Hello, again, and a big welcome to my new subscribers! Well, it was a year ago that Hurricane Idalia came crashing into our lives. It was a real punch in the face with the coastal flooding we had, but we got through it and even got everything put back together in time for our son’s wedding!

As is our usual practice whenever a storm is threatening, we spend much of our time on the internet watching the National Weather Service websites for any new developments. I prefer the National Hurricane Center (obviously) and the GOES Image Viewer to try to get a handle on what’s coming. As Idalia was moving north from Yucatan and Cuba, I noticed something very strange.

Now let’s be clear on this – I am not a computer guru, nor do I have the skills to manipulate photos. All I did was take a screen shot, and then I zoomed in and took another one. I know that clouds can make all kinds of strange and interesting shapes, both from the ground and apparently from satellite images too. But when I saw this, a chill went up my spine.

If any of you know how to get into the archives of the GOES Image Viewer, you can back me up on this. The clouds have formed the face of a bearded man and he looks like he is yelling at the storm! (At least that’s how it looked to me.) I sent this out to family and friends and they saw it too and we were all creeped out.

This is the radar image from a day or so later as Idalia moved closer. It turned out to be worse than the flood from Hurricane Hermine that brushed past us in 2016. I had finished fabricating flood barricades for all of our doors just 2 weeks before Idalia struck, so we only had a few inches of salt water in the house instead of a few feet like some of our neighbors, but it was still a mess.

My wife and I had experienced Hurricane Hugo in 1989 when we were living in Charleston, so we are definitely both storm watchers. But if I ever see that face on the satellite image again, we are heading for the hills! (After I install my barricades, of course.)

Until next time, I wish you happy reading and clear, dark (and storm-free) skies! – James

Novels by James Crawford (available in print, eBook, and audio book) –

Mariner Valley – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0141N9UXO

Seed of Aldebaran – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SHXTRMP

AlCent Sagas Book One: Formation – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQ5C3TQT

AlCent Sagas Book Two: Revelation – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D2FRH6Q8

AlCent Sagas Book Three: Investigation – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D5SBFYMW

AlCent Sagas Book Four: Desperation – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D8767LHL

AlCent Sagas Book Five: Confrontation – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9PPTX6G

A Noble Paradise – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QG6LZ10

Cover artist Wojtek Kapusta – https://www.artstation.com/kapucha76

Audible narrator Lyle Blaker – https://www.acx.com/narrator?p=AXZPXFQRN07M3