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'THE HURRICANE SEASON FROM HELL'

After pre-clenching our buttocks yesterday when we heard that the tropical depression in the eastern Atlantic had muscled up quickly into Tropical Storm Emily, Willie Drye, author of Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, sends along this comforting note from the Side Salad Weather Center:

Hey guys:

The forecasters are saying that TS Emily will be a major hurricane by Friday. And they're pointing out an oddity that will probably enhance its development.

Usually when a hurricane has to plow the same water as a previous storm, it gets less fuel because the earlier storm has churned up the water and cooled it down. That's what happened to Dennis when it got into Cindy's wake.

But this time, the forecasters say Dennis spread warm water farther west in the Caribbean -- straight into the track that Emily is expected to take. There's also minimal wind shear, so there's not much at the moment to impede Emily's development.

As of today, they're saying Emily is likely to head for the Yucatan Channel and threaten the peninsula and perhaps Texas or Mexico.

I'm not sending this because I enjoy scaring the bejesus out of you guys. It is scary, but it's also fascinating.

On a personal note, the producer who's started filming for the documentary based on my book had to find other things to do for a couple days last week because (a drum roll for the punchline, please) she got chased out of the Keys because of the evacuation for Dennis.

This is truly shaping up to be the hurricane season from hell.

Later,

Willie