Aw Jeeze, they are starting the hurricane shit

[imdjh]

Chattering like a bunch of parrots (or The View) about some tropical depression. On the one hand, you're glad that they have something to talk about, they really do live for it. On the other hand, the next two and a half months will be spent with finger on the remote lest one be endlessly drilled in what-if scenarios and historical accounts so repetitive as to make the Titanic a nailbiter.

[gatorboy]

1. Until I see the hurricane's birth certificate I'm believing nuthin'!

[malaise]

2. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm I take it that you don't live on the coast

Look the systems are rolling off the African coast as we approach the peak of the hurricane season. Those of us living in islands or on the coast understand the importance of preparation.

Yep the media tend to sensationalize coverage, but for those in the hurricane loop, I'm glad they're reminding people that we need to keep our eyes on those systems.

[imdjh]

3. Guess again. St Pete Beach

[malaise]

5. I'm shocked

:D

[spin]

11. Someday, the Tampa Bay area will get hit by a strong hurricane...

if you live there when that happens, all I can say is...good luck.

Vulnerable cities

The greatest losses from a direct strike of a Category 5 hurricane would occur in heavily populated coastal cities and surrounding communities, according to Pielke, Landsea, and William Gray, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University. These would include: Houston, Miami, New Orleans, New York City and Tampa.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-worst-place-for-a-hurricane-to-hit

A really good in-depth report if the Tampa Bay area was the target of a hurricane can be found at:

Hurricane Storm Surge Simulations for Tampa Bay
http://fvcom.smast.umassd.edu/FVCOM/FVCOMPubs/docs/Weisberg_Zheng_2006b.pdf

[malaise]

14. Charley hit Tampa Bay

in 2004 on this exact date - August 13th!

[spin]

28. I evacuated Tampa when Charley was approaching...

I headed to my daughters house in Lehigh Acres Florida which is inland but near Fort Myers.

Lots of other people were evacuating. I left work in Clearwater Florida. The traffic jam on on the Howard Franklin bridge was unbelievable. It took me over an hour to cross the bridge, and since I have a stick shift, my left leg was giving out.

I loaded up my pickup truck with essential items including financial records and other important items such as pictures of my family. I headed south to my daughter's home.

The next day I was sitting in her home watching the weather reports. Charley was just passing Fort Myers. I remember thinking about how my house would be flooded and wondering where I would go to get my hair cut as my barber shop would be underwater. I wondered if the safety deposit box at my bank would be underwater.

The announcer on the TV suddenly said that the hurricane had changed direction. I remember feeling great relief and saying "Thank God." My daughter pointed out that it now was headed at us. She immediately ran outside and started picking up loose items.

The center of Charlie (a small but very intense storm) passed within 60 or 70 miles of us. We experienced lots of wind and rain but suffered no major damage. It did not hit the Tampa Bay area.

At its peak intensity of 150 mph (240 km/h), Hurricane Charley struck the northern tip of Captiva Island and the southern tip of North Captiva Island, causing severe damage in both areas. Charley, the strongest hurricane to hit southwest Florida since Hurricane Donna in 1960, then continued to produce severe damage as it made landfall on the peninsula near Port Charlotte. The hurricane continued to the north by northeast along the Peace River corridor, devastating the small cities of Punta Gorda, Cleveland, Fort Ogden, Nocatee, Arcadia, Zolfo Springs,Sebring, and Wauchula. Zolfo Springs was isolated for nearly two days as masses of large trees, power pole, power lines, transformers, and debris filled the streets. Wauchula sustained gusts to 147 mph, buildings in the downtown areas caved in onto Main Street. Ultimately, the storm passing through East Orlando still carrying winds gusting up to 106 mph (171 km/h). Interestingly, the city of Winter Park, north of Orlando, also sustained considerable damage since its many old, large oak trees had not experienced high winds. Falling trees tore down power utilities, smashed cars, and their huge roots lifted underground water and sewer utilities. Damage in the state totaled to over $13 billion (2004 USD). Charley, initially expected to hit further north in Tampa, caught many Floridians off-guard due to a sudden change in the storm's track as it approached the state. Throughout the United States, Charley caused 10 deaths and $15.4 billion in damage (2004 USD), making Charley the second costliest hurricane in United States history at the time (it has since dropped to 5th). Charlie was a very small, very fast moving storm, otherwise damage would have been much more severe. Although mitigation and restoration was promised by FEMA to the poor communities of Hardee and DeSoto counties during town meetings, the agency did not pass the cursory planning stages, and the promised reconstruction/compensation was never implemented/provided.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Charley

When I returned to Tampa which had had beautiful weather during Hurricane Charlie, I found that many people had evacuated to Orlando and had experienced more of the hurricane than I had.

After that when a hurricane threatened Tampa Bay, my co-workers would ask if I planned to evacuate. They had developed this strange theory that I attracted hurricanes.

[imdjh]

30. Yep. My neighbors went to SeaWorld and got slammed. nt

[malaise]

31. So how's Tampa today?

Looks like some serious water!

[imdjh]

15. It will never happen. We're in a magic bubble which fends off hurricanes.

[spin]

29. Yeah, right...

Do not be lulled into thinking that it cannot happen here. In 1848, 2 major hurricanes struck Tampa Bay within 30 days. A recurrence of a similar scenario today would bring an unprecedented disaster to our metropolitan area.
http://www.webcoast.com/environment/hurricanes.htm

The Tampa Bay Hurricane of 1921 (also known as the Tarpon Springs Hurricane) was the third hurricane, second major hurricane, and final storm of an inactive 1921 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the first hurricane to directly make landfall in Tampa Bay, Florida<1> and one of several notable hurricanes to make landfall in Florida. The storm took a typical path for an October Atlantic hurricane, brushing past Cuba before hitting near Tampa. The hurricane was also the most destructive storm of the season, causing around $10 million (1921 USD, $92 million (2005 USD) in damage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane

Tampa Bay is overdue. Voodoo didn't stop Katrina from hitting New Orleans.

