I've come to the conclusion that the weatherman in San Diego has the easiest job in the world. Without even looking at any satellite images I will now give you the report: 79 degrees, sunny, nice breeze, a perfect beach-day. I never had to check the weather at home. Out here, it is different. There are two seasons: Hurricane season (June through November) and Tourist season. During tourist season the locals work, and during hurricane season they worry.
If you'd like a detailed analysis of exactly what a hurricane is, and how it starts, click here, and you'll have more information than you ever could need. Or, if you'd prefer, I can try to tell you what I've learned so far.
In June, storms start to form over the Cape Verde Islands, which are located about 360 miles of the coast of Senegal (Akon's place of birth), in Africa. From Cape Verde, these storms follow the trade winds and head east across the Atlantic ocean. Any storm in storm system in this area is investigated and given the name invest followed by a number. Right now we are watching Invest 92 and Invest 93. Invests will bring some rain and thunderstorms, but other than that, they are no big deal.
Most storm systems are loose and scattered. However, as they travel across the Atlantic over warm waters they can become more dense and organized. If this happens, the invest becomes a tropical depression, or TD. These weather systems can be gnarly, but they don't have the spiral shape yet. Their winds will be no more than 39 mph.
Wind, humidity, and water temperature are the main factors that can turn a TD into a tropical storm, hurricane, or nothing at all. If the winds get above 39 mph, a TD becomes a tropical storm and it gets a name. Our first Tropical storm's name was Anna. When we went to bed on Sunday, August 9th TD 2 was 1000 miles east of us withering away. We awoke monday morning to find that TD 2 had become Tropical Storm Anna... and she was headed right for us. That same night TD 3 became category 2 Hurricane Bill. Bill was projected to be a category 4 hurricane by the time it collided with the Lesser Antilles (that's where we are) in about 4 days.
By definition weather is unpredictable. If 2 major storms are predicted to head our way, odds are that conditions will change and it will miss us. But then again, it might not. You can prepare for a tropical storm, or you can choose to try your luck. With a hurricane of any category, you prepare no matter. We prepared by bringing the sail boat into a protected lagoon on Water Island and dropping three anchors. Karcsi decided to wait a night before taking further steps.
In the morning, we checked the weather and everything had changed again. Anna was now projected to go south of us, and Bill was projected to go way north. Good news! For the next few days, we watched the storms' every move. Tropical Storm Anna went less than 100 miles south of us. The rain and wind she brought were heavier than anything I had ever seen back home, but it was nothing. Bill stayed on course and went well north of us. At his closest, Bill sat 300 miles to the east of us. On Water Island, you would have never known that there was a category 3 hurricane in the same hemisphere. We experienced clear, warm weather, with no wind at all.
Bill went on to the north, claiming a lives in Florida and Maine, before making land fall in Canada. Now he is headed towards Great Britain. I am amazed that storm that originated off the coast of Africa can travel across the Atlantic and back. Rain from the same system was felt in Africa, the Caribbean, New England, and soon in Europe. Pretty neat stuff.
We got lucky this time. That's not always the case. In the U.S., the names Andrew and Katrina will always be synonymous with destructive hurricanes. Here in the V.I. locals will alway remember Hugo (1989) and Marilyn (1995). Below are some photos of a house on Water Island that was destroyed by both hurricanes and then abandoned.
Melissa and I set out on our adventure with the intention of experiencing St. Thomas as more than just tourists, more than temporary visitors. We are experiencing the worry right along with the locals. Our friends and families from Southern California would as us, "aren't you afraid of hurricanes?" I'd say something ill-informed like, "I've kinda always wanted to experience a hurricane." The truth is that Mother Nature has a big bag of tricks, and no matter where we are she has something to keep us on our toes. In California, it's earthquakes, Raider fans, and wild fires. In the Midwest, it's tornadoes. Some places have volcanoes, typhoons, monsoons, cyclones, and some have sand storms. We've all got plenty to worry about on this planet, but we always find a way to make it work. As long as we remember that we are small and she is so very large, we should be fine.
She's beautiful, isn't she?
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