Hurricane Frances
 

And this thing is still 7-10 days away coming straight for south florida. :eek:





Frances
Bulletin
Hurricane Frances
Advisory Number 20
NWS TPC/National Hurricane Center Miami FL
5 PM Ast Sun Aug 29 2004

...Powerfull Hurricane Frances Continues On A Slow Westward Track...

At 5 PM Ast...2100z...A Tropical Storm Watch Has Been Issued For The Following Leeward Islands By Their Government Officials... Saint Maarten....Anguilla...Barbuda...And Antigua. The Tropical Storm Watch May Be Extended To The British Virgin Islands Later Tonight.

Interests In The Northern Lesser Antilles And The Northeastern Caribbean Sea Should Closely Monitor The Progress Of Frances.

At 5 PM Ast...2100z...The Center Of Hurricane Frances Was Located Near Latitude 18.8 North...Longitude 55.6 West Or About 495 Miles... 795 Km...East Of The Northern Leeward Islands.

Frances Is Moving Toward The West Near 9 Mph ...15 Km/Hr. This Motion Is Expected To Continue During The Next 24 Hours

Maximum Sustained Winds Are Near 135 Mph...215 Km/Hr...With Higher Gusts. Some Fluctuations In Intensity Are Expected During The Next 24 Hours.

Hurricane Force Winds Extend Outward Up To 35 Miles... 55 Km... From The Center...And Tropical Storm Force Winds Extend Outward Up To 115 Miles...185 Km.

Minimum Central Pressure Reported By A Reconnaissance Plane Was 949 Mb...28.02 Inches.

Repeating The 5 PM Ast Position...18.8 N... 55.6 W. Movement Toward...West Near 9 Mph. Maximum Sustained Winds...135 Mph. Minimum Central Pressure... 949 Mb.

For Storm Information Specific To Your Area...Please Monitor Products Issued By Your Local Weather Office.

An Intermediate Advisory Will Be Issued By The National Hurricane Center At 8 PM Ast Followed By The Next Complete Advisory At 11 Pm Ast.

Forecaster Avila

It's Hurricane Freedoms as far as I'm concerned.

-Rudey

i can't wait for nov. 30th when the hurricane threat finally goes away for awhile.

Of course this is on target for when I come home!!!

Grrrrrreat. Just when we finally got Central Florida put back together. :(

how are things going since charley...nothing in the news lately

Nice.

Things are pretty good in Central Florida. Everyone finally got their power back in the Orlando area sometime last week. There are still some trees down and a lot of people's roofs still need to be repaired but it looks a lot better than it did 2 weeks ago.

Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda are still hurting, though. Some people still don't have power back and the area still looks like a disaster area.

I hope Frances doesn't hit anywhere near here. We're definitely not ready for another hurricane so soon!

I heard this morning on the news that Frances will either be Andrew's course and hit South Florida or will be on Floyd's course and hit the Carolinas. They said it looked like Central Florida will be in the clear this time.

This is why I can't stand weather men, they make pretty vague statements such as the ones you said. I mean, Floyd was bigger than the whole freaking state and Andrew may have been the most powerful on record to have hit the state. This storm is bigger than andrew and already just as strong as Charley was when it made landfall, and it's over a week away still. Its has all the time in the world to intensify. There goes our gc-florida meet up after labor day. If it hits the Miami, Laudi, Boca, Palm Beach area.....we'll have to yet again cancel the eluding FL-gc meet up. lol.

I'm sure everyone is trying to up their homeowners coverage right about now. I know my parents are freaking out. The insurance industry will either put a freeze on HO-policies today or tommorrow if it hasnt already been done. I know they did on Bonnie and Charley, it was about 1 week before they hit.

Update: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/co...nces_0830.html

Well screw it. I have a non-refundable ticket, so come hell or highwater, I'm flying IN!


(And I realize that is such a brilliant way to view a hurricane!)

:mad:

Standard procedure for insurance agencies is to not issue homeowner policies anytime there is a named storm active in the Atlantic or the Gulf.

Meteorology is not an exact science. And it's a hell of a lot tougher than the TV weather-guesser makes it seem to be. (I oughta know... I took - and flunked - a meteorology course at OU.)

Size of the storm does not necessarily equal strength. The smaller and more defined the eye of the hurricane, the stronger it is. Andrew's eye was measured at around 8-10 miles in diameter, and passed so fast over South Florida that it was hardly noticed.

Well, I'll be in ATL this weekend so if it hits Florida, I won't be there. :)

Airlines usually have a policy to allow rescheduling or refunding of 'non-refundable' tickets (more the former than the latter) without penalty in the event your travel days are a wash courtesy of Frances.

Keep an eye on the weather the next few days; the airlines won't initiate the policy unless the storm's at least 72 hours before making landfall in the US mainland.

Great, coming for Palm Beach. Why not just hit Miami?



UPDATE: Category 3 Hurricane Frances Still Heading towards U.S.
August 31, 2004

The National Hurricane Center's latest bulletin on Hurricane Frances, issued this morning, confirmed that the storm is a category 3 hurricane, packing winds near 125 mph (205 km/hr.) with higher gusts.

The NHC said "some strengthening is forecast during the next 24 hours." Frances is a big and potentially very destructive storm. The NHC reported that "hurricane force winds extend outward up to 70 miles (110 km.) from the center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 175 miles (280 kms)." If it follows the NHC's projected storm track, Frances would strike Florida's Eastern Coast between West Palm Beach and Daytona Beach late Saturday afternoon.

