Tweet
"Hurricane Irene Captured from the International Space Station" by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on flickr
5: 45 AM Saturday:
It started raining at 4 AM. 16 fucking hours ahead of schedule (I have not yet topped up my gas tank (top upped the kid’s tank last night, was going to do mine this AM, argh) .
According to a very cool map up at the LIPA storm center page, we already have power outages in Hempstead. Levittown, Long Beach and on the north fork.
The loud sound of the first deluge woke me at 4 AM and I can’t get back to sleep, so I thought I would start a liveblog.
When my power goes out–any we’re pretty certain it will, I’m gonna lose internet. We are expecting to lose cell service if the winds are bad –no wind here so far– because out repeaters are on the watertower on the top of an exposed hill and–wait for it–at the beach.
Other than my own 1/2 full gas tank we are pretty well prepared, I have a couple hundred dollars worth of batteries, flashlights and tap lights, between us all we have 3 fully charged laptops , a fully charged tablet and 3 charged cellphones, water, food, and I just made a huge pot of coffee, I figure if push comes to shove there will be iced coffee for later.
I have one of those booklight things, so when the power goes out, I will be able to use my time productively–>catching up on that pile of Book Salon titles waiting for me to read them. :-)
Update 8AM:
Back from getting my gas tank filled up. The bad news is that by 7:30 this morning there were already lines out the back of gas stations and trailing down the road.
The rain stopped right after I put the diary up, but the air is so humid that the roads won’t dry. It’s very dark and gloomy the light sensor equipped streetlights remain lit.
We have fog, lot’s of fog.
There are 3 public beaches in my town. I stopped by the most exposed beach on my way home and can report that there are no waves or whitecaps of any kind. In fact the ripples where the water hits the sand are barely high enough to cover your big toe. The water looks like black ink. Normally, you can clearly make out Westchester and Connecticut across the Sound. Today, you cannot tell there is another landmass, there is no horizon just fog. The grey painted beach buildings all but disappear.
Our Mayor has ordered mandatory evacuations of two parts of our town. A road that backs onto Hempstead Harbor where the people have beach instead of backyards, and the little islands off the coast of our town. The public beach I visited first is on one of those islands.
There is an old Gold Coast mansion that has been converted into a hotel. It’s walking distance. I found out that FEMA is putting their teams in that hotel, so if we have to abandon mi casa, will will probably head over there instead of the HS gym, our official storm shelter.
Update #2:
According to ABC news Irene has made landfall. In theory the storm should lose energy now.
Update # 3–11:30 AM
The rain has started again, though oddly, it seems a bit brighter outside since it started coming down. Not raining hard, just steady.
About to make my next trip out into the world. Last chance grocery shopping (fresh fruit and salad kinda stuff) just enough for the weekend, after that I can either shop again or start in on the canned goods.
Uodate #4- 1:30 PM
There is another public beach much closer to my house. It’s in a little crescent shaped cove. I stopped by there before I went to the supermarket. The water in the LI Sound is still without wave or whitecap. The water in the cove was smooth a glass and didn’t even make ripple wavelets as it his the sand just sort of surged and ebbed w/o and surface action.
You still can’t see any land mass on the other side of the Sound, the fog over the water remains impenetrable. There is no wind whatsoever, and except for the really loud cricket song, it was eerily silent down at the beach, like when it snows. I guess is was the absence of any wave noise or wind in the trees.
Plenty of noise and action at the supermarket though, it was a madhouse. They just got what looks to be an entire truckload of water and seltzer, and were still unloading pallets of the stuff just into the middle of the aisles.
I got the last of my perishables. I wanted to get them last minute so they would be a fresh as possible and last a bit longer in case of lack of refrigeration.
The rain is still coming down, but seems to have lost enthusiasm, it’s more like just drip drip drip.
Update #5 – 7 PM
There hasn’t been much to write about all afternoon, so I watched “Emma” on Masterpiece Theater. Just when I started complaining that this hurricane was turn out to be an overhyped gyp, it started raining more earnestly.
It’s still not the intensity of the downpour at 4 AM that started my day, but at least Irene seems to be making an effort to live up to all this preparation. Still not a hint of wind.
Update #6 – 10:45 PM Sat
Still no wind but we have our first thunder and lightning.
Update #7 – 11PM Sat
Suddenly we have ferocious rain to go with the thunder and lightning. Still no wind.
Update # 8 – 3:45 AM Sunday
fell asleep around midnight. The rain is now coming down so hard the sound of it woke me. It’s like the rain that woke me at 4 AM on Sat. We don’t have street lights in the cul de sac itself (you have to get in the car and drive for streetlights–I reall y do live in the back of beyond). so I can’t tell if the road is flooded.
Amazingly, we still have power. Probably b/c there is sill no wind.
