricanes, especially this year, following an unusually warm winter and early spring.
Hurricane experts said now's the time to start thinking about hurricane shutters and impact resistant windows, or even new hurricane fabric, which shields your glass from flying debris.
"It has a little bit of give to it," Miller said. "The other added benefit, a number of benefits actually, you pre-stage the anchor so it's very easy to clip up. The other nice thing is you get it cut to the size of the window and it's really easy to roll up and store instead of having these big sheets of plywood in your garage."
Another reason why the experts are trying to make people especially aware that duct taping windows doesn't work is that the number of people moving to Florida is on the rise, and those people from other parts of the country might not have any idea what will and won't protect their family and their home.