Weather or Not, Here it Comes

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Way, way back in the mid-1980s, I visited southern California for the first time. First during winter break, to meet Ross’s father, then to spend time with Ross during his summer internship at a Crystal City law firm, and later for New Year’s at his dad’s place in Laguna Niguel. Ross would be graduating from law school in less than six months, and the firm had tendered him a position as an associate. 

We weren’t engaged - not yet - but we were at the point in our relationship where neither of us would make a serious life decision without consulting the other. So as we leaned on the rail of his father’s balcony, watching the fireworks reflect in the Pacific Ocean, we talked about the job offer. “I love it here,” I said, “but the weather never, ever changes. What do people even talk about?”

Well. It was 35 years ago.

In the summer of 2021, the Pacific northwest is on its second life-threatening heat wave, caused by a once-rare, now increasingly common “heat dome.” In the eastern seaboard, we’re just drying out from the torrential record-breaking rain of Tropical Storm Elsa. We got six inches at my place, and there was water leaking through my 200-year-old stone foundation, a very unusual occurrence (fortunately, I have a true New England celler, with a dirt floor that absorbs almost everything.)

Meanwhile, Jenn has been living under an extreme heat warning for the past several days. The weather is nice in northern California where Rhys is, but twice in the past four years, her community has been threatened by wildfires and choking smoke. 

The climate is changing - it already has changed, and one of the signal markers of “the new normal” is the increase in extreme weather events. As this graphic from Climate Central shows, the change in the average day-to-day weather isn’t very noticeable - but the shift to a warmer planet gives a big boost to the extreme edge of the spectrum. 

 

Out west, it means killer heat and drought. In the east, it’s moisture-drenched storms and polar vortexes. For all of us, it means (among many other things) learning to cope with “once in a century” weather coming once every ten or five or three years.

Reds, what’s the extreme weather event you worry about most where you live? And what do you do to prepare for and get through it?

LUCY BURDETTE: It’s hurricanes for us of course, both in Key West and Connecticut. Both of our beloved places were in the path of the recent Elsa--and this isn’t the first time it’s happened. After two wicked hurricanes hit CT in 2010 and 2011 (Irene and Sandy), we finally invested in a generator. Because after the storm passes through, there can be a long stretch of time without electricity, and that means ruined food and reading by candlelight and hot, muggy nights. We also worry about fires--so scary--on the west coast, and tornadoes in the middle.

I just said to John the other night, doesn’t it seem like a few people have warned us about climate change for decades, and now suddenly it’s devastating the world? It’s pretty darn discouraging…

HALLIE EPHRON: Climate change is truly scary. I have a friend who’s house hunting in this brutal sellers’ market, and the first thing she looks at is “flood factor” - not something I would have even considered when we bought our house. It eliminates a lot of otherwise perfectly acceptable properties.

Here in New England, blizzards are atop my worry list. The cold, mountains of snow, power outages. It’s nice to live in a house but it has its down side.

JENN McKINLAY: Aside from being broiled alive by the summer sun, I fear running out of water. It’s my biggest worry, because AZ has no water restriction measures set in place at all. With the 26 year drought happening, and six of our counties on the brink of being declared uninhabitable, they’re just talking about maybe restricting the water in the year 2022. We’ll see. This is a state that has 299 days of sun per year and won’t mandate that all buildings be solar. They say we’ll be out of water by 2050. Sort of feels like something we should prepare for, you know?

DEBS: Jenn, that is crazy!!!! We’ve had water restrictions here for years, and they don’t lift them even when there is lots of rain and full reservoirs. 

RHYS BOWEN: I also worry about running out of water. Marin is a small county and we rely on our own reservoirs which this year are in danger of doing up. I can’t understand why we don’t have desalinization plants!  But we always live with the threat of wildfires, power outages, poor air quality. Otherwise it’s perfect!

 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Before this year I’d have said our biggest fear was tornadoes and blistering summer heat. Then in February, we had SNOWMAGGEDON! We are just not prepared for that extreme cold, and obviously our power grid was not, either. That week caused terrible damage in Texas. People FROZE to death in their homes! And agriculture took a huge hit. Our favorite peach orchard, for instance, lost one third of their trees, and all their early crop peaches. You would think people would get their head out of their--I mean out of the sand!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Power outages. We have blizzards, true endless relentless blizzards (once we could not even open our back door because the snow was so high.). And massive thunderstorms. I plug in everything, obsessively.  And this year, for the first time, we had a brown-out because of the intense heat. And last year, the Boston downtown streets flooded! The harbor overflowed and cars were floating. I know the weather here has gotten--weirder. I mean--look at all of our experiences. Debs! I read about that, and it is so disturbing. Terrifying. And yes, Lucy. Real and imminent. 

 

JULIA: How about you, dear readers? What are the weather emergencies you worry about? And how do you prepare to meet them? 

EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY by Jenn McKinlay

Life. Art. For me, the line in between frequently gets blurry. Very blurry. 

A Top Pick from RT Magazine and with a Starred Review from Booklist! Don't miss out on the latest romantic comedy in the Bluff Point trilogy! Available TODAY!

