Watching the reports out of Houston for the past few days brought back so memories of Katrina…many bad, but some good. Like all the folks coming from all over the country to help out joining the great work of the Coast Guard and local 1st responders. What an effort, truly inspiring. It’s what makes America great, for despite all our differences, when tragedies strike our land, we are all Americans and we pull together. As the song says…”Proud to be an American!” Many folks in Texas & SW Louisiana now walk in our shoes. We know there is no easy road out as we couldn’t come home for days after Katrina and when we did, it wasn’t the same home. I remember using a crow bar to knock out sheet rock so we could strip out the wet insulation. (Insurance doesn’t cover mold damage you know) Next came the refrigerator (Whew what a smell!) and all the other appliances that sat in water for days. Finally came the wooden floors that buckled all over the house, then the cabinets & all their contents. What a nightmare, except it didn’t last just a night. We all know it took us months to make our homes livable again. Perhaps some of you remember what happened 2 weeks after Katrina? Another powerful Hurricane entered the Gulf (Rita) and headed our way. Dear God, not again…we can’t take any more. Fortunately Rita stayed far enough off our coast, but that is often what happens with weather…storms come in pairs. I recall the great blizzard of 1967 in Chicago that dumped 27” on the city. Most folks don’t remember the following weekend saw another snowstorm dump 8-12” on them. Why do I mention this? Because computer models are hinting that another tropical system could develop over the western Gulf next week. There is nothing there yet, and if a deep east coast trough develops and drives a cold front down to the Gulf Coast, we could be protected as the front could turn the system away from us. Bottom line, it’s way too soon to know much, way too soon to get nervous, but never too soon to pay attention. We have a mostly dry stretch coming for the next 3-4 days. That will give us some time to calm down.
Irma is churning way out in the Atlantic and NHC is already projecting her to become a major hurricane. She’s at least 10 days away from affecting the U.S., but I guarantee her hype will be in over drive. Way too soon to know if she’ll make the recurve and not head into the Gulf. All this activity is not surprising as we are in the favorable (rising air) phase of the MJO (Madden-Jullian Oscillation), a naturally occurring feature (like El Nino) that rotates around the Earth. I’m thinking once we get beyond Sept. 15-20, we’ll see the MJO shift to the unfavorable (sinking air) phase and the Tropics should quiet down. Hopefully fronts start coming and the Gulf cools down. Stay tuned!
There is something floating out on Facebook that has me in my “mancave/manitorium” in my teddy bear pajamas. It’s all a PhotoShopped fraud and not true. Many of my friends out of town believe that’s what I do in retirement. In the words of our President…FAKE NEWS!
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