The Rain, the Hurricane, and the Size that doesn’t matter

Life aboard allows for, and some times forces, close appreciation of the magnitude of Nature. And today I just had a tiny display of it.

As I opened Pesto’s hatch early this morning, I wasn’t greeted by the usual blast of warm, moist air nor the glaring sun sparkling on the water. Rather, the sky was heavily clouded, and a breeze that was “almost fresh” hesitantly made its way inside the cabin. A stark contrast to the consistently hot, humid and blue-skyed days of San Carlos.
“A late night Chubasco“, I thought as I drove inland, leaving San Carlos behind and sure that it was coverd by a localized convection storm. It wasn’t. Hermosillo, just 120km inland, is normally considerably hotter and much drier than San Carlos. But not this morning … It was also cloudy, “not-so-hot”, and surprisingly humid.

 

A quick check online confirmed my suspicion:

 

Hurricane Linda, spinning outside the Baja California peninsula, is causing large bands of moist air to circle around its center. And one of these bands is passing just over where we are, cooling down and drenching Hermosillo this morning.

Now, consider this: Linda is located well over 1,000 kilometers from here, and isn’t even headed this direction, and yet I could feel its effect both in San Carlos and Hermosillo. And Linda is just a tiny feature of the world’s weather today. How small we are !

 

Despite our diminute proportion, it is amazing, frightening and sad how much impact we cause to the environments that surround us. Not sure if to our liking, but definitely for Will. As a species, we strive for accumulation, and value expectations more than utility. Even as development gradually reduces our individual footprints, the net growth of our headcount will continue to drive impact. It’s inevitable.

But looking through the window as the thunderstorm crossed Hermosillo’s sky, again I thought of the might of nature. We may eventually find ways to balance our existence with our surrounding environment. Or we may not, and suck it dry. Whatever happens, though, that’s the one ball we have – this single mass of land, water and air – and as huge as it may seem to us, it is an insignificant fraction of everything that exists “out there”.

…

Gosh, I need to go back out sailing soon !