Remind me not to whine about the humidity, or the thunderstorms, or the inevitable cold fronts anytime soon. Our weather woes are embarrassingly trivial compared to what residents from Texas and Florida to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean are facing.
It's hard for Minnesotans to comprehend a megastorm like Maria, which raked Puerto Rico with 150 mph winds. Imagine the worst storm you've ever encountered, multiply wind speeds by 2, and then have it last the better part of eight hours. Maria was the rough equivalent of a 50-mile-wide EF-4 tornado, one that wouldn't go away. The risk of starvation, infection, disease and civil unrest will be off the scales in coming weeks. Sadly, many who survived the storm may not survive its aftermath.
After a heat index above 100 yesterday, today brings highs in the 80s and sauna-like dew points above 70. Storms flare up today; now Sunday now looks drier and sunnier. The farther you drive up I-35 or I-94, the greater the odds of running into puddles. We dry out next week, with fall-like highs in the 60s.
