A visit to the land where hurricanes are born adds to their mystery but yields no means for stopping them. Maybe someday, scientists will develop ways to follow hurricanes from their birth in sub-Saharan Africa to their dying days in the Americas. Maybe they will develop models to predict which tiny thundercloud in Africa will burgeon into a hurricane out in the Atlantic. Maybe they will even hire an African mystic and post him at the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables for good luck. For the time being, though, forecasting is an art of hunches and educated guesses.
Weather always changes, it's always elusive.
E.A. Torriero is the Sun-Sentinel 's foreign correspondent. Mike Stocker is a Sun-Sentinel staff photographer.