A Stressful Tuesday: Hurricane Irma, North Korea, Chicago

As far as the big national news out here on the East End on Tuesday, September 5 was concerned, it was all about position.

The Caribbean hurricane Irma with 175 mile an hour winds was tracked running approximately east to west off the coast of Puerto Rico, heading for a sharp right turn north toward Florida. If it didn’t turn very quickly, it would come ashore on the state’s West Coast, somewhere near Tampa or Tallahassee. But if it DID turn north quickly, it could barrel up the Atlantic, missing Miami and Florida entirely, and begin to lumber north toward you and me.

Around 5 p.m. Tuesday, the matter was still in the balance. We’ll know more today.

I’m as selfish as the next person. I’ve never liked Florida myself, but I think it does have this one attribute: It sits pointing south like a giant finger and, when big storms approach, it stands there and can push the storm west to go off and rattle around in the Gulf of Mexico.

But if it doesn’t send it off into the Gulf of Mexico, then we get it.

I’m all for Florida. Love it this week.

Also this Tuesday for the first time I heard the word “Chicago” mentioned in the same breath as North Korea. A month ago, North Korea could hit Guam. Three weeks ago it was Hawaii. Two weeks ago it was Alaska. Last week it was California. And now, Tuesday, Chicago.

Yes, it was a stressful Tuesday, September 5. Things are coming at us from every direction.