Yes today I would like to discuss the joys of weather events. Let’s face it I’m being sarcastic. I live in the subtropics, we are subject to tornadoes, hurricanes, heat waves, straight line winds, and the occasional cold front.
I spent just enough time during my impressionable years living in
tornado alley in the United States. I remember being told to grab the bag and get in the car, find Mom’s keys and ask later and off we would go to the basement of the school. I think it was the middle school, it could have been a high school. I remember maps of the states with the counties marked out so I would know where the warnings and watches were and if they were going to be close by. I remembers standing on the front porch watching the weather roll in. Later when for some reason I moved back to the area after living with earthquakes, I remember standing at the end of the driveway and looking out on the horizon at not one, or two, but three funnels coming down out of the sky and yet back behind me there was hardly a cloud. I don’t really like tornadoes.
Because of this discomfort, dislike, and basic dread of tornadoes, I developed the ability, to wake up when it got just a bit odd outside. I couldn’t sleep. I would get up and go turn on the tv and see if there were weather notices. If someone else was up watching I could go back to bed and I would be fine. If I was the only one awake I would stay up. Usually, it wouldn’t be long before a parent or grandparent was up checking on things.
I’ve discussed this with my Grandfather in recent years. He’s never been able to sleep through those types of storms either. He’s lived most his life in tornado alley.
For a while I lived in Southern California. Tornadoes are rare there. Oddly enough though, my family was living there when they had one of those rare tornadoes up near L.A.. I don’t remember there being tornadoes in the Seattle area. That was a nice break. Then we moved to Florida. Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Alligators and Palmetto Bugs.
I was living in Florida when Andrew came through. I got chased out of the Keys by it. A friend and I had a trip planned and when we left the Central Florida area Andrew was projected to hit the east coast about even with where we were. Going south seemed like a good option. We went down on Friday and then went site seeing on Saturday. By the time we were heading back to our hotel it had changed course and they were evacuating us. We left. The adventure of evacuating the Keys is a whole other story.
It was years before I had to face another hurricane. It was Mitch. I was working at a theme park, it was going to be big and ugly when it got to us. Fortunately it changed direction at the last minute and stayed off shore. And so I blissfully wandered on through life until 2004.
That summer pretty much sealed it for me. I don’t like hurricanes, or strong tropical storms for that matter. I had really been through a hurricane, if you think about it. I was enthusiastic about it. Ok, I admit, it was kind of odd to be excited about a hurricane. Never again. June 1 only brings me dread, and many sleepless nights until December 1.
Yes, Charley was one for the history books. That think came a shore with a vengeance. It was also interesting in that it changed course right around the lunch hour. This hurricane that looked like it was going to miss us was suddenly coming right at us. Through a series of circumstances, I was still working at that theme park by the way, I ended up riding it out alone, well with my birds. I lived about 6 minutes from the airport, drive to pick up. I have heard that they clocked 110 mile and hour winds at the airport. I know what that’s like.
I got really lucky with Charley. The damage to the house was minimal, there was just the fence that was bad and the poor lime tree. Truthfully, I got really lucky that whole summer.
And just a couple weeks later we turn around and have to face Francis. That one was moving so slow that it took 4 days to cross the state. Jigsaw puzzles are great things to have during those sort of times. We worked a couple. I didn’t have to ride this out alone fortunately. Though I do remember sitting working one of those puzzles and every time we would get a big gust I would think “make it stop!”. It was nerve racking.
So after Francis came Ivan. It didn’t hit our area as a hurricane. First it beat the devil out of the Cayman Islands then it hit the panhandle hard. Knocked out part of a highway bridge. Ivan ran up the west coast hit the panhandle went across the south and back out into the Atlantic and turned around and hit us again as a tropical storm. Now someone has a sick sense of humor if you ask me.
Ivan wasn’t the last one. We still had Jeanne to get through. She did some odd things. She came up the east coast and then sat out in the Atlantic just south east of the space coast and did loop-de-loops for a while before she decided to come ashore about where Francis did. At least she was fairly quick about it.
I will admit, after that, I found a dislike for wind. Even when we were living in Nevada for a short time. That wind would come down across the mountains and blow into the valley and I would just cringe.
So now I’m back in Florida. My circumstances have changed quite a bit, and Mother Nature hasn’t. Fortunately we’ve got a great meteorologist at one of the tv stations and since he’s the one who first called Charley’s track, well, he’s my hero.
The years since then haven’t been entirely storm free in this area. There was Ophelia and Wilma to be dealt with. I don’t remember what year that was.
As I write this up, I sit and listen to the remnants of yet another storm. This one is Fay. She was just a tropical storm and yet, she’s done some odd things too. She actually got stronger while over land. Yep. They are already saying they will be studying this one a while in the off season. Not only that. She’s gone across the state from west to east and then she’s going to turn around and come back across again. The last picture I saw looked like it was going to be more north of us. Thankfully. I’ve had enough for this week.
We have this idea here that we’re supposed to get 2 weeks in between storms. One week for clean up and then a week to prep for the next one. I really hope I don’t have to prep for another one. While I’ve made it through this one much better than some of the other ones I am at my limit. I know others have been through much worse with these things. They have lost it all and sometimes more. We all have our achilles heal of a sort. For now the weather is mine. It’s not that I’m really afraid of it, it’s more that I have a more than healthy respect for what Mother Nature can do and I just don’t think it’s a good idea to mess with Mother Nature. She usually wins.
Originally published at: suguayproductions.com/joomla which has been discontinued.
