Not gonna lie, at one point I was tempted to walk outside and throw a rock to see if I could make a dent in the force field shielding Marathon from Tropical Storm Eta. I was imagining something like the scene in “Catching Fire” when Peeta hits the edge of the dome with a machete in the Hunger Games trilogy and lightning forks out in every direction.
Seriously, it was like the hand of God opened a hole up over the Middle Keys as the rest of Tropical Storm Eta twirled around us. On Grassy Key, the rainfall was more like sideways mist, not even a drizzle. And the tops of the trees were dancing, but not in a threatening way.
My friends who live on the water nearby said it was a good blow. Again, though, nothing aggressive.
As much as the meteorologists warn us not to look at the center line, we still do; especially when it’s dark and we’re bored. That also holds true for other weather apps. At my house, my husband was glued to the My Radar app. He rightly predicted that what looked like the center of the storm — the tightest twist in the wind direction — would move right over the Middle Keys. It did, but it turns out that wasn’t the strongest part of the storm (more on that later).
As end-of-the-line consumers of hurricanes, we’re “trained” to believe the smallest circulation of wind twist will also mean high wind speed. Of course, we can only “see” that on a device. And when standing outside or looking out the window and it doesn’t match, well, gosh, I guess that just means … WE’RE LUCKY.
After 20-plus years of hurricanes in the Florida Keys, I’ve learned to trust what our local meteorology experts tell us. Days before the storm, the National Weather Service’s Jon Rizzo told the Keys Weekly that Eta would be a “sloppy, large, messy” storm and that the worst part of it wouldn’t be in the center. He was right.
He also said another thing to me, years ago, that still rings true: “Hurricanes, or storms, are like snowflakes. Each one is different.” Storms can have different tracks, different intensity, different forward speed. It’s foolish to compare one storm to another, impending storm no matter how many hurricanes you’ve lived to tell about. For instance, Upper Keys residents will remember Tropical Storm Eta much differently than people who live in the Middle or Lower Keys.
As far as my own Tropical Storm Eta preparations, I was prudent. An extra run to the grocery store for snacks — something salty, something sweet and something alcoholic, that’s my rule of thumb — and I took down the sunshades.
As I leaned over to kiss my husband goodnight, not knowing what the storm would or wouldn’t be, I whispered, “If we had put up the shutters I would be SO MAD right now. Good night, honey.”
