Can\nsomebody please tell me what to do with my time now that the tropics have\nquieted down and I don\u2019t need to spend every waking hour freaking out about\npotential hurricanes? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And\nyes, I know: Hurricane season isn\u2019t over. I shouldn\u2019t jinx it. I should stay\nvigilant and aware and ready because you never know when a tropical bugger\nspins up in the Gulf and runs us over like a soggy dump truck. I get that. I\nstill have my guard up. Even while I\u2019m watching the clock and counting down the\ndays until we\u2019re free of hurricane season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But\nit certainly has grown quiet in the tropics. Or quieter. Not what it was just a\ncouple of weeks ago, when it seemed any slight sneeze off the coast of Africa\nwould turn into a Category 4 monster raging out in the open Atlantic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\nhad gone hurricane insane. Tropical OCD. It was all I thought about, constantly\nchecking the National Hurricane Center. Checking crazy hurricane tracking\nsites. The kind where people go because they think staring endlessly at the\nsame hurricane tracking charts will uncover some kind of hidden information or even\nsupernatural message. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOMG.\nIf you stare at all the prediction models and squint your eyes, it spells out,\n\u2018hold on to your butts!!!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s\nwhat I was doing. Getting into more and more obscure maps and charts and\nforecasts and things I don\u2019t even know how to pronounce. A \u201cscatterometer?\u201d Can\nsomeone please tell me what that is \u2026 and where I can get one on the cheap? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(When\nyou start going on eBay to see if you can find a scatterometer, you might need\nto seek counseling.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\nwas all I was thinking about. And weird as it sounds, now I kind of miss my\nhurricane freak-out sessions. That constant state of alert, especially after\nHurricane Dorian missed us. Buying random things on Amazon.com that might come\nin handy: a charging station that can run electrical devices or my plan to\ndevelop a hurricane prediction model that would be based on tested\nmethodologies that meteorologists don\u2019t bother considering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For\ninstance, if I have recently done any exterior work on my house or spent money\non upgrading plants in my yard, the chance of a hurricane striking the area\nincreases by 22 percent. Why isn\u2019t the Hurricane Center considering variables\nlike these? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Things\nhave calmed down in the tropics and I\u2019m not entirely sure what to do with all\nthe time I had spent on my hurricane fixation. Do I transfer all of this\npent-up energy into a hobby? Like maybe the unheralded study of why car\nbatteries die on us at the most inopportune times. For instance, on my wife\nwhile she was waiting in the car line to pickup my daughter at school. The\nSheriff\u2019s deputy had to jump start the car. Come on universe, do you think\nthings like this are funny?!?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe\nthat would be a better use of my time. And help more people. Especially if the\nrest of the season stays quiet, and I can\u2019t figure out this whole hurricane\nprediction thing based on yard expenditures. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Can somebody please tell me what to do with my time now that the tropics have quieted down and I don\u2019t need to spend every waking hour freaking out about potential hurricanes? <\/p>\n
And yes, I know: Hurricane season isn\u2019t over. I shouldn\u2019t jinx it. I should stay vigilant and aware and ready because you never know when a tropical bugger spins up in the Gulf and runs us over like a soggy dump truck. I get that. I still have my guard up. Even while I\u2019m watching the clock and counting down the days until we\u2019re free of hurricane season. <\/p>\n
But it certainly has grown quiet in the tropics. Or quieter. Not what it was just a couple of weeks ago, when it seemed any slight sneeze off the coast of Africa would turn into a Category 4 monster raging out in the open Atlantic. <\/p>\n
I had gone hurricane insane. Tropical OCD. It was all I thought about, constantly checking the National Hurricane Center. Checking crazy hurricane tracking sites. The kind where people go because they think staring endlessly at the same hurricane tracking charts will uncover some kind of hidden information or even supernatural message. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[575,558,569],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2019-nutshells","category-florida","category-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1988"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1989,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1988\/revisions\/1989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}