'Tis the Season

In 1988, my mom rode out Major Hurricane Gilbert in Jamaica. It was a Cat 3 by then, but at its peak intensity it was the strongest Atlantic hurricane on record until Wilma in 2005. I remember following it on the news, wondering if my mom was okay. When she got back, she told me about the giant waves of rain, the terrifying howl of the wind, the hotel shaking as if a train was plowing through it, and the roof ripping off. At 7 years old, the only feelings I had were fascination -and envy. I knew right then and there that I had to experience a hurricane before I died. To paraphrase hurricane chaser Josh Morgerman, I think people who become obsessed with severe weather are just born this way.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was the first time I seriously contemplated intercepting a hurricane. Charles Edwards planted Myrtle Beach in my head when he commented on a Facebook post. As of Tuesday morning, Hurricane Matthew was forecast to be just offshore early Saturday near Myrtle Beach, SC as a Cat 2.  It was only an idea at first.. But as I looked up flights and hotels, the idea became more real and I started to get very nervous/excited. I checked the forecast every 3 hours, anxiously jumping between websites and contemplating my next move. I figured Myrtle Beach would be okay because I would arrive and just ride it out in a concrete high rise hotel. I didn't feel comfortable with the thought of renting a car and driving around alone in an attempt to relocate. Picking a hotel and just staying there seemed to be a safer option. I had crashed at a friend's place the night before and was still in pajamas at 2:30pm. My one track mind needed some food. I relocated myself to a nearby Tim Hortons and did some more thinking. By this point my nerves were making my stomach turn. Eventually I went to the library that I normally study and work at.

As time wore on and the forecast slowly changed, I started to consider West Palm Beach, FL instead. It was around 5pm by this point. The chasers I was chatting with throughout the day kept giving me tidbits of advice. George Kourounis's words of wisdom were, "Don't wreck my camera. Wrap it in plastic like it's a Tinder date." Myrtle Beach still felt like a better plan because it seemed less complicated and the hotel would have been cheap. At the end of the day, I just thought of it as a solo vacation. I was actually looking forward to having a hotel room to myself almost as much as the hurricane. My nerves were on high alert. It's like my instincts were fighting each other. One part of my brain, a very small part, was telling me that I was f*cking crazy but the rest was just trying to figure out the logistics of how I could pull this off. I suddenly had to make an urgent trip to the bathroom -that's how anxious I was. Shortly after 8pm, I was ready to pull the trigger on Myrtle Beach. I was going to arrive on Thursday and leave on Sunday. It looked like it was going to come very close to land. Then came the most useful piece of advice, from Scott McPartland, which was to call the hotel to make sure they were planning on staying open. I knew that South Carolina was going to be under a mandatory evacuation. He said that sometimes a hotel will kick you out and you have to scramble to find a new one before the storm arrives. Well f*ck. I knew I had to make this phone call, but a part of me didn't want to because I didn't want the answer. I knew it was not going to bode well for this trip.

Sure enough, I call the Polynesian and the front desk clerk, in her adorable southern accent, tells me that they are closing the next day at 1pm due to mandatory evacuation. As soon as I hear this, my heart sinks, but my stomach settles. I'm disappointed and bitter... but as it turned out, the later model runs and forecasts the next morning showed it veering east, out into the sea. At the present moment, the center of the storm will be nowhere near Myrtle Beach. I dodged a bullet. 

I feel like hurricane chasing is this exclusive club that is very hard to get into... but I know that eventually I will have my day in the rain. It just won't be this day. 

As was the case with ex-boyfriends of the same name, it appears that Matthew isn't the one.