Surviving Hurricane Earl

Hurricane Earl was a "doozy." And it was as close to the eye of a hurricane that I ever want to be.

We had traveled across the North Atlantic by ship, stopping at various islands along the way. Although we didn't quite get above the Arctic Circle, these were tundra places. Few or no trees. Wild places and extreme weather. Rocky landscapes that were a photographer's dream.

Somewhere after leaving Iceland on the way to Greenland, we were beyond satellite communications, so no Internet, CNN, or cellphones. What a wonderful gift of temporary disconnection from the chaos of the world in which we live. Fierce weather increased our sense of isolation. The wind wailed across open decks and high waves pushed hard against us as we weathered a gale. It was what we had expected of weather in these far northern seas.

In Newfoundland, the serious consequences of severe weather grew as the ship began providing us with Hurricane Earl information. As Earl moved north along the coast, our ship continued south. Plan A was to skip the port of Sydney in Nova Scotia. Soon Plan A was replaced by Plan  B, then Plan C. . .

Our stop in Halifax, Nova Scotia was cancelled next. The best course of action finally was to hide along the Maine coast and wait out the hurricane. Everything too large to move from the decks to the ship's interior was tied down with heavy rope.

As Earl drew parallel to us, the air became heavy and thick with fog. Waves grew in size and no one was allowed outside. Not the kind of weather that us folks from Minnesota are accustomed. Hurricane Earl's eye was 40 miles in diameter, until it began to downgrade from Category 4. Even though we were 100 miles from the eye, the risk of being blown off the ship was real. Okay - enough adventure!

Thanks to modern radio communications, computer modeling, storm tracking, and all the other tools available to our ship's captain and crew, we were able to dance along a careful line of navigation and remain safe. Our ocean crossing was not the fate of the Titanic - nor of other ships that have sunk under the duress of the North Atlantic's extreme weather. And I learned more about hurricanes than I even thought there was to know.

Since returning home in a rainstorm that left three inches in our rain gauge, I have pondered weather events. Various places in the world have suffered horrendous weather this year. The flooding in Pakistan alone boggles the mind in its destruction of people's lives and homes.

Then there are "weather events " in our inner lives and our relationships with people. The fury of storms race through us. The high temperature of our passions riles our energy. Fears we carry within us threaten to flood our souls and obscure our values and sensibilities. We choose to hide out along protective coastlines and wait it out, while yearning for the return of sunshine and blue skies.

I have a new respect for the power of weather, for climate changes occurring in the world, for ice melting in the Arctic, and the disappearance of glaciers. And for the weather metaphors that this experience has given me to reflect upon.