Hurricane season '08
 

It looks like Dolly took a bit of a toll on South Padre Island today. Let's hope she starts moving faster than she has been so the massive amounts of rain being predicted for south Texas aren't so bad.

There was an irony though... a picture on Yahoo news. A hotel had put "Hello Dolly" on it's sign and the sign was knocked over. Apparently, hurricanes have no appreciation for southern hospitality.

Hope all our South Texas GCers are doing fine.

ETA: Four named storms and it's not even the end of July yet... doesn't bode well, I think.

A lot of Georgia is still in a drought. So while I certainly don't want any strong storms that do damage, a couple of weakish tropical storms dumping a lot rain over here would be pretty welcome. We keep having thunderstorms with lots of noise, some wind, but surprising little rain.

Have you read anything that explained why 2005 was so bad but 2006 and 2007 weren't so much?

All's quiet here on this side of the world.

There have been quite a few disturbances in the Eastern Pacific, but they haven't affected us much. Rained a little today...much welcomed, I must say.

To GCers living in hurricane paths, please make sure you've got your hurricane kits stocked and ready just in case!

South Florida has gotten pretty lucky since a few years back.

Wilma was the last one that made a bit of damage (in Florida).

I fully expect the Houston/Galveston area to get hit sometime this season. We're sooooo overdue, and the early hot weather and number of storms already does not bode well.

Dolly just gave us some much-needed rain (not enough, though)

Ohhh yes, Galveston is LONG overdue! When I was there for nursing school, we had a couple of hurricanes headed our way, but they always turned just at the last minute. I was so glad to get out of there, I held my breath for three years!

I think Galveston has the right to never want to have another Hurricane again....They still hold the top spot in the Worst US Natural Disasters!

I am very surprised we have had no bad storms in Florida since Wilma and Katrina!

I just got back from the store where I stocked up on water, batteries, and filled all the gas tanks for the generator. We also cleaned the gutters and took down some old awnings today.

Oh, how I love this nearly annual ritual! :mad:

So we are ready for you Fay, if you should come our way!

I just hope it doesn't interrupt the first day of school! (Its my first full year teaching!)

How are my other Florida hurricane buddies doing? :rolleyes:

I am soooo ready for a hurricane. The last one that really affected me was Ivan, and that one wasn't too bad. I think it might impact recruitment though =(

Is it bad of me to hope to have Fay pay a visit so school will be canceled? I sooooo don't have my first week ready :p

They said it's coming. But if it's only going to be a Cat. 1 then I'm just like :cool: . Because we all know that that's just two of our bad afternoon thunderstorms stuck together.

If it's a Cat 1, then I don't really see the need to postpone recruitment. We have massive tents on our lawns, they should be fine.

Here is the 11pm advisory......Looks like the whole state will get a nice rain shower regardless of where it hits! I don't care as long as it doesn't pull a Charlie and jump from a Cat 2 to a 4 in 2 hours!!!!

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphi...024613W_sm.gif

Bring it on... hurricane parties are awesome

Goodness gracious. Looks like it may be hitting here on Tuesday evening. Meaning that I'll probably have no audience for my Wednesday morning programs.

The first day of school got canceled! Couldn't the hurricane come in a couple of weeks with a need a break from my students? Most places are telling their employees to stay home, but there area few stupid places(like my dad's work) that are telling them to drive into the core of the storm....always nice...

Down here it's just raining.

I kind of want a small hurricane to come just so we could have an excuse to have a party.

Until I installed Weather Bug on my computers and bought NOAA Weather Alert radios, I kept a weather eye on these sites during storms:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
http://www.weather.com/hurricanecentral

And awhile ago, while on a trip, I read a book about The Great Hurricane of 1938. If interested, do a search for it.
However, if you wish to sleep, do not do so late at night. And from what I have seen and read since, one just like that one is over due. And the damage it caused in 1938 adjusted to 2000's places it at the number 6 worst storm to hit the US.
Added edit: PM'ed following poster.

