Sibling Rivalry

For my friends from Philly who hit my blog everyday, you remember the days when my brother Frank and I were the scourge of the Palumbo Playground Saturday football league. Frank’s cannon arm and my deft hands made for quite a TD tandem.

Frank and I took turns yelling at each other when we lost and relishing in the glory when we won. It was a sort of friendly brotherly rivalry.

But tonight, my blog is about a different form of camaraderie. You see a very rare tropical weather pattern has taken shape and will likely fill the national news headlines for a week. This pattern includes the coincidental mention of 3 storms on or near American soil; namely, Fay, Gustav and Hanna.

If I were a speech writer for Barack Obama or Joe Biden, dare I say that at some point in the next 2 nights at the Democratic National Convention, I would make reference to Hurricane Katrina. You see in 2005, it was a combination of a catastrophic weather event, political bickering and social inequalities that led to the fiasco in New Orleans.

Why open such old wounds? Well, our supercomputers are suggesting a major hurricane named Gustav will be poised for a strike in the Northern Gulf by Labor Day. Where Gustav will hit (assuming he hits) only God knows. But reports out of New Orleans that the city is not yet prepared for a second big hurricane are scary since more than 1 of our mathematical models suggests this could happen next week again.

Here at home, Fay has done our region wonders. Having long since lost her truly tropical might, Fay dropped a healthy one to two inches of rain on us since last night. Another quarter will fall by Thursday afternoon in spots as Fay finally departs.

That’s good news for parched lawns and landscapes. Also, her rains came at a good time as the fall fire season is just around the corner. In addition, the high ragweed pollen counts have been washed from the sky, all this without any flooding. Tres bien, Fay!

Since Fay never made the grade of full fledged hurricane, I liken her to the prom queen runner-up. She had what it takes to be the queen bee, but her potential was never quite realized. Too much gossip did her in (too much time over land) preventing her from ascending to the throne of prom queen (hurricane).

But don’t feel sorry for Fay, she had a marvelous presentation on radar and satellite (her figure was jaw dropping) and has earned the notoriety as one of the worst storms for flooding in Florida history.

Now her younger brother comes on the seen. Gustav is a Spanish lover type with an impressive physique as he crosses the Caribbean after pounding Hispaniola with heavy rains and high winds.

Don’t be fooled by Gustav’s temporary downgrade to Tropical Storm status. Ahead of his path, the ocean waters are hot and the winds aloft light. The sports analogy is that Gustav can OD on steroids the next 3-5 days and build his body into a major hurricane.

Our supercomputers place him in the middle of the Gulf with 110 mile per hour winds this weekend. In that regard, he will more than overshadow his once revered sister who is now just a big bag of leftover rain squalls as she passes into oblivion.

By the way, Hanna is in the works in the Atlantic and may well be an East Coast player next week.

Finally, my prediction is for gas prices to hit $4.25 per gallon next week based on this dual hurricane risk. I will have my story on First at Five on this issue on Friday.

Check out Chris Bailey's blog for all sorts of pictures and graphics on Gustav and here's a link to the National Hurricane Center.

www.nhc.noaa.gov