Hurricane Isabel - bearing down on NC and VA in September 2003
The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore - Hurricane Isabel's Projected Timeline
Hurricanes and The Weather Channel!I love September in Mayberry-By-The-Sea! The tourists have gone home, and the locals take back the beach. Temperatures flirt with 80 degrees nearly every day. It's a beautiful prelude into Fall. But now, hurricane threats become more serious!
In my last post, I confessed to being a "map geek". Part two of that admission is I'm also a weather geek during hurricane season. I think it almost becomes a requisite "hobby" when living at sea level.
Oh, praise the television gods for the foresight of creating a 24/7 cable station with forecasts! Where would we in Hurricane Alley be without The Weather Channel? Normally, I browse it casually... but at the first mention of any sort of tropical disturbance swirling down from the tip of Africa, and they've got my attention. Let this tropical depression pick up strength to become a named Tropical Storm and head for the Lesser Antilles, and I'm all ears. Once the Tropical Storm becomes more energized and defined with that horrible "eye" and is proclaimed at hurricane status... everyone around seems to become self-proclaimed meteorologists. The amateur prognostication begins like wild-eyed gamblers at the black jack table. Names of the heavy hitter hurricanes from yesteryear are bandied about by the seasoned folk, comparing the tracks of those hurricanes which fizzled out after much ado.
Ah, If only I was a bettin' woman...
I have great respect for the fury and awesome power of Mother Nature. She is a force to be reckoned with and takes no fools as prisioners. I've been thru many a hurricane which was reduced to a "mere" tropical storm force, and have seen the damage left behind. I was hunkered down and scared in September 2003 when Hurricane Isabel came ashore, devastating the Outer Banks of NC (only an hour and a half from me) and continued on up the coast to Virginia Beach to cause us unbelievable damage. Our city was shut down for days. My daughter and I sat in the dark with no power for one week. And we were some of the lucky ones...
I take this hurricane bidness seriously. I'll tell you... it's quite the surreal feeling when The Weather Channel sets up camp in your city at the front of an impending storm. To me, it's quasi-Grim Reaper like. People get all a-twitter about sitings of that weather hunk, Jim Cantore, down at the oceanfront. His fans are affectionately known as "Pier Groupies". What amazes me is that suddenly some people lose their minds and get the urge to risk life and limb and go surfing, when the hurricane flags are flying and the beach is closed. Other idiots go out into the storm to "see what it feels like" and get some sort of death wish adrenaline rush, I suppose. Or maybe their 15 minutes of fame on The Weather Channel...
In browsing The Weather Channel last night, I note there is a storm heading toward the Lesser Antilles at the moment. "Tropical Depression Six", it's called right now. (Hmmm.....) Upon her birth as a Tropical Storm, which seems quite imminent, she will be named "Florence".
I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one. I have a feeling my friend from the Rocky Mountains might also be making the acquaintence of One Miss Florence later this week, too... :) -Six
Uh oh......That "L" is Tropical Depression Six!
