Will the year 2013 be the lucky year for South Louisiana not to have a hurricane or even a tropical storm invade our coastline to cause turmoil to our well-being? We almost let one through this past weekend as Karen aimed towards Plaquemines Parish but then decided to tone it down and take a right turn with what was left to let us continue to enjoy the sunshine and tranquility we have been enjoying for some time now.
Our area has been the target of storms more frequently than any other. At least it seems that way.
We can go up and down the alphabet and recall one for many letters that bring back memories of preparation for what appeared to be coming. Sometimes it did like Karen and toned down or veered the other way but we remember many times we carried out our preliminary preparations as we planned our lock-ups and evacuations and carried them out.
With Karen, we almost went through with it before Mother Nature turned the other hand and gave us a sign of peace. On Saturday when the invasion of bad weather was set to begin, the sun was shining most of the day, the wind lay low and there was little precipitation, at least in St. Charles Parish.
We were relieved that we could relax and enjoy relatively good weather throughout the weekend. Evacuation thoughts left our minds early. We even enjoyed somewhat cooler weather as the weekend passed.
Instead we watched news about terrible snow storms that buried some areas in the western part of the country.
Thirty-three inches of snow fell in South Dakota and tornadoes up to two miles wide were devastating the Midwest.Of course, our thoughts were sorrowful about the devastation in other parts of the country as we enjoyed the peacefulness of our surroundings in what was to be a stormy Louisiana. But we were thankful that our part of the country was still sunny.
One thing that benefits us is the fact that our main weather threat of hurricanes can be traced from their beginnings and throughout their travels to determine who should evacuate and when. Tornadoes and other inclement weather conditions do not always give us such preparation time.
Though Louisiana is unfortunate in having weather that can devastate the landscape, we are fortunate in usually having some warnings of their happenings. We can be thankful for that.
And may the rest of this hurricane season allow us to continue this good trend and let us get by without one.
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