Two years ago, we in the United States were treated to the destruction of an entire city, the failure of local, state, and national government institutions, and an ongoing saga regarding the New Orleans’ levee system. Last year, predictions were for an equally destructive season, something that was averted thanks to El Nino. This year, the El Nino is ended and the full blast of hurricane season could be revealed. Dean, the first big storm to make news in the U.S. is passing over the carribean islands now and is headed toward a good swatch of Mexico and a small part of Texas. As a scientist, I am fascinated by the storms but aware of the destructive power each brings to bear on humans. Anybody who thinks these storms are a fun ride are pretty naive, but there is certainly nothing wrong with good, honest respect for their power and place in nature.
We on the west side of this land were recently treated to a Pacific hurricane, which while it didn’t affect the continental U.S. it did affect Hawaii and the surrounding islands. Some friends of mine were on vacation in Hawaii at the time, and had long looked forward to that trip. It was bad timing, and nobody likes a ruined vacation, but I am interested in knowing if they’re OK and how they fared in the storm.
