Sunday, August 16, 2009

Sweet Rain Sunday And A Tropical Tease

This rain actually fell yesterday morning.


A while back I was whining about the 2009 Tropical Storm season ... where was it?


Apparently my whine got lost in the mail, but only for a little while, because YOWZA! The Atlantic has finally woken up.

Four systems ... pop, pop,pop, pop!

I make no apologies for loving hurricane season. It's going to come anyway, whether I like it or not. The raw energy of a tropical system is exciting, dangerous, destructive, and wonderous.

The dangerous/destructive part mainly depends on your location. Folks on the waterfront or in river flood plains probably only see these two.

I see all four, but then, I don't live in a hurricane bait home.

Pure Florida HeadQuarters (PFHQ) sits on decently high ground (for Florida) and is neither located at the beach or along any lake or river. A forest of large trees surround the open home area and act like shock absorbers when the wind roars.

Yes a hurricane spawned tornado could flatten PFHQ in a matter of seconds, but what are the odds of that?

After half a century of living in Florida and rolling along mostly unscathed through multiple tropical storms and hurricanes, I have decided that Tourist Season is a lot more dangerous than Hurricane Season.

The really neat thing about hurricane season in Florida, besides the awe and wonder of Convection Gone Wild, is this simple fact.

None of us have to live in Florida. It's okay to move. Honest.

Claudette is a tease. So close and yet so far.

She's sliding up the coast just far enough off shore to make me ache for her touch, but I know she's got other places to go with all that amazing rain ... dang it.
We have had no rain today, only overcast skies and some occasional breezes, even as "a splendid little storm" passes by just out of reach.

Oh well.

Claudette IS a gentle reminder to get prepared quickly for storm season if you've put it off.

I'm not going to post about how to prepare, because there are plenty of info sources for that.

I will throw this out for thought though. This might be an especially good year to not wind up in a hurricane shelter because you didn't evacuate or prepare accordingly.

Public health officials in Florida are expecting Swine Flu outbreaks soon after school begins as summer dispersed kids are crowded into classrooms again.

School starts in one week.

So does the worst portion of Hurricane Season.

How is being crowded into a hurricane shelter with hundreds of other folks different from kids being crowded into schools?

Answer:

It's not.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi FC,

I was supposed to go to Alabama (outside Dothan) this morning. Decided to cancel last night. Glad I did. It's been storming a lot the past few days. Lost power for 6hours the other evening. I was able to open the windows when the rain stopped and it was rather nice.

Patti

CrackerNation said...

I miss tropical storms too. However in East Tennessee, we have gotten a couple of storms this year that remind me...

kathy a. said...

hope you get the rain you need to really fill that pond, and no more!

hurricanes make me nervous; we almost had an evacuation from charleston SC when i lived there, and Hugo really did a number there later -- everyone i knew had some damage, and it was easy to see the snapped trees and other damage years later.

on the other hand, most southerners are pretty freaked out about the earthquakes we get in california. i guess it is a matter of choosing the devil you know over the one you don't.

Miz S said...

Man, we could use some of that rain up here in Maryland right now. If Mother Nature could just slide a tropical storm on up the Atlantic coast I'd be very grateful.

The Florida Blogger said...

PF

You have summed up my exact feelings on Florida in this blog. A Floridian through and through, I don't understand all the fuss about hurricanes. Between hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, and earthquakes, I'm choosing 'canes every day of the week. At least they are partially predictable.

And can I get an "AMEN" about tourist season. That might be the worst of all the natural disasters mentioned above.

kathy a. said...

tourist season is bad everywhere. on that much, we can all complain together. [my personal town doesn't get many tourists, but the general area -- boy, howdy.]

Thunder said...

Sorry I misunderstood the instructions on the challenge, will repost it later! ;-)

tai haku said...

We're mountainous enough here to be well protected I think - they seem to be little more than inconveniences up here although I'd prefer not to test that with a direct hit from a big one, the damage done to flatter islands like Cayman was pretty scary.

I must admit to an addiction to stormpulse.com though

Felicia said...

I moved to Florida a year ago yesterday, just in time for Hurricane Fay (the first to affect Gainesville since forever...). It ended up being nothing more than a bigger than average rainstorm at my place. Like you, I'm more worried about swine flu (and my roomsful of sleep-deprived, badly nourished undergrads) than any hurricane! Let's hope our kids, big and small, stay safe, and so do we...

Cathy S. said...

I have not been paying attention to the news so didn't know about Claudette. But, when I went outside this morning, I thought, it feels like a storm is on the way. It was that cooler, dry air and wind that you get just before a hurricane. Much to my surprise, upon coming home from church, I find there really is a storm out there! Who needs the weather channel? We Floridians can feel them in our bones.

