Batten down the hatches, Tootsiebelle. It looks like Ophelia may be headed your way. I hope she's just teasing and will move on off into the Atlantic and fizzle out.

Tootsiebelle...do you ever think of living in a not so "in the line of hurricanes" place? We get cyclones here but haven't had ones since 1992.

Penny-
I'm thinking of it on a daily basis! Until last year a major hurricane had not hit the central part of Florida in almost forty years and we never gave it a thought. We do now.

Mona-
The storms are getting way too strange for my liking. Here's hoping it all goes away!

Toots,

Hang on tight & lets hope it fizzles out.

I guess it's a bit like living in San Francisco. You do so KNOWING that the city is going to be devastated by a massive earthquake at some point in the not too distant future - it's a matter of "when", not "if". Guess you can't really knowingly go and live in a hurricane zone and then complain about hurricances .

Regards,

Chris

Dimpz-
Thanks!

Chris-
That's true. The meteorologists explain it well, but the short version is that we have come into a cycle that will produce a larger number of strong storms within a season. In years past, the norm was around four or five "named" storms by this time of year. At this point we are at sixteen. Relocation is looking good!

Stay safe Tootsiebelle......

Tootsiebelle...
Have you ever considered moving to the New England or New York area? We haven't had a hurricane in years. The only real storm Southern New England has had in recent years was the three foot snow storm of last January, 2005. At least, we don't have all of the hurricanes the Southern States have had in the past few years.

I sure have! I love both New England and New York. Florida has been home for many years but I can bloom where I'm planted.
I especially like Massachusetts but am fond of the Carolinas and Virginia too. Why are we still here???

MarieA- Don't say that too loud. Here on Long Island we are being warned that we ARE DUE for another BIG ONE- similar to the Hurricane of 1938 which changed the geographic landsacape of LI forever. With the OPPRESIVE HEAT and NO rain for most of this summer; water off the coast are RIPE for a catastrophic hurricane to hit LI. Our nation has enough to deal with over Katrina. It would be another nightmarish event to evacuate LI. Itwould take a minimum of 72 hours to do so; with the limited routes one could take.
Tootsiebelle- that said you would be more than welcome here in Patchogue,NY otherwise.

Thanks, Lizv! If we do go anywhere else, I can promise that it will be inland. You do live in a lovely area.

C'mon up here Toots, we haven't had a hurricane, cyclone, tornado or earthquake...ever! We get the odd mountain collapsing on us, but hardly often enough to worry about.

Shannon

Tootsiebelle- Me TOO. They won't have to tell me twice to evacuate. Fortunately I have family in upstate NY-near Albany & Western NY- Just outside of Elmira or I could go across country to Oregon. My sister lives 1/2 hour south of Portland. Just hope Mt.St.Helens or even Mt.Hood doesn't decide to erupt at same time.

Don't go anywhere near the centre of the US, or you'll cop it when the "supervolcano" underneath Yellowstone Park lets go!

The thought occurs to me that there are remarkably few places to go in the US which are free from the potential of natural disaster. You've got hurricanes along the E and S coasts, tornados in the mid west, the planet's only active supervolcano smack bang in the middle (which, when it last let go, buried animals 1500 km away in volcanic ash, and which is SERIOUSLY overdue for another erruption), earthquakes all down the west coast, yet more volcanos in the NW.

Where do you go if you want a quiet life? Alaska?

Regards,

Chris

LizV...
I live on Cape Cod with only two bridges to take to get off. I have a pond at the end of my street which is fed by a river which goes out to the Nantucket Sound. When I was very young, my parents owned a cottage in the Town of Wareham which is about 35 miles from where I live now when the 1938 hurricane struck. The tidal wave from this hurricane came about a mile in and took all the buildings. Many people were lost from this storm. The section of the Town of Wareham is known as Swifts Beach. Fortunately, the cottages including mine were saved as we were far enough away from the beach. If another hurricane, like the '38 Hurricane, comes thru it would take hours to get everyone away from the various beaches. I'm attending a meeting next Tuesday where the Police Chief will probably discussing what the Homeland Security is doing. There will probably alot to questions that will have to be answered from this current hurricane. But, I still like Cape Cod.