Every 12 hours, it was jumping. At first it had a 20% chance of developing into a full-fledged tropical storm or hurricane in the next 5 days, then that chance rose to 40%. With its counterclockwise rotation, steepening pressure, and increasing wind speed, things didn't look good. Right before Yom Kippur, the chance of a major storm developing within the next two days rose to over 50%.
But when I checked it Sunday morning after Yom Kippur, the chance of cyclone formation had dropped to...zero percent.
(In general, you can see all current updates here: Atlantic 5-Day Geographical Tropical Weather Outlook.)
At present condition, there is suddenly no chance of a storm; not in the next two days and not in the next 5 days.
The weeks I spent in southern Florida showed me that it is an awful place to live and even after some intense questioning of Floridians, I still have no idea why pioneers moved there nor why anyone chooses to live there now. The weather, services, and culture are among the most unpleasant I've ever encountered...the Jewish community being the happy exception. Whether they were secular or frum or anything in between, almost all the Jews I met were extremely likable.
And Southern Florida hosts one of the more significant frum populations in America, meaning that quite a few people were steeped in tefillah and teshuvah during that critical time.
Did their Yom Kippur tefillot sweeten the churning din winding up above their heads?
I like to think that yes, their tefillot and teshuvah dissipated this potential storm.
Prayer works, even if we don't see it.