2017 Hurricane Season things

[E_T]

Excuse me, I am NOT a crazed (or any other kind of) drunk.  Nor do I really appreciate the implication that I am.

Okay, sorry, I thought I discerned the occasional post under the influence, and was speaking the way I customarily tease Green, not intended to be taken seriously.

In the last two years, I have averaged 1 beer per year...Dude...

[Buster's Uncle]

Not apologizing twice ...Dude...

[E_T]

After following the coast of Cuba, taking the storm to Cat 3, it has finally started the turn towards the North.  The storm is also experiencing some shearing winds that are spreading the upper storm out and helping to keep it from regaining strength in the Gulf Stream.  But this is still a very large and monstrous storm. 

It is about 95 miles south of Key West and the outer Feeder Band is starting to lash the Space Coast in Brevard (sp) County (where the Space Center is located).  Part of the reason that the bands are hitting now and not when it is closer is due to the effects from the shearing winds.

The Storm is looking more and more to hit Key West and then scrap the West coast or make landfall between Tampa and Port Charlotte, reenter the Gulf around Tarpon Springs and then make final landfall in the Big Bend area of the State, moving into as far as Chattanooga before losing it's "tropical" status.

In spite of the westward track of the storm in relation to the state, they are still expecting around 3+ feet of Storm Surge and violent surf conditions on the east coast.  There is also expected to be possible significant beach erosion from the effects of this massive storm.

Already, Central Florida Counties are getting tornado warnings from the approaching feeder bands.  That as well as the squally gusts are what will cause most of the damage that the area will face in the next 48 hours+. 

[Geo]

I don't get it.

Someone  banged  his head to an overhanging tree trunk on a path? Let Mylochka be  my witness. 

[Buster's Uncle]

You will have noticed that God didn't make me tiny and slender, or very graceful; I'm so used to bumping into stuff -and I have an unusually high pain threshold- that it tends to take a shot to the face to even get my full conscious attention that I bumped into something.  Life's too short to give the leg scratches and such any regard until I can sit down and treat them.  -That was coming back uphill in the gorge, wasn't it?

---

Local weather report, mostly irrelevant to the topic:  62 degrees now, and the sky is a bit high-level overcast, though it was sunny this morning, and all day today the air is tree-top stirring restless, which is making the cats a little twitchy.  I'm not paying close attention to the weather reports yet, and assume this is weather that would be further south if Irma wasn't pushing stuff off-course.  Pretty typical of a hurricane coming in vaguely this direction before the outer edges have even reached here, an unusual sky and/or clouds going the wrong way...  -And it's actually trying to transition to autumn already this year, very unlike last year, but that's been going on for nearly two weeks; no Irma need apply.

[Bearu]

The hurricane season represents the ideal opportunity for the population to comprehend the importance of the socialist based community activist groups in the reconstruction of the impoverished and downtrodden elements of American society through the expansion of class consciousness in the population.

[Buster's Uncle]

Bearu, the pseudo-Marx politics is beyond old.  I asked you to cool it in the past and explained a good reason - you have not cooled it.  I'm fixing to put my hat on if you can't talk about anything else or think of anything original to say about that.  Jarlwolf is an actual communist holdover from the Soviet Union, and he was interesting to talk politics with - and I wish he were still around, 'cause I 'spect he'd set you straight, and fast.  (Also because he's great.)

[Rusty Edge]

Irma seems to be maintaining steady forward motion at 14mph. While there were some ominous cases of bays being temporarily blown dry on the front side, the storm is weakening over land. It's a category II now. The wind speeds are down to 105mph sustained, and aren't able to push and hold the double digit surges they predicted on the back side, which should save lives and property on the gulf coast.

So it's a good thing, danger is diminishing, so that it's more like previous hurricanes to cross the state.

[Buster's Uncle]

Yes.  I was watching some weather this evening, and am feeling somewhat relieved.  There's nothing good about this thing, but at least it isn't looking as extraordinary as had been widely feared.

[E_T]

It has broken many records and continues to surprise the 30 plus year metorologist on WFTV, Tom Terry.  Had a tornado field that was moving at 95mph and difficult to keep up with...

Hurricane Donna 57 year aniversery that landfell at same time and place as Irma later did...

[Elok]

Irma's around 75mph now.  Still got my first day of work canceled--they'll be closing local bridges if sustained winds top 40 today--but nothing to worry about up here in the panhandle.

[Unorthodox]

I don't watch news at home. 

So, when I left work, Irma was going to absolutely level Miami, anything over 20 stories was in danger of being toppled in the wind, and the entire state of Florida was supposed to move inland. 

I take it the buildings didn't topple.  Also looks like it landed significantly west of predictions Friday. 

[Buster's Uncle]

See, that's why I was grousing a week ago IRL about it being too soon to be stirring up fears on TV -aside from, I'll grant, in Florida, which almost always gets at least some bad weather no matter what these storms do- it is not possible to KNOW enough to know whether to be concerned a week out.  The mass media is really bad about --- every time there's a thunder storm in this half of North Carolina, there's a red banner at the bottom of the TV screen and the TV screams twice a minute.  It's crying wolf, and it does more harm than good.

[Buster's Uncle]

I see on TV -and there's no screaming, thank goodness- that America is now inside the outer edge of Irma.  There's a steady high-level overcast -the clouds are white and featureless- and some sporadic drizzling so far.  The cats seemed more nervous yesterday.  I still hope Irma will warm things back up a little, but no dice so far...

[Rusty Edge]

There were multiple models, and some were more accurate than others. I think the real issue is that when you need to figure out both whether to leave and where to go, you probably need more than 48 hours of reliable prediction.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/09/11/irmas-track-forecast-was-adequate-but-theres-significant-room-for-improvement/?utm_term=.e778d50f77d2