Rooting for the Anticlimax

/ Katie

Well, Hurricane Erin has come and gone. Or, rather, it’s gone and it was never really here to begin with.

I’m not unhappy about that at all. Sometimes, anticlimactic is good.

It’s my first hurricane season as an official resident of Virginia Beach, and though I’m not too worried generally, I admit I was concerned about and disconcerted by all the watches and warnings that accompanied Erin’s not-landfall here. As a lifelong mountain critter – if not in body than certainly in spirit – I find the ocean intimidating. Coastal storms were something that, growing up, we actually talked about pretty often. You know, as in: “Gee, sure glad and grateful we aren’t dealing with that.”

And now here I am, living very close to the big water, right on the coast. It’s a funny old life.

At any rate, I am quite grateful that the most we saw of Erin in our neck of the woods – er, our stretch of the sand – was just a little bit of a breeze, some higher than usual high tides, and rough waves.

The surfers had a great time. Waves in Virginia Beach are normally pretty calm, so these were fun to watch. From a distance.

I know the Outer Banks in North Carolina dealt with more, and I’ve heard Norfolk had some flooding. But as storms go, we got lucky. And I’m hoping we stay lucky through this season. Because as much as I love new experiences, I definitely don’t have “See a hurricane up close and personal” on my 2025 bingo card.  

10 thoughts on “Rooting for the Anticlimax”

  2. I was vacationing in OBX but was monitoring conditions in VA Beach as well since we have a place there. As a weather nerd, I was fascinated although I felt badly for all the folks on Hatteras who were impacted.

    Hope you’re enjoying VA Beach!

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      • We were fine. There was wind, which was actually kind of nice. I went to the beach and waves were high. Some friends went down later and the waves were at the dunes. leaving foam on the access steps. There was quite a bit of flooding on Hatteras. I don’t think any houses were lost this time. We’re really lucky in VA Beach. They’ve been consistent about sand replenishment and (fingers crossed) it doesn’t stick out as much as Hatteras Island does so doesn’t get the threat of hurricane damage as often. (Hopefully that doesn’t jinx us!)

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      • So glad all was fine! The waves got really high up on the beach here, too. We’re always up at the North End, and the beach is so wide there these days, which is a good thing, really. Hopefully we make it through this season with minimal impacts!

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    • Glad you enjoyed the post! It’s cool to see them so wild. Normally the water’s edge here is pretty calm. There are a couple of storms churning off the coast this week, so I feel like we ought to get out there again and get some pictures.

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