Hey, Panama City...

According to Google, you are experiencing a chilly 54-degree Fahrenheit temperature right now. I bet your citizens are breaking out the winter parkas they bought on a ski trap in Colorado, right?

And speaking of the weather in Colorado...

devastation, in pictures

Ike.

Why do people stay when they know a potentially devastating hurricane is coming?

A hurricane isn't like a tornado, which can be extremely destructive but often comes with only a few minutes' - or even seconds' - worth of warning. Earthquakes can happen with no warning whatsoever. Hurricanes develop over the ocean, and often take several days to reach land. People are able to watch the hurricane strengthen or weaken as it comes toward them. They can track the storm through the TV or the Internet. If weather forecasters and reporters and saying that there will be a large amount of damage, why do the people who should be able to evacuate (not those why stay because they have no resources or transportation) decide to stay?


Newsweek talked to Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness and an associate dean for Columbia University. He was asked about those people who voluntarily chose to stay despite warnings:

I heard an interview this morning on NPR with someone who was electing to stay in Galveston. This was a guy, his family and extended family, that were moving into a masonary building to ride it out. They are strong-willed, independent individuals who I think relish the idea of riding out something most of us would consider to be too dangerous to remain. However, this is an evacuation with several days' warning.

We just did a study on evacuations under scenarios of disasters without warnings. We are very concerned about disasters that occur without warning when we have to do evacuations in real-time—in essence, immediate—for example, an earthquake or a terrorist nuclear attack. We found about two thirds of people with children would not comply with official orders to evacuate until and unless they were able to retrieve their children from school or day care. If we have two thirds of the population with children that would not comply, what we would have is evacuation chaos and an absolute breakdown of disaster response in circumstances that provided no warning. Under those circumstances, unless we got much better at having well-developed disaster plans that parents were comfortable with, we can anticipate extreme chaos as public officials would be unable to stop parents determined to get their kids.

But of course, the storm hit last night, a Friday night heading into the weekend. People could have left the previous night, especially if schools and businesses were closed yesterday due to the hurricane. It's not like they were waiting around waiting for school to end.


I think there are a variety of reasons:

1. People have lived through some bad weather before and they think, I survived. Nothing's going to happen to me this time.
2. People listen to the reports and think, It can't be as bad as they say it will be.
3. Some people are just plain stupid.

Ike comes to Texas

Take time out of the day to pray for those in Texas.

Indiana flooding

Please pray for my Indiana neighbors in the lower third of the state. They've been hit hard with rain and flooding in the past few days, and some have lost their homes. Residential areas aren't the only places being hit hard because of the rain - the flooding has affected the economy, too. If you look through the pictures on the Indianapolis Star website, you'll see Marines, Amish men, and Mennonites working together to save homes and property.

snow day

Snow has come to Indiana at last.


I have two pine trees in my backyard. This one is right next to the house.

We're fortunate, I guess, that we don't live way up north where even more snow fell. I'm sure my family members in Florida are quite jealous of all the white stuff we have - the only white stuff they have is sand and the occasional whitecaps of the waves. Don't worry. They'll be able to enjoy it when they come north in a few weeks. If it's still here, that is.

a winter wonderland

It shot up to the mid-80's today, so it's nice to take a look back - four months ago - to see what the outside world was like then:

My youngest daughter enjoys being outside, any time of the year.

a snowy Valentine

Winter storms and snow emergencies are such fun! Especially when you're stuck in a hospital!!!

The news people are saying, "Don't go outside! Stay in your homes!" Well, let me ask you: how did you get to work, newsperson?

snowstorm!

It's frightful outside!
(Photo from WTHR-TV)

To the family in Florida: Yeah, you may be laughing now, but tell me again how fun hurricanes are. We don't get those up here. We don't have excruciatingly hot and sticky summers, either. Also, no fire ants.

-3

Yes, it's truly frigid here. It's -3F right now.

In Miami, where the Colts just won Super Bowl XLI, it's 68F.

71 degrees difference between where the Colts regularly play, and where they won the championship. Wrong on so many levels. Granted, the Colts play in a dome, so they never feel the frigid-cold weather, but still....

a winter storm in the spring

Spring has sprung! My calendar reads that today is the first day of Spring, with tomorrow being the first full day.

The tulips are peeking out of the ground in my front yard. The birds are chirping in the early morning. What other tell-tale signs are there that announce Spring's glorious arrival?

That's right - the weather. Let's look at the forecast, shall we?

Spring could be ushered in by a late wintry blitz covering Central Indiana with 3 to 6 inches of snow Tuesday, Indianapolis forecasters for the National Weather Service said Sunday.

"It won't really feel like the start of spring," public forecaster Logan Johnson said of the storm, which will move in from the southwest late tonight, followed by a dry but chilly week of low temperatures in the 20s and highs in the low-to-mid-40s. Tuesday is the first full day of spring. (Indy Star)

What is going on here, I wonder. Then it dawns on me - that's right, I live in the Midwest. We have crazy weather here.