An unidentified resident in the town of
Batabano reinforces the roof of his house...
Posted on 06/10/2005 3:22:23 AM PDT by bd476
An unidentified resident in the town of
Batabano reinforces the roof of his house...
MIAMI - A tropical storm watch was issued Friday for central Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, where residents are still recovering from last year's hurricanes. Arlene, the Atlantic hurricane season's first named tropical storm, was centered about 10 miles south-southeast of the western tip of Cuba at 5 a.m. EDT. It was moving north about 8 mph, and could cross near or over western Cuba as it moved into the Gulf of Mexico early Friday, forecasters said.
Wind and rain extended 140 miles to the north and east from the storm's center.
Arlene had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. The storm could drop as much as 5 to 10 inches of rain, and possibly cause flooding in western Cuba and tornados in southwest Florida and the Florida Keys, meteorologists said.
"This is going to be a major rainfall event before and ahead of the storm," said Trisha Wallace, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The Cuban government issued a tropical storm warning for the western province of Pinar Del Rio to the capital of Havana. A tropical storm warning was also in effect for the Dry Tortugas, a cluster of islands about 70 miles west of Key West that comprise a U.S. national park. Other than park personnel, there are no permanent residents.
The storm was not expected to develop into a hurricane before making landfall, Wallace said.
Hurricane season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30. Last season, Florida was struck by hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne; between them, the four storms damaged one out of every five homes in the state. The storms caused about 130 deaths in the United States and are blamed for $22 billion in insured damage.
That was the thing I hated the most--no electricity.
Again, civil engineering is not my forte, but how come they can't make something that keeps these lines and poles up in these winds? Or am I asking the famous "If the black box doesn't disintegrate, why don't we build the whole plane out of black box" question?
You gotta feel for those Gulf Power guys. They work, and they work hard. When Isabel got as far as Baltimore a couple years ago, I was thrilled to see Gulf Power trucks here--I couldn't believe my eyes. We sent sodas and lunch over to the gathering place, believe me.
I remember both of those storms--from a distance.
Funny, for me, I can't remember the names of the hurricanes, but I remember stories from the timeline.
For years, I've said that if they ever use my name, I'm gonna make a bunch of "I survived Hurricane DPJ" t-shirts for the friends and family who have put up with me all these years.
"We sent sodas and lunch over to the gathering place, believe me."
They are treated as heroes down here, that's for sure. ;)
Good to know that. Thanks.
There's two things I do well: bitch and worry.
I never knew you worried!!
The Weather Channel just reported that dry air in the Gulf on the west side of the storm has brought the winds down to 60 MPH. They said the center is coming onshore any minute.
This storm is and always has been junk. We get stronger thunderstorms in Orlando during a regular Tuesday than this thing. Always had too much dry air,always facing shear,and the winds were always that high in the upper levels. So much freaking hype over ZERO.
AMEN!
These weatherpeople, seeking on-air-time, sensationalize every group of thunderstorms in the tropics. They ' want' The Big One. They want wholesale disaster and death. It's news, it's ratings!
Tell me- if the weather I'm seeing on radar came from the north, instead of the Gulf, would there be all this commotion?
No.
WHY a 'hurricane warning' for what never became a hurricane? The terminology, attached to ' shu-shu' storms like this, is what's going to get people killed eventually. Sitting in a 'hurricane warning' area today means a little wind and a few squalls. They are desensitizing people. It's stupid and dangerous and it's encouraging cowardice and victim mentality.
WHY are things without closed circulations even NAMED? To personalize and dramatize. Tropical Storms should be numbered, a system should EARN the name hurricane. 130mph is serious, 150mph is Big, over that is Major.
I feel sorry for anyone who thinks THIS is serious tropical weather. As many have said- there are worse lines of thunderstorms every day! Look at the midwest today! Tornado outbreaks don't get this kind of hype in the press.
Look folks- it's weather! Rain + wind. It comes and goes- some are worse than others, but it's just weather! '
Tropical' is no worse than any other because it's named.
If you wouldn't panic over a line of thunderstorms with 60mph winds, don't about a bunch of them because they come from the tropics and some sissy weatherpeople decided to name it.
"So much freaking hype over ZERO"
The thing that makes this more than 'ZERO' is that many homes are still not fixed and debris is everywhere. It doesn't take much wind to cause more damage. I don't think many people around here were too worried about the storm, otherwise.
Well, I don't share that information with just anyone, and of course, the other, I can't hide. :)
Look I live just south of Melbourne. I went through 3 storms last year...I understand what your point is but there are worse thunderstorm cell's that happen on a regular every day week day and this storm was barely even up to them.
Straight up. The people who went through Jeanne,Frances,and Ivan last year..."me included" have to know that winds were not at CAT 3 status when the storm hit land. Ivan was a 2. People would shit themselves if they went through an actual 3-4-5. Most of the time the winds being reported are flight level winds and not surface. CAT 3 winds were not recorded during Ivan on the surface. Had they been on the surface that place would be a fixture at the bottom of the GOMEX right now.
When I saw a hurricane warning go up for this it totally made me realize the NHC has gotten in bed with the media so badly with these storms you can actually see depression settle in when the numbers are not high enough in the wind speed or the storm is dying down.
Funeral like.
How right you are! Those wind velocities over water are hardly what you feel on land, where the drag lessens intensity considerably. I was in Mobile for Ivan. I thought, then, that it wasn't much wind-wise. I'd seen much worse. Facing the Gulf, of course, is always the worst place to be in ANY storm. But even Camille didn't do the damage a few miles inland that it did on the immediate coast.
I've been in New Orleans all of my life. Remember lots of hurricanes. Betsy was the worst. 155mph winds-IN THE CITY! I saw huge metal billboards crumple up into balls and roll down my avenue! A church steeple was destroyed about 6 blocks away, and the bricks were all over my neighborhood. So when they redefine the Categories to call 111mph a dangerous hurricane, it's beyond ludicrous!
When I see pi**ant globs of rain like Arlene actually named Tropical Storms, and hurricane watches go up, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
They are defining danger down so badly that someone ought to sue some of these 'forecasters' for mental anguish.
The local 'emergency management' boss here just DELIGHTS in reporting how many body bags he ordered! Do they do that in tornado country? Why not?
Lemme tell you something. I lived through Andrew. I was 20 miles north of the eye at the time. You didn't f-ck around with Andrew. Andrew was hardcore. Charley was hardcore. Hell even as a kid I remember David was hardcore.
People need to understand how much is hype and how much is hurricane. Don't get me wrong...110 mph winds sustained are sick. But if you go 140-160-175...you better have your will made out....you are gonna need it. Cause when you get higher gusts...we are talking about walls imploding.
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