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05.11.2012 | 11:00
Afternoon Storms and Blizzards (JB)
My worst nightmare is to wake up on the coldest of days knowing very well that I have to wake up, have breakfast and take a hot shower, all in preparation for my imminent departure into a freezing blizzard.
Thankfully, my job allows me to work from home.
This past Friday the weather was quite frankly a living nightmare. Wind speed reached heights I’ve not heard mentioned in years and the sea violently thrashed the coastal areas of Reykjavík, spewing salt on Sæbraut leading to the center of Reykjavík. It was the kind of weather when you are grateful for a roof over your head and a decent insurance policy to cover your properties in case of the dreaded worst-case- scenario.
Storms are not unheard of in Iceland but sometimes, just sometimes, we get a storm of this caliber that seems to shake our world a little bit. In the wee hours of Friday light sleepers were kept awake by the thrashing of tree branches and all things loose on double-glazed windows and trembling resembling that of an earthquake.
Even the soundest of sleepers would have been alerted by Mother Nature’s roar as the eye of the storm looked down on the humble life below.
Then again, for some, it served as a soothing lullaby.
For my puppy Emma, this is the case. She’s rarely slept as much as she did while the storm passed over. As curious as she was to chase the flying leaves and watch the treetops shake like Shakira, she was cautious enough not to defy forces of nature. Even though she defied every retrieving step to shelter, she was quick to run through the door and leave the wind behind.
Throughout Friday we heard reports of wind exceeding 60 m/sec in the nearby community of Kjalarnes some 15 minutes from Reykjavík. Several accidents were reported. After the storm came a gathering of gray clouds resulting in a light snowfall. It was a quiet end to an eventful weekend. Of course, throughout the weekend I cursed the whole affair and waited for it all to come to an end.
But then on Saturday evening I accidentally stumbled upon a program called Earth from Space on the National Geographic channel.
The program covered everything from the great influence Antarctica has on life on Earth to how northern lights occur. It gave reason to the richness of our oceans, the splendor of our forests and the air we inhale.
It got me thinking about the recent storm and how perhaps it wasn’t in my way, but the other way round. It has become our way of thinking to see nature as our personal and private soil from which we benefit regardless of the effect it might have on nature’s predestined cycle.
Iceland is a geographical melting pot where volcanoes are buried beneath the weight of great glaciers, and every now and then earthquakes surprise us with an unexpected arrival.
The good people in North Iceland are expecting an earthquake expected to exceed a magnitude of 6.0. For the older residents in the area, the recollection of a previous earthquake is a frightening thought and we hope for the best as we always do.
But despite our resolution to live with the forces of nature, we have developed a character flaw, that is, the tendency to exaggerate a little too much.
When storm Sandy struck Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the east coast of the United States, the cockiest of voices belittled the aftermath of the storm by saying in a loud voice: “Reykjavík would have been left intact despite the force of the storm.”
Of course, these voices of disrespect are few and far between and most Icelanders simply expressed sympathy for the devastation.
However, in Iceland, we do have a tendency to exaggerate the mildness of hard conditions. You still find those who risk an unnecessary trip despite official warnings from the Icelandic Met Office and the Icelandic Road Administration. Perhaps we’ve become too used to the extremes to understand their true force. And maybe for that reason there are those who fail to understand the magnitude of Sandy.
The truth is that if Sandy were to strike Iceland’s shores, we’d find ourselves in deep trouble. My own ground floor apartment would presumably go under and the devastation would be on a massive scale. We may have to live with storms and blizzards, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but we are fortunate to escape storms like the one that struck the Caribbean and the New York coastline.
Our buildings may stand erect—some cracked—after earthquakes and our farmers on the south coast may have suffered financial loss in the volcanic eruptions of previous years, but no lives were lost. The ash fertilized the soil in and the insurance companies will, if they have not, refunded the majority of legitimate claims since the last rounds of earthquakes in South Iceland.
From a non-scientific point of view, the crazy storm of late was an extraordinary display of Mother Nature’s true power, and despite my intolerance for cold, an intricate part of life in Iceland.
Júlíana Björnsdóttir – julianabjornsdottir@gmail.com
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