Any hurricane 'fans' left???? Sobering poll hopefully!

[Persepone]

I think that one can be very interested in weather phenomena without actually wanting to have such an event happen, to experience it, etc.

My interest in weather is a result of having experienced some of its extremes, but that does not make me "want" anyone to experience any of it.

However, that said, a board like Storm2K serves a very useful purpose for many who want to "avoid" weather. I'm old enough to remember when weather events (hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, etc.) struck without warning and the best "warning" came from "old timers" who watched the behavior of birds, animals, etc.

My personal feeling is that you prepare as well as you possibly can for whatever the hazard is and then you get to as safe a place as possible--and that may be to evacuate. And I guess I've spent some part of my life sort of refining preparation for whatever... And I will say that experiences have conditioned my choices about where to live, houses to choose, etc. where practical. All other things being considered, I would not have chosen to live on what is essentially an island sticking into the Atlantic. But our jobs brought us here and at the time we had no other jobs. But at least we are about as far away from all coasts as we could get and on the highest ground where we could afford a house... and so on.

But Storm2K does provide education and information that helps you make decisions, etc. well in advance of "official" notifications. If I see something potentially threatening coming anywhere near me, I'm not going to wait until the local officials tell me to prepare. I've done my preparations in advance of that notification. Even before Storm2K, monitoring what was available helped with this. And frankly, if preparation is "unnecessary," that's fine and wonderful! It may mean that I've cleaned up my yard and trimmed some trees and my laundry is done, etc. and so now I have some time that I had not planned on that I can use for something special. But if the preparation was "necessary," I'm not running around at the last minute.

So I think that being interested in, fascinated by, and in awe of weather phenomena does NOT equate to actually wanting to experience it firsthand. Perhaps I can say that because I've been there and done that and never want to again. Yes, in an ideal world, people would not be in the path of bad weather. But the reality is that people usually are in harm's way.

I am somewhat surprised by, and saddened by, the fact that Storm2K people who should have "known better" may have stayed in the path of Katrina. But I do understand. We do NOT expect the storm surge to wipe our houses off their slabs if they have stood through other serious weather events. Unfortunately, we can only use past experiences (ours and other people's) to predict the future. That's what the government does, that's what insurance does, etc.

Today, I'm just feeling very sad for all of those who did all the right things, did all the appropriate preparations, heeded the evacuation warnings and did so, etc. and who are going home to find nothing left at all or total ruin of what is left. But if the Storm2K board helped even just a few of them make the decision to leave, then it provided a wonderful service. And I'll bet that for some, that's just what this board did.

[Innotech]

yes Id like to continue to track and experience canes.

[scostorms]

I wouldn't mind a few category 1's, and tropical storms. Category 2+ is just getting ridiculous.

[Innotech]

no Idl ike to continue to see some high category canes. I just wouldl ike them to avoid the more vulnerable areas and perhaps do what Bret did. a landfall in lightly populated area, preferably in weakening phase. Certainly no more landfalls into bays and catastrophic flooding. weve had enogh of htat. But my passion for hurricanes will never die, and Im honestly not ashamed to say it. Just because nature dealt a very bad hand does not make it osmehting to dread and fear, but to learn from and adapt to.

[Coredesat]

This isn't gonna stop me from being interested in and tracking tropical cyclones. I've even started a livejournal devoted to it, and make my own (not always accurate but I try) forecasts. After Katrina I'd like to do whatever I can to help warn people about future storms.

[Andrew92]

I will of course still track hurricanes in the future. However, I don't want to sound inflammatory when I say this because everyone is different, but I will never live on the coast of an ocean if I can help it. I never want to have to go through what so many have to go through with hurricanes. Maybe I'm chicken or maybe I'm a jerk for saying that, but I know I wouldn't handle it well at all, and that is why I voted no.

However, storms like Katrina only make me more captivated by hurricanes to keep tracking and following them. I wonder if my children may one day ask me where I was when Katrina struck. I was in my apartment at college when it struck, with my three roommates.

-Andrew92

[scostorms]

Well, just because I like hurricanes, and tornadoes for that matter, doesn't make me a bad person. I just don't like to see the big canes' making landfalls in populated area's. Last year, Charley was my first hurricane I watched on coverage. I loved it, but now Katrina, I just can't stand the thought of another major cane' doing the same. Though, to be honest, I was actually hoping for a major hurricane to make landfall in the USA this year. Now that is has happened, it is not what I expected.

[therealashe]

Do I want to live through a hurricane like Andrew again? NO. Will I stop following hurricanes and stormy weather? NO. Weather is truly a guilty pleasure. A hurricane can be a beautiful thing to view from the satellite, or a picture from the hunters. I am constantly in awe of the power they possess.

[CentralFlGal]

These storms are all ugly to me now no matter what sat pics come in.

