Tropical Storm Beta

Yeah, according to CNN, we're up to Beta, now. I wonder if this year's hurricane season will extend beyond what is normally considered hurricane season. For that matter, I wonder how they determined the time period of the season to begin with. Was it just a matter of looking back over a certain number of years and saying "well shit, we've never had a storm before June or after November, so that must be hurricane season?"

And speaking of hurricanes, Wilma did a number on my family back home. If you hadn't figured by all of my snide comments towards Florida, I grew up there and only recently escaped. Sunrise, the Ft. Lauderdale suburb that I used to call home, took a walloping to the point that portions of city hall collapsed. Oddly enough, no one seems to overly concerned about it. City hall was an old, ugly building that had a lot of problems. I don't think anyone is gonna miss it. Utility failures and the complete and total destruction of every tree, fence, and screen room in the area seem to be the only real damage to speak of. My parents lost some shingles and my grandparents rood took a little damage and sprung a leak, but it really just seems like inconvenience damage more than devastation. I wish I could say the same thing for some of the surrounding cities, though. From what I've seen, Pompano, Coral Springs, Davie, Hollywood, and downtown Ft. Lauderdale took a big hit. My next trip home should be interesting.

Edit:
Yeah, I know. Sunrise's website is down. If I had to guess, I'd say that it problably has something to do with the server being in the partially collapsed and flooded city hall building.