How many storms does it take to ruin a vacation?

The answer is "Somewhere between two and four."

I've been obsessing over the weather ever since Ketsana plowed through The Philippines and threatened my vacation. Apparently there are three more storms on its coat tails.

From left to right you will see the path Tropical Storm Ketsana took before it became a typhoon and slammed into Vietnam. Next is Typhoon Parma which is already forecast to hit a Category 3 and effect both the northern portion of The Philippines (i.e. Manila again) and possibly southern Taiwan as well.

Then there is Tropical Depression Eighteen. I have no idea what to think about that one.

Last but not least is Tropical Storm Melor which is forecast to become a Category 1 typhoon as we are all switching our calendars to October. Melor is also forecast to head toward Taiwan.

Of course, we all know how fickle these storms can be (in other words, how rarely meteorologists get it right this far out). We have days before we can be sure what will happen.

It looks as though two of them are headed for Taiwan. The Central Weather Bureau here is going nuts. They're watching and waiting on the edge of their seats. I think they're probably nervous that they'll mess up like they did with Morakot and people are going to get angry again.

Then again, Morakot was also a much slower storm than what Parma is forecast to be. It was barely a Category 1 storm when it made landfall.

My hope is that these things don't mess with Taiwan too much until after Meghan gets here. I don't want her to get stranded in Hong Kong or something like that. At least if she gets here we can hole up in the apartment together and weather the storm drinking wine, watching movies and talking about boys.

Then hopefully it will all have passed by the time we're ready to head out to The Philippines.

Darn storms going and messing up all my plans. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll just all dissipate into thin air.