Where Are the Hurricanes?

We were supposed to have all of these tropical cyclones forming out in the open Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean this hurricane season of 2013.  Instead, the opposite has happened: very few storms, and when they do form they are soon ripped apart by shearing winds in their paths.  Not that I'm complaining, though: I was here in 2004 when Florida was blasted by four powerful hurricanes and affected by the weather in three of them...with the last coming too close to home. 

It's kind of exciting when a hurricane is approaching and the so-called experts have its trajectory coming close to where you live.  Not only does the whole surrounding social fabric change to become hurricane-oriented, but the immediate weather changes as well, with strange greenness in the air, unpredictably shifting strong winds, and horizontal freakish sporadic rain bursts.  That's the interesting part.

The tedious part, though, is when the brunt of the storm passes over and causes often long-term power outages, local flooding, and downed trees.  Not fun.  When this happens, you go outside and there's a lot of debris lying around, businesses are often closed, and your freedom of movement is often restricted by the flooding and road closures.  And then there's the prospect of having to deal with your own property damage.  No, not fun.

So no, I'm not at all disappointed in this year's squelched hurricane season, for whatever the cause (although it bothers me that the meteorologists were so far off in their predictions). Sure, when I used to go to school as a kid, it would have been great to get some days off because of a hurricane.  But from 1962 to 1974, I remember only a brief time in 1964 when classes were cancelled due to Hurricane Cleo (I lived then near Miami).  I think that Betsy in 1965 happened in August just before the school year, and then year after year came without any hurricane striking (or even threatening to strike) south Florida.  After '74, who cares, I had already finished high school...

Let's see now, it's almost mid-September and we're only to the "G" storm...and it's floundering around Bermuda.  Ho-hum...