LauderBlog
Aug 28: The Calm Before
Posted On: August 29, 2006 7:44 AM
Posted By: LauderBLOGGER
Related Subjects: Greater Fort Lauderdale
By now, we all know the drill. Yes, there’s a tropical storm on the horizon. Yes, we had all better be prepared, just in case. Fill up the gas tank. Take out extra cash from the ATM. Buy more food and bottled water. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera …. Sigh.
It’s hard for me to get too worked up about it all. The forecasters understandably fret and wring their hands, partly to make sure everyone takes the warnings seriously. (And it doesn’t hurt that approaching storms boost TV ratings, of course. So we tend to get wall-to-wall coverage.) I’ve lived in South Florida long enough to see lots of storms come and lots of storms go. I’m certainly not one to bury my head in the sand – I covered Hurricane Andrew as a newspaper reporter, standing in downtown Miami in an open air parking garage. It was an experience and I’ll never take a big storm for granted. So I go about all the precautions, like anyone else.
But today it’s sunny and beautiful, with much lower than normal humidity. I was sitting outside at Stork’s a little while ago, on Las Olas, sipping an iced coffee and munching some pasta salad with sun-dried tomatoes. No one there was freaking out. I watched tourists, two different times, stop on the nearby bridge to take photos. And so I’m trying to keep all this in perspective. And the last I saw, Ernesto was a tropical storm only, not a hurricane, though it might strengthen. Still, I’ve done everything I can now. So, like everyone, I’ll wait and watch.
I’ll check out some of that non-stop, hyperventilated news coverage from time to time, to keep an eye on the storm track and wind speed. But I’ve also learned that even the best forecasters really can’t tell us much about how strong the storm will be or even exactly where the storm will go. The way I see it is this: Life in what many call “paradise,” here in tropical South Florida, comes with some price. This is it. The waiting and the watching, the preparing … and all the hoping for the best. I’m optimistic. We’ll see if I was right when I write the next blog later this week.
It’s hard for me to get too worked up about it all. The forecasters understandably fret and wring their hands, partly to make sure everyone takes the warnings seriously. (And it doesn’t hurt that approaching storms boost TV ratings, of course. So we tend to get wall-to-wall coverage.) I’ve lived in South Florida long enough to see lots of storms come and lots of storms go. I’m certainly not one to bury my head in the sand – I covered Hurricane Andrew as a newspaper reporter, standing in downtown Miami in an open air parking garage. It was an experience and I’ll never take a big storm for granted. So I go about all the precautions, like anyone else.
But today it’s sunny and beautiful, with much lower than normal humidity. I was sitting outside at Stork’s a little while ago, on Las Olas, sipping an iced coffee and munching some pasta salad with sun-dried tomatoes. No one there was freaking out. I watched tourists, two different times, stop on the nearby bridge to take photos. And so I’m trying to keep all this in perspective. And the last I saw, Ernesto was a tropical storm only, not a hurricane, though it might strengthen. Still, I’ve done everything I can now. So, like everyone, I’ll wait and watch.
I’ll check out some of that non-stop, hyperventilated news coverage from time to time, to keep an eye on the storm track and wind speed. But I’ve also learned that even the best forecasters really can’t tell us much about how strong the storm will be or even exactly where the storm will go. The way I see it is this: Life in what many call “paradise,” here in tropical South Florida, comes with some price. This is it. The waiting and the watching, the preparing … and all the hoping for the best. I’m optimistic. We’ll see if I was right when I write the next blog later this week.
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