Tropical Storm Gordon was expected to unleash a wet and windy fury on Lincoln County. Instead, it barely even rained.  For that, we are grateful.

Despite predictions of 3-6 inches of rain and strong winds, we got a light drizzle and a lighter breeze. The storm caused havoc in eastern Mississippi and Alabama instead.

According to the experts, a high pressure moving over the east coast allowed Gordon to turn back to the northeast.

“Tropical systems are always trying to find a way to get north. If there’s a ridge of high pressure blocking them, they’ll keep sliding west until they can find a way to move north,” said Thomas Winesett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson.

Instead of griping that the forecasts were wrong, we should count our blessings that we were not impacted by Gordon.  All the computer models and experts predicted the same thing, and local officials made the best decisions they could with that information. It just turns out the info was bad. That’s not their fault.

Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Clifford Galey said the trial run of storm prep was good practice for the area.

“I appreciate everything everybody did to prepare, and let’s not forget this was a trial run. If we have the real thing, let’s do it again and be right, and be ready,” he said.

The trial run included school and church cancellations Wednesday, and probably a bump in gas sales Tuesday. There are worse things in life.