In the shadow of yet another storm I am once again reminded that it doesn't matter where one lives, we will always contend with the forces of nature. It was indeed ironic that in my last column I wrote about battling it out with Mother Nature. From snakes to poison ivy I forgot to include those named menaces from the Gulf.
A relative who lives in Colorado and has not lived down south since he was a small child touched base with me to see if we had evacuated.
I was quick to explain it was too small of a storm to leave home. His reaction was hysterical as he questioned what I believed to be a large storm considering what he was looking at on the radar. There are several factors involved in what goes into preparing for what we consider a "small storm." I explained to him anything below a Cat.3 was often safer to ride out at home. We simply stock up on water, batteries, bread and lunch meat. Or as my mother refers to it "catch up water in the tub."
We clear off debris that will soon be replaced with debris. We charge up all that can be charged up before the power blinks off, and we wait it out. And every time it seems that those storms wobble, speed up, slow down and barrel in right when the sun is going down and every sound seems louder in the dark. A massive gust will cause thumps along the roof and a moment of doubt about staying will cross the mind, but then being home with family and pets safe and dry brings reassurance. In the end there is never any place like home.
As always writers use personification in their craft. We often make nonliving things take on living characteristics so the reader can relate to a subject. However, watching the news stations as we continue to prepare, there is nothing more human than the description of a hurricane. To say we give it a human name is only one aspect. The weather team explained each jog of Francine as if she were some fickle lady with an attitude having all of the elements needed in her path to gain strength and march on.
"As she nears the coast a wind shear from the west will collide with Francine. The storm will then likely try to maintain her strength by taking on more of an eastern track."
"Francine is really going to pack a punch to the coastline holding her eyewall in place with strong gusts of 90 mph."
"It looks like Francine is going to kick it up to that Cat.2 after all."
"This one is going to be stubborn."
We all know the storm is not actually thinking about her track, but neither is Mother Nature a female Mama Bear or Nemesis. I guess it is our interaction and involvement with nature that creates these human characteristics because as we debate how to evolve in our environment the human effects are great. More times than not, we are at the mercy of nature.
What starts as a mere puff of wind off the coast of Africa meanders out into the Atlantic Ocean. No name, no organization, until the other forces of nature begin to align like a well-rehearsed play.
She begins to spin into a dance that glides and churns toward the islands and hundreds and then thousands of people gather before their cells and televisions to watch her or perhaps him weave in and out of land surfaces while we try to read the mind of moving wind. Will she go west, turn east, or find her way into the warm waters of our celebrated gulf? No matter, she is going to be somebody's problem, so we patch on her human personality and head inland or hunker down.
I still say I will take the hurricanes over earthquakes, volcanoes, and blizzards.
Nice knowing you, Francine.
