Hurricane Helene is currently barreling through the Gulf of Mexico, and unbelievably just got upgraded to a 4. It's bad news for the panhandle, and even Atlanta. Heck, it should reach Nashville with the strength of a tropical storm. A week ago it was barely an organized system. Another system in the Western Caribbean could develop in the next week. All things considered, we've been lucky so far this season. Orlando is a weird place, and I have to frequently explain that this is not a place that you typically evacuate from, but rather coastal folks evacuate to. As I like to tell people, it's not serious unless Walt Disney World closes. They've only closed 7 times, and three of those were for the triple hurricanes of 2004, and two were since we moved here, Irma in 2017, and Ian in 2022. And let me tell you, those parks were amazing to visit in the days prior, as they were fairly empty and there was a lot of warning for people to change plans.
As I write this, our measured wind speed at MCO is around 31 mph, gusting to 52. So basically, it's like one of our nasty afternoon thunderstorms in the summer, just sustained. We haven't had any rain in hours, and I'm sitting here on the patio. (With the fan on, because the wind is out of the south, and our patio open sides are northwest and northeast.) This is as bad as it's going to get today. They called off school, but it's back in tomorrow. Irma was nerve-racking because it was our first hurricane. We were in new construction and up to code, but it was a new experience. The code was changed significantly in 2002, so the potential for damage is pretty low if you're not in a flood zone. For Ian, we mostly slept through it, and both of those storms crossed Florida within 50-ish miles from us. They weaken quite a bit over land, and the center becomes disorganized and not as serious as it is on the coasts.
While I fear for folks in the direct path, we're fortunate that once again it's pretty minor here. And that's why I'm sitting here on the patio, because the sound of the trees and the wind reminds me so much of sound of the ocean. Nature's white noise is incredibly soothing to me, at a time when frankly the world generally feels heavy and kind of sad. I love the fact that I never need to worry about winter coats, or shoveling snow, and living inland in Florida definitely has advantages relative to the coasts.
I'll probably sleep well tonight, though it's terrible that my peace comes at the expense of a lot of suffering elsewhere. I guess it's the risk you take for living in those places.
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