When I wrote the book, EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY, I thought it would be fun to include a foster kitten named Chaos. He was a spunky little critter that enriched the story and the lives of my characters. Fast forward a couple of months and my family and I found ourselves rescuing a two week old kitten, who is now named King George, and is a solid (and spunky) member of our pack. Did writing about Chaos bring George into our life? Hmm.

Chaos

King George

Another plot point in today's release is that my characters are stuck in a blizzard in Maine for three days. Next door neighbors with kids and pets, surviving a brutally cold winter -- great set up for a romance, right? Yeah, sure, and now I'm visiting New England and it looks like they're about to break the record for coldest number of days in a row since 1917 - one hundred years, people! I'm not saying my book brought on the cold snap, but I'm not not saying it either.

A stream in the woods on New Year's Eve

So, if there is a life-art connection happening, I'm thinking in my next book my characters need to find a cupboard full of fresh baked pies or a trunk full of gold, you know, just to see if art really is imitating life. 

What about you, Reds? Have you ever written something and then had it happen to you? Coincidence or...?

For anyone who wants a looksee, here's an excerpt from 
EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY:

     The blizzard caused power outage continued through three board games, lunch, an arts and crafts project that was supposed to be making snowflakes out of printer paper but turned into an epic fail when Zachary Caine unfolded his and it looked like six knobby penises.

     “Oh, wow, I didn’t see that happening,” he said.

     Jessie Connolly about choked on her own spit from trying not to laugh as Zach tried to hide his pervy snowflake from her girls. He should have known better by now. When he hid it behind his back, they attacked. Five-year-old Maddie wrestled it from his hands while seven-year-old Gracie distracted him by saying she heard someone on the front porch.

     When Maddie unfolded it, she frowned.

     “Why don’t you like it, Zach? It looks like p—“

     “No—“ Zach tried to cut her off to no success.

     “—arrots.”

     “Huh?” He raised one eyebrow at her.

     Gracie glanced over her sister’s shoulder and nodded. “Yeah, parrots. See? Here’s the head—“

     “Got it!” Zach cried.

     Jessie turned away. The urge to laugh was becoming too much and she had to fake a coughing fit to try and contain it. Parrots! Bless her innocent little girls’ hearts.

     “Are you all right, Momma?” Gracie asked.

     “Fine, I’m fine,” Jessie answered. Her voice was strained and she was still facing away from them, because she knew if she looked at Zach or his snowflake, she was going to lose it completely.

     She felt him at her back before he spoke. One arm appeared in front of her, and he leaned close, speaking right into her ear, and said, “So, did you want to hang my bird-like snowflake on the window with the others? The girls seem to think it’s full of peckers.”

     The laugh when it came out of Jessie was something between and guffaw and a wheeze. As she looked at Zach’s phallic snowflake, she doubled-up with laughter. The more she tried to contain it, the worse the giggle fit became.

     “Momma, you shouldn’t laugh at Zach’s snowflake,” Gracie said. “You’ll hurt his feelings.”

     Jessie pressed her lips together and nodded, trying her best.    

     “She’s right,” Zach said. “My feelings will go positively limp.”

     A snort erupted and tears sprang from her eyes. Jessie gave Zach a warning look that was likely ruined by the smile that still curved her lips.

     “Here,” he said. He reached around her, brushing her side with his arm and ripped a piece of tape off of the dispenser. “Let’s hang it right here, shall we?”

     Jessie watched as he taped his snowflake along with the others they had made right in the center of the kitchen window.

     “Oh, that looks good there,” Maddie said. “Don’t you think so, Momma?”

     “It would be hard to find a better place for it,” Jessie said.

     This time it was Zach who hooted with laughter. He didn’t even try to contain it.

     As he walked past her on his way back to his seat, he leaned in close and said, “I feel compelled to say that the parrots on the snowflake are not the actual size.”

     His teasing gaze held hers and Jessie felt her face get hot.

     “Of course not,” Gracie said. “Everyone knows a real parrot is bigger than that.”

     Zach reclaimed his seat at the table and grinned. “Man, I love these kids.”

     Both of her daughters beamed up at him as he began to fold his next piece of paper, and Jessie felt something in her chest shift.  

Frankenstorm!!11!

UPDATE:  Here's Hank Phillippi Ryan's 2:30pm update from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Authority: WDHD TV-7
 


 
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: As I write this, Hurricane Sandy is already bringing tropical storm conditions to coastal North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. Hurricane-force winds are expected to affect the coast from Chintogue, VA to Chatam, MA, with tropical-force gales and rain spreading out across most of the Northeast. Delaware's emptying out, New Jersey's on high alert and the New York subway system is shutting down. And up here in Maine, we're pulling in the boats and getting out the sou'westers.Living on the highest point in our area, I'm not expecting any flooding, but we're prepared for the almost-inevitable power outages: loads of candles and hurricane lamps, fresh batteries in the flashlights, water in jugs and in the tub. (For those of you who have city systems instead of wells, the loss of electricity means the loss of water. Oh, that lonely last flush as the pipes empty out...)

