A few strong cells have moved through Mobile, but nothing so threatening that we bothered to move chairs inside. Compared to the rain and wind the area had during Katrina, this is just a mild thunderstorm for Mobile.
News from NOLA trickles in, but mostly we are keeping the sets OFF. I’m tired of ridiculous weathermen jockeying for prime spot in the middle of a torrent, and each time the disappointment of a missed disaster creeps into their voices I want to retch. The over-magnified drama of it makes us worry more than we need to right now, while we are powerless and far away, and more importantly, it worries the kids. Que sera, sera… we’ll deal with the aftermath when it’s time.
Newest diversion: Lego Star Wars on the Xbox. I’m trading the household violence restrictions for quality time with Will, who is delighted at the prospect of blasting Storm Troopers. Granted, his coordination is such that he tends to blast me, his game partner, more than the Storm Troopers. You win some, you lose some. I’m reading him books about bunnies at night to make up for the Star Wars time. They negate each other, right?
Aunt Deb | 01-Sep-08 at 6:35 pm | Permalink
Glad that all of you are at your parents.
You hit the nail on the head with the weather forecasters. If a town is evacuated, what the heck do you need to be standing in the middle of street to show anyone over the age of 6 how bad the storm is? Have you ever seen the movie, Day After Tomorrow? The reporter gets creamed by debris while giving his report. What the heck happened to common sense? Are we going to have that happen in real life before these fools stop it?
As for Will – a long time ago I had read an article that explained how the father teaches the children by example the limits in getting physical with others. This article was explaining why boys over the age of eleven were not allowed in the womens shelter. It went on to say that by eleven the boys had learned to be abusive. In short, Paul’s good example as well as your Dads and brothers will be what impacts Wills behavior in the future. Kids are good at discerning pretend from reality.
Amanda | 02-Sep-08 at 6:43 am | Permalink
My dad calls those weathermen “Weather Terrorists”… very appropriate, I think.
Christoph | 02-Sep-08 at 1:20 pm | Permalink
For what it’s worth … there has been a debate in the severe weather community that I have followed over the years, and it goes like this: What is legitimate storm research and what is stupid conduct on the part of storm chasers that put the lives of themselves (and the responders who might have to rescue them, and the people they might rear-end or t-bone while driving like maniacs to get “into position”) at risk? The fear is that the conduct of the stupid may lead to the government banning storm chasing, which would impact legitimate storm research, which is needed to more accurately predict hurricanes and tornadoes. That’s an oversimplification but essentially the issue.
Basically the responsible and legit researchers have a code that they follow strictly: do your research but don’t impede traffic, don’t drive recklessly, don’t film people that are hurt (actually try to help them), respect the space of people who have lost their homes, are upset, are fleeing, etc. Chasers who break those rules pretty much get ostracized by the storm chasing community — e.g., the next time you show up to your local Weather Service office, they won’t share info with you to help your chase, and they might even report you to police if you’re being a real idiot.
Those rules generally apply to tornado chasing. Hurricane chasing … given that hurricanes are so big and relatively slow moving, and given that a lot of measurement stations already exist to measure them … I don’t know, as a rank but decently read weather buff, that any good reason exists for a bunch of people to run to the coast to “research hurricanes.” Usually all they want to research is a video of someone’s roof getting peeled off that they can market over the internet, under the label of “Helping people understand and respect the power of nature.” (For a price of course.)
And one of these days, one of these local TV “storm chasers” who don’t really understand storm structure and dangers will “core punch” an HP supercell and not live to tell the story. Film at 11. All in the name of ratings.
Sorry for the ramble but I just wanted to let you know that the weather community has thought about that issue a lot and desires to rein in those who are going overboard out there.