OUT OF OUR HANDS...

A few days ago, I was sitting on the beach with my wife. Since we live about 50 miles inland, we don't often have a chance to visit the beaches. We were both looking forward to sunshine and quiet conditions. After all, my official forecast called for mostly clear skies. You can therefore imagine Sharon's reaction when we found ourselves huddled under our portable beach umbrella in the pouring rain.

Every day, I am reminded just how little we truly know about the atmosphere around us. Make no mistake, forecasts are reasonably accurate for the most part. Even the "doubters" still check the daily forecast on the web and/or TV. With modern satellite/radar and advanced models, meteorologists can sometimes predict life-threatening weather several days in advance. But nothing can alter the fact that the weather is not within our power to control. And simple logic dictates that you can never fully predict something which cannot be controlled.

Recently, a kind viewer sent me an email filled with experiences from Hurricane Hugo. He said that Hugo was the first event that ever gave him a true sense of his mortality- a comment that really resonates with most of us. But you don't need a Category 4 hurricane to remind you of the power of the atmosphere. Just stand on a fragile beach and gaze at the magnificence of a warm sunset over the Atlantic. It crushes a person's ego- as it should.

Speaking of Hurricane Hugo, did you know that Hurricane Hugo was actually a Category 5 hurricane at one time? The storm reached it's peak intensity near Puerto Rico, but still managed to landfall in South Carolina as a Category 4 storm.

As for me, I'll take a summer rain shower at Wrightsville beach over a hurricane any day, even if I get the "evil eye" from my wife...