Diary of a Weather Maven

On this fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, thought I'd add something from my archives, previously published on www.ourecho.com.

August 23, 2005
There’s another storm showing up in the Bahamas today. 35-mile-per-hour winds, named Tropical Depression # 12. They say it’s the result of an interaction of a tropical wave and the remains of Tropical Depression #10.

August 24, 2005
TD #12 has been named an official tropical storm, winds 40-miles-per-hour. The Hurricane Center has named it Katrina, making it this year’s 11th named storm. It continues to move toward Florida.

August 25, 2005
This morning, Katrina went from a tropical storm to a hurricane in 24 hours, reaching hurricane force only 2 hours before making landfall between Aventura and Hallandale Beach, Florida. It weakened over land, but regained hurricane status about an hour after entering the Gulf of Mexico.

August 26, 2005
Katrina is rapidly intensifying now that it’s in the Gulf and moving over warm waters.

August 27, 2005
This bugger has reached Category 3 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. It’s this year’s 5th hurricane, and 3rd major hurricane. Here’s a curiosity, described by NOAA: “an eyewall replacement cycle disrupted the intensification, but caused the storm to nearly double in size.” I’m not sure what that means but it’s likely bad news for somebody.

August 28, 2005
Katrina has intensified again--Category 5 status this morning, reaching peak strength at 1:00 p.m. CDT, maximum sustained winds of 175 mph, minimum central pressure of 902 mbar. It’s churning out there in the Gulf, the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record (so far) and the strongest hurricane the Hurricane Center has ever measured in the Gulf of Mexico. Up to now, at least! Voluntary and mandatory evacuations have been issued for large areas of southeast Louisiana and coastal Mississippi and Alabama. It appears to be headed right for Louisiana. The TV news is zeroing in on the potential catastrophe for New Orleans, because 80% of the city and 20% of the NO metropolitan area is below sea level along Lake Pontchartrain. Storm surge is forecast to be 28 feet, and officials fear it could go over the tops of the levees. I’m praying for New Orleans.

August 29, 2005
The good news is that Katrina made its 2nd landfall as “merely” a Cat. 3 today, with sustained winds of 125 mph, at 11:25 p.m. CDT near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana. The bad news is that at landfall, hurricane-force winds are extending out for 120 miles from the center, with 920 mbar central pressure. Hitting just east of New Orleans, maybe N.O. dodged the bullet? And next, oh my God, this Holy Terror is making its 3rd landfall near the Louisiana/Mississippi border, still a Cat 3, 120 mph sustained winds. Praying for everyone from Louisiana to Florida.

August 30, 2005, Early Morning
Oh no. Oh no. New Orlean’s levees have breeched. The heavy winds and storm surges have caused Lake Pontchatrain to overrun the levees along there, and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MR-GO) breached its levees in approximately 20 places. Much of east New Orleans, most of Saint Bernard parish, and the East Bank of Plaquemines Parish are flooded. The major levee breaches in the city include breaches at the 17th Street Canal levee, the London Avenue Canal, and the wide, navigable Industrial Canal, which leaves about 80% of the city under water. Most major roads in and out of the city are damaged. The I-10 Span Bridge, eastbound towards Slidell, LA, has collapsed. It’s chaos. It’s terrible.

Days Later
I can’t watch TV anymore. I can’t write anymore. I can’t bear it. New Orleans is a sea of toxic soup, with dead bodies floating, ruptured sewage lines spewing. It’s a dying city. People are waiting for someone to come get them off their roofs. They wave at media helicopters flying over. But no one comes to get them. Why . . . can’t . . . someone . . . come?

Crying Days

Looking Back
Katrina maintained Cat 1 force well into Mississippi, but finally lost hurricane strength more than 150 miles inland near Jackson, Mississippi. It was downgraded to a tropical depression near Clarksville, Tennessee, with its last distinguishable remnants in the eastern Great Lakes region on August 31. The resulting extratropical storm moved rapidly to the northeast and affected Ontario and Quebec. Total loss of life from Katrina is listed at 1,836. Total monetary damages is estimated at $81.2 Billion, the costliest Atlantic hurricane in history. It affected the Bahamas, South Florida, Cuba, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida Panhandle, and most of eastern North America.

The name Katrina is removed from possible usage in the future.

Fleeing Rita

I had tears in my eyes. It was all over, and I was home again, observing storm-tossed pelicans riding the remaining winds, reading e-mails and answering phone calls from my many friends and family all over Texas and several states, concerned about my welfare. All of us were expressing joy that my beloved town and county on the Coastal Bend of Texas were spared the wrath of Hurricane Rita.

As I was preparing to evacuate I was overcome with decisions as to what to take. Of course it's just stuff, but it's my stuff, and I've scraped and scrabbled for the 32 years since the divorce to get it. And then there are the photos, the memories. I can't say it any better than an evacuating friend did: "gifts and mementos from friends and family now gone, each one treasured for the memories they bring, it's so sad to think you may never see them again."

It was a heartbreaking, devastating packing-up. At times I seemed totally disabled, unable to think clearly. I felt especially vulnerable about my mobile home; although it's anchored through 12 inches of concrete, a major hurricane will most likely leave only the frame, anchors and concrete. I wandered from room to room just looking at everything: collection of local artwork, curtains painstakingly chosen for just the right coastal look, comfort and things that make me smile in every corner. I couldn't take it all.

So, into the car went those irreplaceable things like photos (boxes and boxes--including three enlargements ready for entry in the county fair); treasured gifts from long-gone parents, sister, aunts and uncles; clothes, shoes, personal care and refilled prescriptions; the Macintosh computer with files of my writings and monthly newsletter "Livin' on the Bay"; much-used dictionary and thesaurus; a skeleton outlay of kitchen items; my companion cats and their supplies. Unable to fit anything else in the car, I decided, if necessary, I COULD start over with that much.

