Not much for storms at the time of landfall.
Pre-emptive evacuations began days in advance of landfall, when Hagupit was still a super typhoon.
A similar sense of loss was palpable throughout much of "Landfall".
You can study their projected track, clock their wind speed, and predict the time of landfall — all from the comfort of your den.
A quarter-century ago, for instance, the average error in a hurricane forecast, made three days in advance of landfall, was about 350 miles.
And as the Gannet's pipeline is far out to sea, the chance of landfall looks slim, according to the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
Prospero's island in The Tempest is more Caribbean and Mediterranean than American, but Miranda's "O brave new world" echoes the thrill of landfall in the hearts of many first transatlantic explorers.
But if the subtlety and authority of Landfall are products of its author's decision to utilise her own biography, it is hard to see that decision as a cause for complaint.
The timing was ominous, forecasters said, because the peak of the storm would coincide with high tide, making storm surges of up to 10 feet and severe flooding likely at and north of landfall.
Geography has made Lampedusa the point of landfall for the agonised refugees, just as history made it part of a European Union that is as prosperous and attractive as the US once was for European migrants.
But that forecast turned worse by the afternoon, and in any case officials urged residents all along the Gulf Coast not to focus on the projected intensity, or even the location of landfall.
