This time of year — at least, on the East Coast — we’re all used to watching the weather for extremes that could affect our travel plans. Right now I’m waiting out Gabrielle, who started out as a tropical depression, was briefly forecast to become a major hurricane, and who now may fold her skirts and slink away. I hope. And I’m not even the one traveling! A friend I haven’t seen in years is flying down from New England on Monday. When we finally found dates we both could manage, I was keeping my fingers crossed that Florida would cooperate, it being hurricane season and all. And then yesterday, up pops Gabrielle, right in the flight route from the Northeast to Florida. (Sorry, all you folks in the Carolinas, which were scheduled to bear the brunt, I’ll worry about you later.) My friend’s flight is early in the morning, which is a good thing. Anyone who travels frequently knows that the first flights of the day are the least likely to get cancelled, because the planes should already be in the hangars from the night before. (Or if they’re not, at least you can get plenty of notice.) When weather intereferes with the air traffic system, things back up as equipment can’t get where it’s going. But if a storm means that, to stay safe, an airliner from Boston would have to head south by way of Wisconsin, I realize that I don’t really know whether the airlines will consider that an acceptable way to keep moving or not. Fortunately, today it looks like Gabrielle is wimping out and isn’t going to slam into the Carolinas with any force. (See–I told you I cared.)  The atmosphere in the off-coast Atlantic may still be iffy. So, as with any of the best-laid plans, ultimately we just have to keep our fingers crossed. — Mary Hunt, editor, eFlyer