Note to readers: The damage that hurricanes produce is devastating. Not only do these storms take a toll on local economies, real estate, etc., they kill! And that's the bottom line. The below is just my personal view on the situation "surrounding" hurricane season in S. Florida.
I haven't posted anything since June. After the flurry I had in April with 8 posts (new blogger syndrom), with 1 post in May and 1 post in June, blogging went to the wayside. Probably because I haven't been anywhere. I've been stuck in S. Florida. Ewwww! I really need to get out more. We were pondering a trip to O town but then came the onslaught of one tropical storm/hurricane after the other. Try'n to reason with the hurricane season is something that everyone in S. Florida goes through each year. Me personally, I don't buy in to all the hype.
I'm talking about our famous "run or you'll die" newscasts by Channel 10 and Channel 7. They really lay it on folks down here. One even hired the former Director of the National Hurricane Center (NHC) to instill fear in folks. It seems the media can't wait for hurricane season when storms start forming off the coast of Africa to analyze, summarize, and even attempt to humanize these "going no where" systems. Of course all that this does is stir everyone up. It seems if folks aren't glued to a television then they're glued to their computer looking at their favorite hurricane tracking site(s).
I personally look at two, NOAA's National Hurricane Center and Skeetobite. Why two you ask? Well the NHC site shows us if we're in the "cone of death" as I like to call it, and Skeetobite has just a line of where the storm is going. Of course both show computer models etc and all the info is there. Some swear by other sites because "this guy is really good" or this one "has the best info"...blah, blah, blah. If you want to read a 5000 word essay on where and when the storm will hit then help yourself. Show me the graphic and timeline and that's all I really need to know. After all, why should I put myself through all the torture that others do?
When I lived in Key West for 91/2 years, there would be a storm 5 days out and the "bubba's" would throw everyone out of the Keys. I call it premature evacuation. The thing about the Keys, there is one road in and one road out. So naturally they want to be prepared and the best way to do that is to toss everyone who is not a resident out of the Keys. Basically doing the opposite of what happens up here. It kills the industry down there. Well, the industry use to be fishing, but now it's tourism...another blog at another time.
It seems now that things are settling down out there. No storms to report (according to the NHC). However, we still have 72 days and 12 hours at the time of this posting, plenty of time for another round of the southern Caribbean spawned storms and more opportunity to induce fear into the lives of folks in S. Florida.
Hey...I gotta go watch the news!