Especially since this is the aftermath in the storms' wake - on US soil and off - numbers which will continue to rise as the Mississippi River brings all of Katrina's water back down to ground zero over the next 2 weeks:

At least 125 killed by Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi
08.31.2005, 10:25 AM

WASHINGTON (AFX) - More than 125 people have been killed in Mississippi as Hurricane Katrina ravaged the state this week, a local newspaper reported, citing local officials.

More than 100 people have been killed in Harrison County, Mississippi alone, Colonel Joe Spraggins, director of the county's Emergency Management Agency, told The Clarion-Ledger.

In Hancock County, more than a dozen others have been killed, according to Dee Lumpkin, a spokeswoman for the Hancock County Emergency Management Agency, who noted that this was 'a conservative estimate'.

That toll was in addition to 13 people who died in other parts of the state, the daily noted.

Authorities in the state had previously been reluctant to give even a provisional death toll from the hurricane.

newsdesk@afxnews.com

[Swimdude]

Wow...

66% are now in the "no" category... I voted yes.

BUT that doesn't mean i'd like to experience something like Katrina. I've always said I wanted to be in a hurricane. I NEVER said I wanted to be in New Orleans during one.

[Jim Cantore]

I've Been through a weakening Floyd and the Outer edge of Isabel and TS Bertha and Charley as they passed up the coast and the rements of many

I still want to see one head on

[NastyCat4]

I still want to see one head on

Spare everyone else the misery if you want to experience a thrill. Stand in the left lane of the Jersey Turnpike during rush hour. That way, the rest of us are spared grief, agony, and destruction, and you get your thrill.

[Jim Cantore]

nothing like this

I mean like a bret in a sparsely populated area

I'd never want to see something like this trust me

[dcuevas]

I hate the devistation the storms bring. I want for everyone to be safe. I'm not a wishcaster but I do love science of it all. I was in Andrew and my family lost everything with 1 major injury. Had I known then what I have learned now from Storm2k I think I would have better understood the storms fury.

[Downdraft]

We build a city lower than sea level between two large bodies of water. On one side we expect levee's to keep the water out. On the other you pray the Gulf won't send "the big one" your way. We live year after year running pumps to keep our city from filling with water even in just thunderstorms. Whole areas of the city are poverty ridden and as for the houses what storms have taken in the past Formosan termites have feasted on for years. As a country we havent' built an oil refinery since the 70's but we all want to drive SUV's. We know that the overwhelming majority of our crude oil and refined products come from an area vulnerable to major hurricanes. Now we are losing 1,000,000 barrels of oil a day and most of the refining capablities to turn it into gasoline. This disaster isn't Katrina's fault. It's OUR fault. Don't put a refinery in my backyard. Keep the slums on the other side of the city it's their problem. Don't listen to the experts, the meteorolgists, the engineers. My friends first year physics tells you NOTHING in the world can stop water from going from pint A to point B when it wants too. Water is the most destructive force in the world when it runs unchannelled. As a nation, as a people we need to wake up. We consume natural resources with absolute gluttoney. We thumb our noses at the forces that control our destiny. This problem and the blame for it doesn't belong to our elected officials it belongs to US. A nation that can put people into space is powerless right now to fix a levee. Sorry for the vent folks but thanks for listening.

[inotherwords]

Those of you who want to experience a 1 or a 2, I'll make you a deal: come on down here, I'll put you up, but you have to help me put up my shutters if it's a 2, secure all my yard furniture and potted plants at my house and my mom's house nearby, and then stick around after the storm to help pick up all the five million palm fronds and bits of trash and so on in the yard, chain saw or straighten up trees that have fallen over, bushes uprooted, etc. You can also fan me during the hours that the a/c is out, which might be a couple of days at least. We can sit around and listen to the roof creak and the wind howl wondering if it will hold up and if the worst has passed us by.

Deal? Oh, I forgot, after the first 8 inches of rain or so, the toilet won't work for a few days because I'm on a septic system, there's no sewer connections here.

Come on down! It's a real blast.

Alternative if you can't make it: drive at 75-110 mph down the freeway in a driving thunderstorm and stand so that your upper body is completely out of your sunroof. Hold this position for about five hours.

[cjrciadt]

I have had my share of canes for a lifetime! That does not mean there will never be more coming. I come to Storm2k to get all the info and data I can from one source, and love this site for it. I will continue to come here track this season and seasons to come.

[r_u_stuck2]

At 61 years of age I have seen enough. Frederick, Opal, Erin, Ivan, was in Kentucky for Camille.

I rarely post because I only visit this board to get more information than I get on the National News.

I look with disbelief at the folks who cheer for the development and formation of canes. What if I cheered for the development of Tornadoes in the midwest? What if I said they were exciting. I suggest some of you folks that want to see a real storm go be a tornado chaser and try to get into the center.

[Scorpion]

I still say Bring It on. Im not scared of any hurricane, and will stay for a Cat 5.

[spinfan4eva]

I still say Bring It on. Im not scared of any hurricane, and will stay for a Cat 5.

Hopefully, for the sake of your community, you get deprived of what you are wishing for!