Actually, Billy Joel, you did start the fire

You plural, I should say. And you can throw in the winds and the rains too

Howdy humans,

I’m writing to you from near-Earth orbit on board my starship Alboreto. Up here I’ve got an alien’s-eye-view of Hurricane Milton as it heads for the Florida coast, and cor blimey. As far as your planet does storms, this one’s a big bastard. It’s no Great Red Spot on Jupiter, but it’s horrible all the same.

It’s time to gird yourselves, for (A) the horrific effects of a giant weather system making landfall, and (B) a deluge of glib ‘Paradise Lost’ headlines that will surge across the media.

I was struck by the clip of veteran American meteorologist John Morales, who ended up in tears as he tried to explain the facts of the storm to TV viewers:

This is climate change in action. And it’s just the start.