I am writing this column on a beautiful sunny day in Southern California. It is a Monday in mid-August, so it is not a national holiday, yet in Los Angeles County, where I live, all the schools and all government offices are closed. Why? Because, for the past week, the National Weather Service, state and local authorities, and national and local media have been ceaselessly warning that a tropical storm would hit Southern California on Sunday night and Monday with a "life-threatening" intensity not seen since the last tropical storm hit California in 1939, 84 years ago. On Saturday, CNN...