Gulf Coast

Sometimes it’s hard living in the Gulf Coast.

Hot weather, humidity, extreme storms and hurricanes plague us. When the cool air of autumn finally arrives tomorrow, we will feel like we have made it through the desert into the promised land.

A huge hurricane should be making landfall as you read this. We, in New Orleans, are clear but our friends in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle are going to get hit very hard. As the storm makes its way inland it will soak the Carolinas. That’s about the last thing those folks need right about now while they are still barely recovering from Hurricane Florence.

Please. Have a good thought for all of them.

This storm is really frightening because of the way it formed. As late as last Saturday it was an unformed tropical storm. By Monday it was a tropical storm and in the past two days it developed into a major hurricane. It will make landfall as a Category 4 hurricane. It is called Michael which happens to be my middle name after my grandfather who was Mikhail.

Here’s why this hurricane is so scary.

It formed quickly in The Gulf of Mexico. Normally, that’s where storms pick up heft and slow down after crossing the Atlantic Ocean forming somewhere off the coast of Africa. Normally, the pace speeds up over maybe a week or ten days. This one formed and grew locally in two days.

I think you know why. The next time your hear somebody say they don’t believe in climate change, just laugh.  They won’t be convinced until their property is underwater.

I made the picture during our last strong storm which occurred on Saturday or Sunday or Monday or yesterday. It doesn’t matter which day. Everyday is time for a big, hard-hitting storm. I changed the color palette because I want the sky to look mean and foreboding. The rest, well.