There are two varieties of weather that result from St. Barts' location on the surface of the planet: the usual stuff and hurricanes.

    Most of the year, puffy white clouds parade through a clear blue sky, and warm balmy breezes gently ruffle hair and sway palm fronds. It's a T-shirt, shorts and sandals kind of weather, interrupted now and then by a brief tropical shower.

    From July to November, however, this halcyon state of affairs may be interrupted by a revolving tropical storm, which, in its mature form, is known as a hurricane.

   It's as if all the bad weather we've been spared during the rest of the year has been packed together into one package, to be savored all at once.