Did you hear that? These were bitter screams and sighs of relief from Florida households on the journey of an ominous yellow spot.

A the new tropical swamp caused the alarm at this late hour, halfway through a month where we should be defrosting turkeys on purpose and not because the power went out. As of Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said Tropical Storm Sara appeared likely to dissipate over the Yucatan.

The stream of weather updates has proven once again that these storms are unpredictable and destabilizing, with the outlook turning as quickly as a crate of raspberries. (Literally, I just bought them? Why are they mushrooms?)

And all I can say is… what? With so many in Tampa Bay continuing to go through insurance adjustments and the heartbreak of Helene and Milton, our collective panic buttons may actually be broken. I am not sure we are equipped to react to the Other, not mentally, physically or financially.

We’re too spent to spend days refreshing weather forecasters’ Facebook pages, too triggered by the words “evacuation zone” and “Daşani is all that’s left.” We are too consumed by small annoyances to focus on macro environmental problems contributing to these repeated outbreaks. The only thing Floridians named “Sara” can understand right now is a pound cake in the freezer section.

And it has to be said: In the wake of this election, we may be too ticked off by each other to limp through a communal disaster. If my inbox is any indication, humanity is not ready to utter soothing platitudes like “We’re all in this together” and “Many hands make easy work.” The mood is less “Look for the helpers” and more “The right hook for the rant”, you know?

We really need this hurricane season to end, okay? Does any supreme being listen? If you can’t end it, smash Florida into the ocean already. This was not the greatest pep talk! I’m sorry!

Let’s move on to positivity. The official end of hurricane season is November 30. This day is not a magic lever and hurricanes are known to form in December. But we don’t talk about that in the positive part of the column.

The season will soon be ushered in with a glorious cold front, a chance for us to pull through a single moldy sweater from the closet. We can proceed to purchase candles to create a festive atmospheredoes not provide emergency lighting. We can safely eat the last of the Doritos. We can put our internal batteries on chargers for a long nap in the winter with the windows open. We can begin to remember why we love it here, to hang shutters on the windows of our souls for whatever comes next. Yes, we can.

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