#HurricaneDolly
"Will Hurricane Dolly hit Mar-a-Lago?
Probably not, but it’s understandable why so many people hope so
(. . .)
The next tropical storm, which was officially named Thursday morning, is called Dolly. This strange coincidence has nothing to do with Dolly Parton, the singer-songwriter, actress and philanthropist who died Tuesday morning at the age of 80. The naming of tropical storms and hurricanes is a job for the World Meteorological Organization, which rotates them out every six years and retires them after a given storm causes too much destruction. After all, it would be weird and potentially triggering to ever see another Hurricane Katrina.
(. . .)
At the moment, there is no evidence to suggest such an event is going to happen; again, the odds are pretty low. Still, judging by trends on social media, it seems a lot of people are tickled by the idea that such an outcome is even remotely possible.
I can’t count myself in their company, knowing that the collateral damage would likely be massive. But there’s a broad swath of Americans who love that kind of cosmic irony, and I understand where they’re coming from. I don’t want to check, but I’m sure everyone’s favorite betting apps will offer odds on this event, though even Polymarket and Kalshi may know better than to piss off the president.
(. . .)
Here’s where I tap the climate change sign and remind folks we’re still burning fossil fuels at an unprecedented rate as oil and gas companies rake in obscene profits, even as renewable energy goes increasingly mainstream. Those emissions are making our oceans hotter and our atmosphere able to hold more water, producing the ingredients for a really bad hurricane, no matter where it makes landfall, either Palm Beach or Pittsburgh.
(. . .)
Yes, the ultimate irony would be to see our climate change-denying president’s dumb little resort getting swept out to sea, assuming no bystanders were injured. But that’s a lot of big ifs stuffed into a trenchcoat, parading around social media as an inevitability. When it seems like harmless fun, my motto is to let people enjoy it. Given what Dolly Parton stood for and what our president doesn’t, it might almost seem like her ghost would be seeking vengeance, despite Trump’s insistence that she actually liked him. Although there’s no evidence that Parton, who carefully avoided overt politics, was a MAGA fan — far more clues indicate her political orientation pointed in the opposite direction — exacting lethal revenge, even on her worst enemies, wouldn’t have been true to her character.
To borrow an old Bill McKibben bit, maybe we should start naming hurricanes after fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil or Saudi Aramco. Would seeing your house flattened by Hurricane Shell wake people up? I’d suggest Hurricane Donny, but we’ve already been drowning in that one for far too long."
https://www.salon.com/2026/08/28/will-hurricane-dolly-hit-mar-a-lago/
