Dennis

Last year it was four hurricanes. This year, it's not even mid-July and we got our first one.

"Good" ole Dennis (the Menace, as some jokingly baptized him). Seems like the weather journalists (forecasters and Weather channel folks alike) get some sort of a kick out of these things. Yesterday I was watching the Weather Channel, and it was almost unbelievable the look in some of their faces. They were having a blast! It's like "Cool! We're going to have another Category 3 to cover this year!" I mean: WHAT IS UP WITH THAT??

Granted that there are folks who cover these things (mostly the local ones, who are likely to have to deal with it in person) in a way that's a little less "excited", but... come on! :)

Anyway. According to the latest Advisory by the Hurricane Center, issued at 5 pm EST (some 40 minutes ago), it's turned into a category 3 and it's heading into Cuba by tomorrow. There doesn't seem to be much in sight to stop it, so if it maintains its current course, it's going to hit an area that still has lots of structures that haven't recovered from Ivan, last year. PLUS, they just got the rain and tropical storm-force winds from Cindy...

Check out this not-so-trivial piece of "trivia", courtesy of the Weather Channel:
Four Atlantic weather systems -- Arlene, Bret, Cindy and Dennis -- reached Tropical Storm status by July 5, the earliest for so many named storms in recorded history. Only three major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher) have hit the U.S. coast in July in the past 100 years.
:S

Well... let's hope for the best!

I will leave you with a great quote from a Zen book I read recently, called ZBA:
"Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace within the storm."

Peace to all...

Tags: weather, spirit