Well, here we are, with - what is it, day 3? - of Tropical Storm Ana. We are all still sitting around, saying, "you have got to be
kidding me!" We have had a relatively moist, mild Spring - the air hasn't been that warm, the Gulf Stream water isn't all that warm; this really shouldn't be happening. Hurricane season doesn't even officially start until June 1st. Think about that; the National Hurricane Center is a government agency, so a lot of their personnel probably don't even go "on the clock" until June. I'm not even sure they'd have the funds to be able to pay the electric bill before then.
But there it is, this blustery, rainy patch of low pressure actually had wind speeds up to around 60 mph last night, and even developed a rather ragged eye. It stumbled into Myrtle Beach sometime during the night; I guess it's wanting to check out all the shows down there, because it appears to have been pretty much stationary all morning. North and East of a landfalling tropical system can be a messy place to be - the highest amount of energy usually gets concentrated there, as the spiraling rain bands come ashore with the maximum amount of time over the water that fuels them. It hasn't been anything to get exited about, really; a few inches of rain, a bit of wind. Ana is like the Energizer Bunny - just keeps going, and going (but not going -
leave, already!), and it's a bit of a "puzzlement" how it's happening at all.
*splat*