Monday, October 19, 2009

Hurricane Rick?

Saturday afternoon I was minding my own business, playing my 114th game of Bejeweled, when a dark cloud swallowed the sky, the wind blew away every piece of paper on my desk, and it started raining inside. Or something to that effect. I closed the doors and windows, turned on the lights, and continued with my game.

About an hour later Ibis returned from the beach, much drier than I'd expected. He and his friends had taken cover beneath a palapa -- well actually, he put his things beneath a palapa while HE swam in the NINE-FOOT WAVES. We both agreed there must have been quite a storm over the ocean. For fun, I checked out weather.com and look what I found:


Well look at that. It's a CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE and we knew nothing about it. But Rick? Really? As I read the reports a comment from He-Robin from Saturday suddenly made sense. I thought he mistook my dog's name for Rick and couldn't understand why he thought our puppy looked mean, when actually he was warning me of impending doom. Ohhhhh. Gotcha.

Then my sister-in-law-in-law (if that makes sense) pointed me to a cool website called stormpulse that tracks storms over the different oceans. That site showed me this:


I screen-captured these on Sunday afternoon, a full day after Rick passed by, but trust me when I say I couldn't have been more surprised to see the EYE OF THE STORM directly off the coast of Zihuatanejo. Yikes!

By Sunday the sky was once again clear, most of the rain had evaporated, and it was business as usual.

20 comments:

Spy Scribbler said...

Nine-foot waves? That sounds like fun! I wanna see the ocean again. :-(

Janna Leadbetter said...

Wow! That was so incredibly close.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Natasha, you think that sounds like fun?! Crazy girl... :P The problem when they're that big is they also come really quickly so if you get caught in one, the next just slams you into the ground.

Janna, I KNOW!!

Robin said...

(He-Robin) I knew from your response that you had no clue what I was talking about. I also knew from the satelite pictures that you would know before long. Living on the East Coast of the US (South Carolina), albiet 200 miles inland, since Hugo in 1989 we still watch hurricanes with a great respect. I was just giving you a little headsup.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Robin, I felt like such an idiot! We usually know when they're coming so I'm not quite sure how we missed this one.

Thanks for trying. :)

Penguin said...

In your defense, you are from Michigan, the really damaging storms that happen here give almost no warning.
And nine-foot waves are the best. I would so be out in that.
My biggest problem would have been use a board or body surf.

Jewel Allen said...

I've heard of bejeweled. So it's fun, huh? Glad the hurricane bypassed you. "Rick" is a funny name for a hurricane. Kind of anticlimactic.

JLC said...

That sort of thing happens to me all the time. I don't like watching or reading the news. Once in a while, I will get a call from a relative asking if I am ok with the storm. Apparently they are watching news reports on some storm that is over my town. Usually I laugh and tell them that I can't tell the difference between a stormy day and a typical day. Its always raining here. :D Glad Ricky didn't make a house call.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Penguin, I like that logic. :)

Jewel, Bejeweled is very addicting! The games are only one minute long so it's way too easy to keep playing. I agree that Rick is anti-climatic. It should at least be Ricardo...

JLC, I actually read the news sites every day, but apparently the US media isn't concerned with weather systems that don't affect the US, go figure. But I have received those calls from family who've seen something I haven't!

Nadine said...

Glad Rick didn't make a house call!

Nine-foot waves sounds terrifying to swim in! I like nice small ones. :)

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Nadine, same here. The calmer the water, the better.

Penguin said...

Wow, you guys.
If you can't seriously fall off of it, it is not worth riding......

Melanie Hooyenga said...

It's not the falling off part I'm worried about, it's the faceplant into rocks and sand followed by the inability to resurface before I drown. And it always knocks my bathing suit off.

Anonymous said...

I was actually wondering if the storm hit where you were. Glad you're okay!

Penguin said...

Interesting visual......
That is why you surf/body in a one piece bathing suit.

You do crack me up sometimes.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Gypsy, we had strong winds and rain for about half an hour, then everything went back to normal.

Penguin, for the amount of time I spend in waves that would require a full-piece suit, it's not worth the money. :) But I'm glad I amuse you!

Pam said...

I totally got He-Robin's comment when he sent it, and I'm three miles from the South Carolina coast. It doesn't take long to become a Weather Channel junkie when you live here.

I'm glad Rick wasn't as bad as he looked. And yeah, I like the name Ricardo much better.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Pam, I normally know about these things, which is why I was SO SHOCKED when I saw the eye just off the coast!

erica m. chapman said...

Wow. Maybe it's a good thing you saw that afterward...

Glad you are all okay. 9 foot waves! Yikes. No thanks.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Erica, yeah, sometimes ignorance IS bliss.