Gainesville Repels Storms

Perhaps, if I were a superstitious person, I would regard myself as tempting fate by revealing what I am about to reveal. But I'm not, so let fate deal its cruel hand for the following words I'm about to lay down on this blog.

I have repeatedly noticed for what seems like years a curious pattern regarding the weather in Gainesville and weather forecasts. It seems that time after time the weather service will predict a big storm system to either come in from the Gulf of Mexico or sweep down from the Florida panhandle. Gainesville and its surroundings would be engulfed in heavy rain, wind, and thunderstorms. And each time, here would come that system toward our fair city. And then, all too often, just as the nasty, naughty clouds were about to hit us, they would part around the city and then concentrate their wrath on surrounding communities, most notably Ocala to the south and Lake City to the north.

Such was the case again today. All afternoon and evening, we were going to be socked with a lot of rain, wind and a big chance of heavy thunderstorms. I scoffed at the forecast and told my wife that Gainesville would be spared the worst. And sure enough, just as the massive storm system on the televised radar picture neared my home town, it seemed to veer slightly southward, hitting Ocala (once again). Amazingly, just as the worst of the storm was striking Ocala, the radar showed the cloud cover in Gainesville to be clearing from the opposite direction! Eventually, we did get some light rain, but that was it. No torrent, no lightning, little wind. Ho-hum, I could have told them.

So you see how a more superstitious soul might conclude that I am tempting fate a bit by pointing out Gainesville's recent apparent ability to repel storms. Perhaps this summer we'll be the bulls-eye for one of the worst hurricanes ever to hit the U.S. mainland. But I'm not holding my breath, shaking in my boots, or acting out any other sorry cliches waiting for that to happen!