Stormy weather

A strong storm blew through Austin a couple nights ago, complete with hail and tornadoes to the east, although thankfully, we only saw the hail here at the apartment. That was bad enough, as it shattered the window over our kitchen sink and came on with such a roar we were afraid our cars were being dented. It subsided in about half an hour to a little sprinkling of rain, and that was it. Today, it's cold but beautiful.

I was living in Bedford when the tornado tore through downtown Fort Worth a few years ago and almost brought down a skyscraper or two. It's pretty rare that tornadoes hit downtowns, but it does happen occasionally. With the continuing deterioration of the atmosphere and global warming, violent storms will likely become more common and more deadly in the next century. Scientists say it's only a matter of time before a hurricane hits New Orleans, which lies below sea level, and that may well be the end of that city.

Needless to say, the Bush administration has at various times chosen to a) pretend the problem doesn't exist, b) do nothing to try to mitigate the problem, and c) try to prevent others from taking steps to mitigate the problem.