I heard Weather Channel on-camera meteorologist say earlier today that “he felt let down” because Irene had become a tropical storm just before hitting New York city.
I was once in a place with regular tropical storms.
A few came by, one actually arrived, but it was not a particularly strong storm. Not having been through such storms before, in all honesty I was a bit disappointed it was rather minor. Winds were enough to tear down some building signage, and to litter roadways with palm fronds; certainly too high for using umbrellas, but nothing catastrophic. Some significant gusts overnight.
But then again, my job was not to objectively report news.
That said, even as a relatively minor storm, the winds were somewhat frightening.
Hard to describe the sound of winds that fast. Something primal about it.