Pulling out of the driveway, with yowling cats beside me, heading for refuge with friends in Central Texas, I literally shook my fist in the air at Mother Nature, and cried aloud, "I made the last house payment in May! It's mine, all mine! Don't you dare take it away from me!"

Of course, I realize now that should that modest home, with the two fat 6-foot palm trees that I brought home three years previous in the front seat of my car, were to be blown away, the life that I've built for myself, the person that I am, the love I receive from my town and my county in the seven years I have "lived on the bay," would remain. I could create another haven of my own, whatever or wherever it might be.

Hard on the heels of Katrina, my neighbors on the Gulf Coast took Rita's threat seriously. Before evacuating, folks boarded up homes and businesses. Ranchers herded their cattle and horses to high ground. Shrimp boats were moved to safer waters in the Victoria Barge Canal.

Most did not regret the effort to prepare for and flee from a storm that ended up elsewhere, and vow to do it again. We must take to heart what we've learned, to be more prepared next time we're threatened. And from all forecasting accounts, there will be a next time. I'll be ready. I'll go.

Oh, the county fair photos? They received two first-place blue ribbons, and one second-place red.

Seasonal

There are times when I just can’t keep my mouth shut. For quite a few years now I’ve had the overwhelming conviction that I know how best to do everything from posing wedding photos to stocking store shelves.

As most of you know, I have an ongoing obsession with the weather. I like hearing the forecasts, and critiquing them according to what I think will happen, and comparing what actually happens with the forecasts. A few winters ago I began to hear rather ominous forecasts for February—the possibility of a truly hard freeze here on the Texas Coast.

With no central heat in my home, at that time I relied on electric heaters to get me through our occasional wintry spells. With the skirting project accomplished the previous fall, I’d been quite comfortable so far that year. But faced with potentially extended colder temperatures, I decided to invest in another unit. So off I go to pursue such.

Imagine my consternation when, in January (isn’t that the dead of winter?) I’m told by our local discount department store that they had sold out of electric heaters long ago, and they weren’t getting any more. The clerk explained, “They’re seasonal.”

Well, dang, I don’t know when I’ve heard such truth. Ya ever heard of anyone shopping for a heater when it’s 90 degrees? I went to a manager for confirmation, in case the clerk just made up a story to get me off his back. Yep, you guessed it, no more electric heaters—need room for air conditioners.

I couldn’t resist.

I asked how many ACs he had sold that day.

Manager: “I don’t think any.”

CJ: Why do you suppose that is?”

Manager: “Well, the weather has been . . .”

He trailed off, beginning to see where this was going.

Making no progress there, I set out in search of an entrepreneur more in keeping with stores of my youth, where service to their customers made the difference in staying in business or closing.

And I found Ace Hardware. On a Friday, they had only 1 electric heater left. BUT they had reordered, and would have more on Saturday. Clerk said they had sold out and reordered this winter about 7 times! What an excellent concept for business.

This seasonal business has confounded me before. I went in search of an oscillating fan a couple of weeks before Easter one year. The weather had turned quite warm, but not to the degree one wanted to turn on the AC. Nope, I’m told at the stores, they were “seasonal.” I tried to explain, to no avail, the notion that when it was hot, it was the season for fans. Lord, don’t they know we’re in Texas? Where the weather can switch from freezing ice cubes on the porch to frying an egg on the driveway so fast you’ll get whip lash.

Websters New World Dictionary defines seasonal as “Characteristic of, or depending on, the season or seasons.”

I never hesitate to propose improvements to everything from the daily paper to scheduling of road repairs. Why not Webster? I suggest an additional definition for seasonal: “Refers to items stores should be selling when the weather demands it.”

Folding, Folding, Folding

You've probably read all those forwards and columns, and tales from the media folks, about how to fold up fitted sheets. I've assembled tips from all that, and have pretty much mastered the art. It requires a cleared bed, where one spreads out the sheet, folds up the ends, then the sides, tucking the corners as needed, then left, right, left right, fold it up into a shape more or less fitting on a shelf. Actually, what I do is have only one sheet set, and put the fitted one back on the bed after laundry.

I've got a new one for you. At least it's new to me, I've not seen anyone wax eloquent on the subject. You know those snuggies they've touted the last couple of years in infomercials out the wazoo? They keep you warm on cold winter nights when you're settled down for the evening with book or TV. They do the trick very well, unless you're prone to leaping up to stir supper, or move laundry from the machine to the dry. In that case, one is most likely to be able to spout the famous phrase, "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!"

It's summer now. No need to bundle up in anything, much less a blanket with sleeves. I know, it's August, and you'd think I'd not just now be tidying up unused stuff from Valentine's Day. So I'm a procrastinator. At least I've launched into my spring cleaning before time to call it fall cleaning. Here's the rub. Worked my way down in a pile of tossed aside items and found that aforementioned fleece warmer-upper. OK. It goes in the drawer with sweat pants and sweatshirts. Wait, it has to be folded up, to take up as little space as possible.

Have you ever tried to fold up one of those suckers? Forget about how tricky it was to actually get it on and around you when you wanted to use it last winter. I tried spreading it out on the bed and rolling it up like a burrito. Lumpy. Bulky. I tried putting the sleeves together, smoothing it out elsewhere, folding in here and there. Unwieldy. Then I started at the collar area, folding in from side to side, as I went down. Still looked like a cross between a grizzly bear in hibernation and a 3-man tent after a windstorm.

The solution? I moved the sweat pants and sweatshirts out of their drawer and stacked them on a closet shelf. Shoved the wadded up Snuggie down in the drawer and slammed it shut.

Sometimes ya just gotta go with expediency.