It's now really hurricane season

Tropical Depression 1, first advisory: 21.1 N, 85.3 W.

And it will be my houseguest next week, apparently.

Great post Maui. I'm my office's official storm watcher. I work for the NPS and need to track these things in case they slam into one of our parks. We got nailed last year by Katrina and Wilma.

The GOM won't reach its top temperatures until September, but that doesn't mean we couldn't have a hurricane out of this first depression. I'll say Cat 1 or 2, at the most.

Not to worry, Jeb's got a plan. ;)

Pangloss62 wrote:

Great post Maui. I'm my office's official storm watcher. I work for the NPS and need to track these things in case they slam into one of our parks. We got nailed last year by Katrina and Wilma.

The GOM won't reach its top temperatures until September, but that doesn't mean we couldn't have a hurricane out of this first depression. I'll say Cat 1 or 2, at the most.

I don't think it will get above 45mph winds, actually. Lots of rain, though; we need it desperately.

The first squall just moved through, and my backyard's already flooded.

LOL Bruce. Everybody knows that condoms are the devil's tool and when they are used god punishes us with even bigger hurricanes.

The rains started in earnest today along with the fun with the barometer.
My condition responds in a very negative way to this.
Hurricane season is very painful and now extremely anxious for me. I live in Winter Haven, we were hit directly by three storm and side-swiped by one more in one year not too long ago. The home we lived in never fully recovered. There just were not the funds.
Being disabled, & not always having been so, it lends a different dimension to the experience.
I used to be very nonchalant about it, even sail boarding in David as a young man (a not-too-bright young man). Not so any longer.
Especially, with my son... being a disabled control freak is a tough path.

Dropped the kayak in calm waters off of Fort Desoto yesterday morning and had quite a struggle returning, even on the leeward side! What was a smooth-as-glass bay on the drive out at 9am had turned to whitecaps at noon and the waves were crashing over the seawall, sending spray and water onto the interstate.

Finally, rain! We need it so bad. Still, Alberto is really impressive and was supposed to have been ripped apart by sheer last night. This morning, she is stronger, has a lower pressure, and is almost organized enough to become a hurricane. Going into work, tomorrow, I fully expect to have my umbrella ripped out of my grasp and sent sailing away.

Yeah, Alberto is getting stronger; will probably land as a Cat 1. Pretty good for so early. Pretty bad for so early too.

Try the link

Should be good for the season....

I have to admit, I really enjoy watching each hurricane season as tropical waves off Africa and in the Caribe grow to become storms. I know they cause destruction, but they can't be "blamed" for being a part of the atmosphere. I don't see any wide-scale policy or planning happening that would move development away from our coastlines. Florida and the Carolinas are ripe for more disaster.

By the way cyclefrance, I've got a nice Grandis road bike with Columbus SLX tubing. Love that old school stuff!

Pangloss62 wrote:

Florida and the Carolinas are ripe for more disaster.

"Texas, Lousianna, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas..."

There. Fixed that.

We see some improvements, here, namely that they aren't building anything entirely out of wood frame, anymore, for the most part. They're not writing insurance policies on trailers, anymore, which is another positive to getting people to stop building the damn things anywhere in the state.

No one jokes around with the wind, much, anymore. Everything from building codes to ground surveys used to be based entirely on storm surge all the way up to '92. That's changed considerably, with the building code getting even more revisions this past year. However, they still do not base evacuations on wind, which, my fears are, will prove to be a massive mistake in the near future. The US hasn't seen a major hurricane in quite awhile and none have hit a major city in years.

Well, I will add the rest of the Eastern Seaboard. New England had a huge hurricane in a....I think 1938. That part of the U.S. is not ready at all.

Pangloss62 wrote:

Well, I will add the rest of the Eastern Seaboard. New England had a huge hurricane in a....I think 1938. That part of the U.S. is not ready at all.

A lot of people say that NYC is long overdue. When it last happened, the Hudson and East rivers merged in lower Manhattan.

Thanks for the link, Cpt'n Kit! ;)

The big problem is that hurricanes will make banner headlines for this next year, thanks to Katrina, but then the excitement will die down; no one will do anything; and 10 years from now, Manhatten will lay in ruins. Not because of terrorists, either. :eyebrow:

We lost power briefly last night and the wind is still howling outside, but this storm is a major non-event, here.

Wind surfers must be loving it out there, today, though.

Must have been bad, I lost power last night too. :lol:

Here comes Chris! That sound you hear is the last remaining insurance provider breaking the sound barrier as it heads north over the state line.