Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Growing up in the northeast on the south shore of long island, I didn't see much of major weather events; or atleast none that I can remember. The only thing we had to worry about was Noreasters. The worse one I can recall would be the noreaster of 91, which is also the same one that the did the movie The Perfect Storm about. We not only had major flooding, but when looking outside, it looked like we had iceburgs in our yard. It had snowed a lot a few days earlier, then the flooding. It was a nightmare. My sister and I being so young, didn't really know how severe it can actually get, we actually thought it was pretty cool. As I got older again, didnt' see much. It wasn't until I moved to Tampa, FL and experienced my first hurricane that I grew a fear of severe storms. Even now when we have a severe thunderstorm, I get nervous and the only way I deal with it is closing all blinds, putting the television on, and sitting on my computer not paying any mind to what is going on outside. Especially after living through hurricane season 2004 and 2005. Twenty-five named storms in one season, not to mention if my memory serves me right, two of those storms did loops and hit the states more than once. After hurricane Katrina my fear grew. Just the though of a hurricane stronger than a 3 making a direct hit like that, knowing my family is still on long island, I get nervous. Now with hurricane season at its peak, I am constantly keeping an eye on the weather channel just so I know everything that is going on. I hope one day I will get a little less weary when it comes to severe weather, but for now, I think my nervousness will help me be better prepared....just in case.

1 comment:

  1. Well, I agree with you Laura. I grew up with tornado drills and ran to the cellar for cover repeatedly during childhood and then later as an adult with my children. Ice storms were particularly fierce in Missouri and when I lived in Colorado the blizzards were sometimes relentless in the mountains during those 10 month winters. I lived through western NY white-outs and the "Hawk" winds and snowstorms off the lake in Chicago.

    BUT, I totally agree . . . I thought I had experienced everything weather could throw at me until 2004 & 2005 in South Florida!! Charlie was my first hurricane. First, I thought it would never arrive, and then I thought it would never end, that freight train sound of the fearsome winds, the flooding, and the after-math. The next year, when Katrina came roaring through grazing us and scoring a direct hit on New Orleans, I could think of nothing else. I went away to Europe to visit my Peace Corps daughter soon after Katrina, returning home the week before Halloween, sure that I had missed the remainder of the storms. Then, Wilma hit.

    Like you, when those storms are "out there" in the Atlantic I just obsess over the news and want to leave.

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