This is what I don't like about the Tropics

Invest 90L.
Then.
Tropical Wave.
Weather conducive to development.
The sounds of a hurricane reconnaissance plane going to investigate.
Upgraded to a Tropical Storm overnight.
Sustained winds of up to 45 miles per hour and further development possible.
Now they are talking about a Hurricane Watch for US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

This is what I don't like about the tropics.
Hurricanes.
Tonight I saw the orange sunset, ominously announcing the bad weather that is coming.  It took me back 25 years to the night before Hugo,  standing with my father looking into the evening sky and he telling me, "Tu ves ese cielo anaranjado?  Pues ese cielo es señal de que viene una tormenta."  [You see that orange tinged sky?  Well, that sky is a sign that a storm is brewing.] He knew that way before NOAA had their fancy weather radars.  He knew it when he witnessed those strong hurricanes that swept frequently through the Caribbean and his poor section of town on Guanajibo Beach in Mayaguez on the western side of the island.  Though they got the bad weather last as it arrived on the Leeward side of the island first, it always took it toll there, too.

Hurricanes with their furious winds that sounded like screeching jet engines on the street next to our house in Guaynabo.  Now 25 years later, I am situated a block from the ocean in Isla Verde, surrounded by glass windows and high rises.  As well as being that much closer to the ocean surge.  No matter.  This is not a hurricane yet.  Right now it is a Tropical Storm.  Yes, they can be gusty.  I know I hate gusty but yeah, that is how it goes.  Gusty.  I will have to pull up my green awnings that I have in the porch.  If I don't they will be twisted like a pretzel.  The plants will have to come in of course and my hammock.  A trash can will need to be filled with water since that is one of the first things to go but what can one do?

This is only a Tropical Storm I tell myself.  Thank goodness.  Oh, and I am living in a concrete building this time, not in a wood house like in Orlando with 90 mile per hour winds when Charley blew through in 2004. The first of four.

This isn't so bad.

I just wish it wouldn't howl!



P.S.  If you want to track this storm, I found a pretty good tracking map at AccuWeather:
http://vortex.accuweather.com/phoenix2/images/hurricane/tracking/caribbean.pdfhttp://vortex.accuweather.com/phoenix2/images/hurricane/tracking/caribbean.pdf

Thank you, AccuWeather!!

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