Get the hell out if you are told to.

[SoCalDem]

4. And, I think the media is sorely disappointed that June & July have been "boring"

We all know how they LOVE sending their people out in the rain & wind & scaring people for days on end.
Probably 99% of the coastal people "know the drill", but for the rest of us, the media has to "juice it up", and then they also get to trot out all their OTHER disaster film, so they can spend hours discussing "which is worse".. hurricane v tornado v earthquake v flood v fire v volcano v restless leg syndrome.

[imdjh]

6. +1

[Edweird]

7. ok, on one hand, TD2 is on pretty much the same course as Andrew

and there are a few other similarities as well. On the other, fear sells. They are going to milk it for all it's worth. That's just how it works. That's why at the beginning of EVERY hurricane season they predict that 'this will be an above average year', until, like this year, it's not. Then they change their story.

This time of year the upper level steering currents die down and make things especially unpredictable.

[malaise]

12. Actually the one behind TD2 is the system that's

worrying me, but you're right about TD2's course.

[FarCenter]

22. Invest 90

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200990_model.html

[maryellen99]

8. one thing that does worry me a bit

If there is a really bad hurricane is that due to the economy, a lot of people in the affected areas will not be able to evacuate.

[pipi_k]

9. I have the luxury of living in New England, where we're more or less safer

from hurricanes than, say, people south of DC are.

I hope it's not considered "sicko" for me to say that each year during hurricane season I get...well...sort of fascinated with them.

Their power and scope is awesome. They have a terrible beauty to them. It's nothing short of amazing to me how a small little puff of hot air rising up from the west coast of Africa can be transformed into something so incredible.

I've always been fascinated by them, even as a small child....all forms of weather, really.

Even tornadoes, of which I am scared shitless...


anyway, it's hurricane season, and I'm once more drawn into the drama...

[imdjh]

13. Our storms are magnificent.

It's not sicko of you- they really are sensual experiences. Like the scene in Forrest Gump where the legless man is riding on the mast defying the storm, there is nothing quite like hurrying to mow the lawn, and then standing there in your soaking wet shirt as the cold air blows down from a gigantic thunderhead and the wind begins to swirl like a miniature hurricane a dozen times a year or more.

One thing I love about Florida is thunder, year round thunder. You go out and look to the East and see Tampa getting hammered, and it's a sight to behold and of course no place deserves it more.

[pipi_k]

20. If you've never been north during a snowstorm you have to do it at least once

It's almost a contradiction...

A powerful snowstorm rages above, yet it's so quiet that you can hear the snowflakes hit. The utter silence is so peaceful...

It's almost like a religious experience...which is strange for someone like myself (atheist/agnostic) to say... OK, maybe the correct term is "spiritual experience". Yah, that's better...

:)

[Posteritatis]

25. Thundersnows are the best. Pity they're so ridiculously rare, though. (nt)

[Retrograde]

16. they're rare in New England but they do happen

see the hurricane of 1938, for example.

They're fascinating, all right, but on my personal scale of natural disasters they're the worst: you can see them coming, you know that if you're lucky you'll just have a big storm mess to clean up afterwards, and you have all the anxiety of knowing something's gonna happen somewhere, and it may be to you. I'll take earthquakes any day.

[pipi_k]

21. I'm not old enough to remember the one from '38 but I do remember

Bob...Hugo...Gloria...

and a few from the 60s as well

In fact, I went outside and saw the eye of Gloria going overhead before the second half went through.

For Hugo I was visiting Canada, and although there wasn't any rain, there was a nice stiff breeze up Montreal way. I love good stiff breezes...and it was pretty neat to smell salt air that far north and inland... :)



I think I'd have to choose tornadoes for sheer terror, though.

They can drop out of the sky in a heartbeat.

I only ever saw one in person, when I lived in TN during 1974. That was the year there was this huge outbreak of tornadoes in that area...the one that destroyed Xenia, OH.

I saw one forming some distance from my house where I was with my two small kids, hubby away at work. I thought we would die, seriously.


Every so often I still have nightmares about them :(

[Posteritatis]

24. I dunno. Halifax, NS got properly creamed a few years ago by one

Thing was gunning directly for me, I think.

[LeftinOH]

10. Its that time of year- Brave TV reporters standing in the path of danger:

..and concerned colleagues back at the studio telling them to "be safe"




Otherwise, how would we ever know that hurricanes involve high wind and lots of rain?

[gkhouston]

17. Yeah, now let's see them clearing debris after the storm and going without potable

water or electricity for days when the temperatures are on the 90s...

[foxfeet]

18. Well, anything that Faux News broadcasts inevitably involves high winds.

Or at least noxious vapors.

[mnhtnbb]

19. I would be very happy for some major precip related to a tropical storm.

[Posteritatis]

23. It's almost as though hurricanes are a regular, fairly damaging occurrence! (nt)

[SteppingRazor]

26. Wooooooo!!!! Hurricane Party!

I gotta run out and grab some rum and ice before this thing hits. :woohoo:

[Catshrink]

27. Is it socialism for FEMA to help with the cleanups?

Those protesting against healthcare and "socialism" might want to think about government help -- especially those in the South who seem to be most vehemently opposed to reform. Oh yeah, who was that who doubted Obama's citizenship? Rachel's been talking about it. And, oh yeah, Bobby Jindal -- is he going to turn down FEMA's help after the next hurricane? And Sanford? Barbour? Right. Suddenly government help isn't no bad.