Monday, September 1, 2008

Slowing down

Well, Gustav has just about hit land, though according to the dudes on Channel 2 ABC, it isn't considered to officially make landfall until the center of the eye is over land. As Gustav has approached, it has slowed down a bit and started hugging the coast. So it continues to move more west than northwest. The more it does this, the further south and west it will pass us by, and the less we'll get here.

In church yesterday, one of the speakers jokingly (though seriously as well) said it would be better to pray for the storm to weaken than to pray that it goes off and hits someplace else. It makes sense to me. Right now, though, it looks like Gustav is just hugging the coast, which in some ways is worse than if it would just get here already. The coastal areas will still be getting essentially the full brunt of the hurricane, but if it keeps along the coast like it is, rather than one area getting hit, several will. We'll see how long Gustav keeps playing this game, though.

Another observation: a week or so ago, I was watching the news and the anchors were talking about wind shear and how it can weaken or destroy a tropical storm. And they sounded sad that it might be happening to Hanna. They were saying things like "it doesn't look good for Hanna," etc. Like it's a bad thing if the storm dies out. Come on! Isn't there enough to report on without a hurricane? And the reporters are all putting in long extra hours right now; I'm sure they are salaried employees, so it's not like they even get overtime. Why would they be sad if a hurricane died?

They must be sadists.

Anyway, the winds are starting to pick up here. I'll be back in a bit with some video.

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