Ross and the kids have spent the weekend raking and bagging leaves, we're stocked up with food - well, honestly, we're always stocked up with food - and even our Smithie called to let us know she was prepared and ready to share her Maine-bred knowledge of storm survival when the power goes out in Northampton.
Over the years, our family has perfected its storm-prep techniques. We've come a long way since the Great Ice Storm of '98. We went for nine long days with no power, then; cooking on the woodstove, taking shivery sponge baths, gravity flushing the toilets. The two children bundled up and slept in one bed to keep warm, and Ross and I alternated rising every three hours at night to keep the fireplaces and stove stoked with wood. After that adventure, no storm can strike fear into my heart again.

How about you, Reds? What are you those of you on the East Coast doing to prep for the Frankenstorm? And what's the worst weather emergency you've lived through?
RHYS BOWEN: I'm currently in Hawaii, about as far from Sandy as possible but I'm sending protective vibes for my Jungle Red sisters on the East Coast. The worst weather event we ever experienced was a flood in Texas. We had 15 inches of rain in 12 hours. The river came out of its banks and joined the rainfall. We watched the water rise, went from house to house helping neighbors put valuables up as high as possible. We were lucky--the water came within half an inch of our slab. All our neighbors flooded and our lights were the only ones in a sea of black water. We sloshed through snake-infested water bringing food to neighbors for several days. Weather events are scary!HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: It's Saturday night ,and so peaceful here. Hard to imagine we're about to get battered. I feel as if I should go BUY something. Batteries.

Weather emergency? I'm a reporter..I've been in floods, hurricanes, ice storms, blizzards (so cold I curled up on the front seat of the news van, certain I'd never be warms again), nor'easters..I guess the worst was Hurricane, ah, I forget. I was sent to cover the storm on the Cape, the winds were more than 90 MPH, it was hard to stand up straight to do my stories. The sand, whipped by the wind, stung my face so hard it made me  cry.   There was nothing, nowhere, and my crew and I stayed at a home on the Cape that was a summer home..it had power, but no food. We ate hot dog buns we found in the freezer, defrostd and topped with canned tomato sauce and frozen romano.

ROSEMARY HARRIS: We lose power a couple of times a year due to storms. My hubby is from the "it's never as bad as they say it's going to be" school and I'm from the "let's batten down the hatches" so between the two of us we prepare a bit and then forget about it. Batteries, flashlights, candles. We never did get around to buying that generator we talked about and we never fill the bathtub One time we kept running down to the pool and bringing back buckets of pool water. (Good reminder Julia since it's October and the pool is closed!)

During last year's Halloween storm a tree limb came crashing through a skylight in the kitchen. Hope that doesn't happen again. But it was romantic making a fire and reading by candlelight - having an excuse to eat ALL of the ice cream. I've been so many places without power that it doesn't bother me too much. The only thing that does bother me is the possibility of breaking glass. My house is more glass than wood so we tend to stay away from the windows and skylights during one of these crazy storms! Stay safe everyone.DEBORAH CROMBIE: We live in tornado country, and my hubby has been involved with amateur radio for years, so we're always fairly prepared. Although, like Ro, we've never bought that generator we keep talking about... Thankfully, our house has never been hit by a tornado, but we are also prone to ice storms here that can be brutal. Trees and power lines can go down from the weight of the ice, and utility and city crews are not well equipped to deal with the damage. Winter before last we had a storm that kept us iced in for about five days. Fortunately, we had power for most of the time, lots of firewood, and we have a gas stove and oven, so could still cook.

Hoping all of you on the East Coast stay safe in the next few days.  And fill up those bathtubs!

HALLIE EPHRON: I always fill up the bathtubs but I never understand why I'm doing it. Can someone 'splain?

We're supposed to get lots of rain and wind over several days, but we're not supposed to get nearly the impact that Ro and Roberta will have in Connecticut. So Ladies, stay dry and take care!

I'm very bad at preparing. I have candles... somewhere. And batteries. But where is my transistor radio (remember those?) - I have no idea. We did a grocery store run and got some canned food that I hope I never have to eat. Bought a new flashlight that I hope some of my batteries fit. Checked that our downspouts are working and connected. And we'll try to park the cars out on the street to avoid dropping limbs. Hoping for the best...

JULIA: Hallie, I don't know about everyone else, but we use the water in the tub for washing dishes and for gravity flushing. I'd have to be a much, much more thorough housekeeper to have a tub clean enough to drink from.

Or you could fill the bathtub like this...

 JAN BROGAN: No drinking from my tubs, either Julia.  Hallie, you only need to fill your tub if you are on well water. I'm pretty sure you aren't.  I've got my two filling up as we speak.

I also topped off the car, got two new flashlights and batteries, found the candles and secured a promise we can go live with family with foresight to have bought the generators. My husband is determined to drive down and see how crazy the ocean is - even though the chief of police robo call tells us all to stay in our homes.  

JULIA: We'd love to hear your worst storm story, your survival tips, and how things are in your town. We're hoping that all our East Coast Reds reader stay safe and dry!