I was watching a former co-worker (Chris Franklin) narrate a Hurricane Camille 50th anniversary story at 6 pm when I remembered I forgot what day it was. Nancy Parker's passing has many of us in such a fog that I flat out forgot about Camille. Most of the local TV Weathercasters (3 exceptions) were not even born yet when Camille destroyed the Mississippi Gulf coast and lower Plaquemines Parish. I was 3 months short of graduating from The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and my memory of the storm is rather limited. The meteorology department posted a picture (no animation loops back then) of Camille and I remember reading about her in the newspaper the next day and seeing Walter Cronkite show some grainy video on the CBS evening news. I didn't know about Biloxi and had no clue I'd end up in New Orleans. In fact, my first hurricane coverage didn't happen until Hurricane Agnes in 1971 off of Tampa Bay. Fortunately, Ch. 13 had a Chief Meteorologist (Roy Leep) who was their Nash Roberts. Roy handled the storm coverage like it was just another day, never getting excited or overhyping it. He was grooming me for my future in NOLA and I thank him for that. Roy is still alive living in North Tampa at the age of 86. Much has changed in terms of levee protection since Camille & Katrina and we're better armored for the big one. However, we all know, when that Camille or Katrina returns, and return it will, many of us must chose the best course of action which still is evacuation/leaving. I'm just hoping Barry was our only storm threat this year.
Maybe it's my wishful thinking, but I just don't see much happening in the Tropics for the next 10-14 days. There are several waves out in the Atlantic, but most models are not developing anything. That would take us almost to the end of August leaving only 4-5 weeks of being nervous before cold fronts start coming. I hate the cold of Winter, but I hate the Hurricanes of Summer too. Stay tuned!
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