LibraryGirl62 said...

I have been in FLA 28 years this month. I will take a hurricane over a blizzard ANY DAY! I feel the same about storms and rain~ they actually sort of soothe me :)
and since I live in Naples~I concur about tourist season...

Sandcastle Momma said...

LOL Tourist season is more dangerous LOL

Claudette snuck right up on me. We're just starting to get a little wind now and hopefully some much needed rain will follow.

I think I'd rather tie myself to a piling and hope for the best before I'd go to a shelter - all those people and germs floating around scares me much more than any hurricane.

Unknown said...

Great post ... and joke at the end. I'm going to use that one at work (I'll give you credit.)

Caroline said...

I was checking Weather Channel last night as thunderstorm was overhead in Sioux Falls,SD, wondering if those tropical lows were going to bring you some rain.
Collecting daughter #3 from visit to daughters #1 and #2, it got pretty wild out on the prairie, and was only 46 at home in the foothills.
No hurricanes here lately.

Meems said...

We have had so little rain here at Hoe and Shovel that I was hoping for a tropical storm when one was mentioned on the weather forecast. We did get a bit of rain tonight... woo-hoo!

I'm with you... "None of us have to live in Florida. It's okay to move. Honest."

Meems @ For the Love of Florida

jojo said...

UGH! i don't like thinking about the costs! buy this and that. more gas. more this. :( hurricanes are a chore! and expensive. they're wonderous when the chores are over. exciting? you need to come here and watch my horse struggle thru a cat 2. not so exciting. though i do admit it is amazing to watch how smart they are in a storm.

Wish i was up the state more near your neck o the woods. I cringe every time a neighbor cuts down a perfectly health windbreaker. :)

Here's hoping it just scares the tourists away!

lisa said...

I am sorry to say, but everyone does pick their poison, and me personally would rather have the blizzard than the hurricane, tornadoes, or the earthquakes!! But hey to each his own. I do love rain storms though, rain is soo soothing to listen to when it comes in moderation!!

threecollie said...

It is raining here, just for practice I guess. You can have it if you want it. Meanwhile take care!

R.Powers said...

Patti,
I was walking Bear early yesterday and it was almost chilly before the sun came up! Weird. Steamy out there right now though at six am.

Crackernation,
What a pretty state even if TN doesnt have canes.

Cathy A,
I think I like the sound of wind screaming out of control better than the sound of the ground moving around. LOL

ThunderD,
No prob dude. Your entry is gonna be killer.

Tai,
I forgot about you out there in the cane breeding grounds! LOL I hope this season treats you well.

Felicia,
Welcome! Ditto on your safety wish. The image of sleepy, cheetos stoked students made me smile. Ill have some of my own in a week.

Cathy S,
Isn't that funny? I thought the same thing walking Bear at dawn yesterday, came in to find Claudette on the news.

Librarygirl,
Isn't that the truth! Blizzards seem pretty fearsome to me.

Sandcastle Momma,
I was thinking about you when they showed this storm track. Hope it's just a good windy rain for you all.

Robert,
Thanks! I hope some of these storms refill those glades.

Caroline,
Do you know how good 46 sounds to a Florida boy in August? Glad you collected everyone safely.

Meems,
LOL! Thanks for the support! And how nice that you got some rain. We did not get a drop from Claudette.

JOJO,
We can always hope!
Too bad about the windbreak cutting. I love to watch my trees sway in the wind as they absorb some of the storms energy.

Lisa,
True, we do choose and the weather is gonna happen no matter what we do! I love the sound of tropical downpours.

R.Powers said...

Miz S,
I'm sure we will send you one sometime this season!

Alan,
That predictability part makes them less scary than quakes I think.

Three Collie,
Well, it's good to practice I guess, sorry if things are too wet up there.

Buford Nature said...

it is becoming more and more evident that the floridan aquifer is recharged by hurricanes and tropical storms, not by daily rainfall. one more reason for us to love 'em! even if we peninsularians didn't get much of it, at least the dougherty plain and woodville karst plain did.

Bill said...

FC,
I quit being complacent about Hurricanes when Andrew flattened my brothers house with him and his family in it. They were 20+ miles from the coast. I certainly won't be sitting on this island if we get one too close to the Nations Oldest City.
I don't mind the tree limbs and the power outages but I don't want to deal with a wall of water when I am less than 1/2 mile from the beach. Of course we have only been evacuated three times in the last 23 years so it really isn't all that bad. You just have to be aware.

Billy

Val said...

I'm with you on loving the storm weather! I grew up on the TX coast and was thrilled when they would head our way.