The months since Hurricane Katrina have been filled with the fervor of apocalyptic millennialism for many weather geeks. The Weather Channel has been endlessly running a feature on how dreadful things would be if a Category Five storm trundled up the Hudson, leaving me, as a good Washingtonian, to mutter how Katrina on the Potomac wouldn’t exactly be a bag of cupcakes. Newspapers carry, as the Post did yesterday, breathless stories on how the earth is the hottest it’s been for 400 years or 2000 years or maybe ever, using, as illustration, the famous “hockey stick” graph, so called because most climatologists are Canadian, though the “nine iron” school of thought has been gaining support of late.

In any case, it seems a lot like the sky is falling these days, and last night was no exception. The D.C. area was wracked by intense thunderstorms, only days after a bolt of lightning exploded a power line and set bushes aflame near my apartment! Last night’s donner and blitzen left some 40,000 residents in the region without power, and this week’s deluges have not only ameliorated the city’s drought conditions but have also placed us, and our temperamental storm sewers, at risk of flash-flooding, should additional downpours ensue.

And it’s funny we should mention that, as the National Weather Service tells us that a cold front passing eastward from the Midwest will stall out over the mid-Atlantic this weekend, dropping some 2-4 inches of rain before popping the clutch and accelerating back into traffic and out to sea. People living and working in low-lying areas near water are being told to pay close attention to weather updates and to look back with angst on their decision to purchase a million dollar home in riverside Alexandria. Bubble or no bubble, flood damage will send those early retirement plans packing.

Do be careful this weekend, kids. It looks like it’s going to be a nasty few days.

Picture taken by ohad*.