the rix mix

It's really something, a Category 4/5 hurricane passed through the Caribbean & slammed into Yucatan without heavy loss of life & apparently without catastrophic damage. Yet the remnants of a tropical storm & a stalled high pressure system have caused serious flooding for a week & 22 deaths so far from Texas through the upper midwest, tremendous rainfall, & nobody can get out of the way. & there's a terrible heatwave in the southeast.

Temp barely broke 60 today, drizzly & overcast. This week is usually an excellent gamble for the Jersey shore. Of the five midAugust midweek specials I've had in Wildwood, only one disappointed weatherwise - sort of. That was 1994, a hurricane was slowly moving up the coast about 200 miles offshore, spinning off low clouds & high tides. The flat Wildwood beaches were covered with a few inches of water all the way to the boardwalk, interesting to see, you couldn't go on them much less swim, & the waves weren't spectacular. It didn't rain more than damp spritzing, but there was an unrelenting grayness for 3 days. Except on the mainland. As you drove west over the causeway & bridges, the sky brightened. Over there was good deal of sunshine, but it was also a steambath. The Cape May Zoo was the only big attraction of interest to kids, it was packed. So was the K Mart, a heckuva place to spend a vacation afternoon. A profitable week for the shops & bars of Cape May City, spent a lot of time there, too. At least at night the Wildwood boardwalk was its usual craziness - even more than usual as all the pent up energy spilled on to it. Thursday improved, beaches still awash. Friday, checkout day, was gorgeous, great for people arriving at the expensive weekend rates.

Labels: weather