May 2008 is month 33 since Katrina.

The Corp is planning to begin reinserting pins in the Bonne Carre spillway gates as the river level drops. Another spring flood has been wasted. The wetlands in western Lake Pontchartrain should now become a labratory for coastal reconstruction. Complete removal of the levees below Belle Chasse may soon be the only way to save the city.

Klotzbach and Gray over at the University of Colorado think the 2008 Atlantic ACE will hit 150. That translates into 15 named storms including 4 big ones. That's a little less than their prediction last year, but we got nothing at all then, so by some inverted logic we must be due. It is double the average ACE but not close to the historic 248 observed in 2005. It includes a 45% chance of a big storm hitting somewhere along the Gulf Coast. A few spring time rains suggest New Orleans is hardly ready for a real test of our flood control capabilities.

The termites swarmed at the end of the month. Some unseasonably cool weather delayed their appearance, but once we got some rain, a few hot days and a full moon they swarmed in strength. After a brief mating flight, they left their wings on the ground and returned to their destructive duties ready to deliver their next generation to our city.

On the trivialities that make news, we see that Jazz Fest went off without a hitch. Sure it rained, but that has come to be expected. The Hornets were in the NBA playoffs winning the first round, then dropping game seven to the Spurs. Jim Bernazzini, the FBI SAC in New Orleans retired after he was reassigned to Washington, D.C. for hinting that he might be interested in running for mayor. Jindal had barbque with McCain. Steve Scalise won the rest of Jindal's term in the 110th Congress. School is out for the summer. The heat has arrived and will stay with us until the end of October.