Satellite image at 8:15 this morning. . .

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...3104-1215z.jpg

It's a Cat. 4 now. I just feel badly for those people who are still working through the last few. Even just the rains in the outer bands can be deadly. Richmond lost 5 people with 12 inches of rain overnight.

oh where is this storm going?!:(

This might be one of those fun ones that misses central florida, pounds the carolinas, heads back out into the atlantic, and then pulls a U-turn and nails us here in Va Beach. Fun stuff. My ass is going to DC this weekend either way!!!

Well, the latest model (as of 5:30 tonight...haven't watch TV since then because of Recruitment) had the hurricane hitting late Saturday/early Sunday around Kennedy Space Center. Wouldn't that be great?

On another note (but not entirely), one of my sisters had her mom and her roommate go to Home Depot today and they stood in line for 7 hours to get plywood. My roommate and I went to WalMart and water was going fast, there was almost no applesauce or tuna, and almost no bread. If people thought this was REALLY going to miss, stuff wouldn't be gone this quickly...or this soon.....

CURRENT POSITION
http://image.weather.com/images/maps...ck_720x486.jpg

STRIKE PROBABILITY MAP (WITHIN 3 DAYS)
http://image.weather.com/images/maps...ke_720x486.jpg

NOTE: These maps are updated regularly.

Batten down the hatches, South Florida!

The latest from the National Hurricane Center shows the eye right over Melbourne, and right over my boyfriend's house. There goes holing up there.

I know this is all subject to change over the next few days, but holy crap. This is one hurricane I don't want to be in front of.

Maybe the people that can't vote correctly will be swept out to sea.

My parents live in Palm Bay, which is right near Melbourne. My dad just got back from operations headquarters for Hurricane Charley on Monday, and now he's turning around and going back to get ready for Frances. (He's in charge of mobilizing disaster relief operations in FL and Puerto Rico). My mom and brother are planning on staying in Orlando, unless they come visit me in Tampa!

I'm praying that Frances takes a huge turn and totally misses our Sunshine State (and the rest of the states too), but I don't know if we can handle many more disasters in FL. We're still cleaning up from the last one :(

Wow...it's ok to joke about Florida and their election problems but to say they'll swept out to sea...once again you write a post that shows your lack of class.

Way to go, man! Pretty goddamned insensitive, to say the least.

A Cat 4-5 hurricane is nothing to joke about. Unlike a tornado, which drops outta the sky with little warning, a hurricane is a hell of a lot larger and you have a general idea that it's coming and at least you have time to prepare for the inevitable sh*tstorm that's about to make landfall anywhere between Miami and points north along the east coast of the USA.

Charley caught weatherguessers with their pants down around their ankles... this time they're keeping close tabs on Frances, even though hurricanes can act so unpredictably.

Latest update on positiont as of this morning....

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/graphics...F/311513W5.gif

Looks like I will DEFINITELY be going somewhere, and most liekly not to Atlanta, since it seems that that will get something from this. :(

last time i checked, this storm is hitting this weekend....as early as Saturday as late as Monday

that's less than a week so you better start prepping if you live in Florida

I live on the coast in NC and they're saying that it could still turn northward toward us. which would be bad because I don't feel like dealing with this hurricane stuff again. Charley wasn't extremely bad but power was out for days and we're still cleaning up down trees and power lines

plus recruitment's next week :eek:

Lyndsay, I might be flying to Chicago. Feel like joining me? Airfare is cheap.

lol...maybe. We'll see what happens because my family is going to Nags Head for Labor Day....let's just hope there are no sudden turns that direction.

One of my friends called me to tell me she heard on the news earlier that County officials are thinking of evacuating Orange County. I was going on vacation to Atlanta anyway but I'm still really worried. The storm is so severe that they want to evacuate people who are an hour inland. My roommate and I are going to spend this afternoon putting tarp up around the house and getting everything ready for the storm. Charley was a tiny little storm compared to this one.

The power company only did a temporary repair of the power lines and grids. If this hurricane comes through, it could really wipe out the whole power system for two weeks. We still have power companies from all over Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and North Carolina here repairing stuff. The news was saying that the County has already called power companies in the Midwest to ask them to start driving down to Central Florida. :eek:

Lots of options being weighed by the city and county emergency operations centers right now, though final evacuation plans won't probably be finalized until maybe 72 hours before the storm hits. Even then, the evacuation will probably wind up being a Mongolian clusterf*ck.

Just rescheduled my Labor Day weekend trip to South Carolina, and Delta Airlines is $210 richer because of it. :mad: You'd think that they'd be happy that two fewer people will have connecting flights through Atlanta on Monday night.

They said that I might be able to get a refund if an official advisory is issued. *grumble*

Delta needs the money... they're about to go broke! :D

Me too!

We're leaving town tomorrow morning. I'm really afraid of what I'll find (or NOT find) when we return. . . :(

It does not look good for Florida. :(

Stay safe, everyone.

it is being said that this hurricane will cause WAY more damage than Andrew :(

i hate this!! hasn't Florida suffered enough?!

Isn't this a sign of the apocalypse? Only Buffy can save us now!

Be safe, Soror and all GCers who are in Frances' way.

I'm getting outta here. Eerything is going in the center of the apartment and I'm gone....stupid Frances......:mad: :mad: