Hurricane Ernesto

It's that time of year. Hurricanes. August and September are the big hurricane months for the Gulf of Mexico. The thing about hurricanes in the Gulf, there is only one water-path entry/exit point: the Yucatan Channel. And hurricanes normally go through the Caribbean Sea, and then enter the Gulf through the Yucatan Channel. Once in the Gulf, the question is not longer, "Will the hurricane hit land?" but becomes, "Where will it hit?" Living in Tampa, we of course hope we are not hit. But once a hurricane is in the Gulf, it feels wrong to wish it to go hit someone else. But that's the position we will be in soon. The projected path has Ernesto crossing over Tampa Thursday morning at 8:00am. Tampa's location is 27.91 degrees north and 82.53 degrees west. (For simplicity's sake, I had my students remember 28 N and 82 W. Easy to remember since the numbers are inverted.) The track published by the local news has Ernesto at 28.0 degrees north and 82.5 degrees west. Does not make me sleep well at night. So Hubby and I are reviewing are plans... Stay? Go? Where to go? What to bring? Always knowing hindsight is 20/20 and that evacuating when in Florida is an iffy proposition. Florida's a peninsula that is less than 150 miles across (Katrina's winds reached 120 miles from her center). So where do you evacuate if you're in Florida? It's over 200 miles north to drive out of Florida. So the concept is not to escape the winds, just the flood waters. Shopping tonight (if you wait until Tuesday or Wednesday there won't be anything left on the shelves). Coincidentally, today is the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Now we sit and wait and watch the TV. It is the waiting that is so exhausting. [I know this from the 2004 season.]