What's the name of the book? I've been looking for something new and good to read.

Patrick AFB is mission essential only so hubby gets to work from home. :rolleyes: I wish it were a free day though. Hmmm... maybe the power will go out, and then he CAN'T work. :D

So it completely missed us.....boring day...

We're getting massive rain right now, and there is a tornado or a potential tornado near us. I'm most concerned about my new orange trees. They both had baby oranges on them. :(

I'm in Tampa right now... its cloudy out.

Yea, it was like that for most of the Bay Area today....We got a few showers over in Pinellas and some rain, but nothing even close to a summer afternoon storm.

Did anyone else notice that the storm actually strengthened while it was crossing the state?!?! One of the main weather guys here in town was like "In my 25 years, I have never seen this happen..." The thing stayed well formed nearly 12 hours after landfall, and formed another eye wall in the process.....I am starting to doubt this thing was only a tropical storm.....Tropical storms don't have eye walls....

It was windy and raining yesterday. Right now, nothing is really going on. It is annoying that Fay is just sitting there off on the coast and not really going anywhere. I had to work 11 hours yesterday and have another 11 hour shift today all because of Fay.

I'm glad that we are getting some rain and all, but can thins thing gmove on to GA where they need it a lil more or something? It's like a really unwanted house guest. Although since I live further south it's nice to have the cool days and slight rain instead of hot hot days and massive thunderstorms right now, I still feel for the poor northerners with this thing still on top of them.

We got 24 inches of rain here in Melbourne. The community across the street from us was evacuated yesterday, and they lost most everything. :(

We are definitely getting a lot of wind right now. Thankfully, I made it home from work. I did see a number of bad accidents. No, this isn't the worst storm. The problem is that Fay is just spinning in one spot dumping tons of rain. GO AWAY FAY!!!

TS Hanna is starting to worry me. The last thing Florida's East Coast needs right now is MORE RAIN. :rolleyes:

I'm in Raleigh...and we're worried that it could come up here! We just got all of the remnants of Fay and we're soaked up here (not as much as in Florida though).

We haven't gotten a hurricane in a while...and I believe that we're due for one unfortunately. :(

Yeah, I'm in Greensboro and I am sooooo tired of leftover hurricane rain. I haven't seen the sun in 4 days!

This site is pretty good for tracking too:

http://www.boatus.com/hurricanes/

I especially like the spaghetti model!

Gustav is up to a Cat 4, highest winds in the eye wall were measured by the hurricane hunters as 163 mph! I truly hope he loses some steam before he hits the US. Cuba is really in for it. It's down to 935 mb of pressure too. Yikes, what a monster.

I really hope the people of New Orleans leave. I spent the summer of 2007, for 8 weeks, as an AmeriCorps VISTA working with youth organizations in the city of New Orleans. Words can't even describe my fear for the still recovering area if they get a direct hit there. Just continuing to hope and pray for the safety of any area it may hit.

It's looking less and less like NOLA will be hit directly, but I think they'll still feel some pretty severe effects. They are really having a hard time predicting where this thing is going to make landfall.

I love how you know NOLA!!! I made great friends there, some that still live there, and my students of course, and there's even OPA chapters down in Louisiana...so Louisiana has a huge place in my heart.

Aunt and Uncle are evacuating tomorrow from Port Arthur, Texas. Even though they are not in the direct path, they suffered severe damage to their house during Rita and some during Katrina.

People need to be smart and listen to the warnings.

While it may not take a direct hit, it looks right now as if the city will get the right side of the storm and that is often the worst side.

Gustav is now a Cat 4, and it is just entering the Gulf....I don't know how they think it will be a 2 when it lands...

Its because the farther north it goes, closer to the coast...the waters are cooler. That will cause it to weaken. But in my opinion...that's only hoping it weakens!

They are talking about some wind shear that think will weaken it up some before it hits. Katrina was huge in the Gulf and was starting to weaken when it too though.

we are under a tropical storm watch now...winds are only 6mph away from making gustav a cat. 5....ouch.