Update# 9 — 8:30 PM Sunday night
My power went out arounf 7:30 Sunday morning. Which wasn’t such a hardship since there was daylight to see by. The roads were passable and Dunkin Doughts had coffeee, so we’ve managed pretty well.
I’ve temprarily decamped to my sister’s house to recharge the phone and laptop batteries and hop on her internet connection.
Around 3PM the wind started–and boy did it make up for lost time, and still is. Lost of tree limbs coming down an debris flying all around. This seems to be the most destructive part so far.
I have to say I am confused by the behavior ofo the out of state electric crews. They put a bunch of them up at the hotel near my house, and evidently they spent last night having quite a good time. I stipped up there around 1 PM and they were just straggling out to start their workday.
No wonder the status of the LIPA repairs is still in the “assesment stage” They wasted 1/2 a day’s daylight sleeping in.
I’ve heard that they are now headign back to the hotel for the night, which does not bode well for getting the power back on tongiht, unless our homegrown crews get is done.
For the out of town guys from Michigan, it mostly seems to be some kind of boondoggle. They brought impressive looking equipment though.
Meanwhile almost 1/2 million LIPA customers are without power. Including moi.
91 Comments
Morning, Cindy — we’re up also here at Chez Siberia. Though we are not at the coast, this is a huge storm which I think will effect us greatly once it starts to approach probably Maryland. We got up early to pull in all the potted plants, take down the awnings on the deck, clear out whatever is harvestable in the garden and get things stowed. Once things start to get windy and horrible here, we will hustle the turkeys into the shed and close them in for the duration with food and water. Like you, we tend to lose power at the drop of an eyelash here and with a sump in the basement which runs 24-7 year round, we’ll be setting up the generator so that once we lose power, we can keep the pump going and the water from getting deep enough to take out the freezers (we’re still debating if we should do a ‘run the pump for an hour/run the freezers for an hour’ schedule). Everyone stay safe out there, ok?
Yeah, I still have some planters to move and have one of those glass gazing balls in my herb garden that I need to move indoors.
Take care, everyone! Stay safe.
Accuweather is reporting rotating thunderstorms and tornadoes on the northern quadrant of Irene in Maryland and Virginia, also west of the eye in North Carolina. And…we’re just getting started.
What everyone else says — stay safe! No surf for you!
Hi Cindi. Thinking of you and hoping for the best.
The whole “lose power = lose internet” DOES make one reconsider the wisdom of the iPad with internet connection. All you have to do is keep the thing powered, which you can do via your car.
I know when we lived in DC we had constant power outages — winter & summer. Drove me insane. It really does make you helpless: no heat or cooling source, no tv, no refrig/freezer, possibly no way of cooking, no light after sundown.
What used to make me especially nuts was that our power outages were “localized.” You could look a couple of blocks across the way and those folks would have lights on. Grrrrr.
Oh, I feel that! We are very close to a nursing home, so their power gets put back on pretty quickly. The neighbor directly across the street is on that power main, so some dark nights I look out my fornt window and watch TV w/o sound through his picture window.
Down here on the So. Jersey coast in Atlantic City this morning. So far just some lt. rain and 15 kt. so. wind. Its kind of cool that almost everyone is gone. I’ve never seen it this empty in my life time , a rare moment. I’m going to go out and take photos of this.
I recommend pizza delivery. It has been by experience that every government service local, county, state, federal may shut down and every utility may stop functioning but someone will still deliver pizza.
Thanks. Stay safe y’all who are in the path of Irene.
I was raised on the southern shore of Long Island. I see from your map that there are no power outages where I grew up. And that the evacuation orders are for a bit south of where I used to live.
Okay Cindy, let me offer you some advice. You are about to get hit with a weak Cat 1. Don’t sweat it. You’re going to have a rain/flood event but the wind won’t be an issue. You might want to turn over the patio furniture and put any hanging plants on the ground but even that might not be necessary. Do, however, take your patio umbrellas and lay them on the ground.
Freeze as much bottled water as you can possibly fit into your freezer. If you have more than one freezer, consolidate the two if you can and use one solely for frozen water. Round up all your coolers and have them on standby should the electricity go out for an extended period of time. You can use them instead of your refrigerator. Food in a freezer, theoretically, will stay frozen/cold for up to three days (fortunately, I haven’t had the electricity go out for that long, but this is what I’ve read). You can use the frozen bottles of water to help keep things cold going forward. Don’t open the refrigerator or freezer doors, unless you absolutely have to, hence the coolers.
If you have a gas grill make sure the propane tank is full. If you might be without electricity for awhile, get an extra tank. Drag your cast iron cookware out of the hidden recesses of your kitchen, it can be used directly on a gas grill (okay, not the Le Creuset).
Get cash.
Go to the liquor store.
Get a couple of pieces of sod from Home Depot and put them in the garage for the dog to use, during the worst of it.
Since you haven’t mentioned how “weird” the wind is, your weather is only being affected by the hurricane but the outer bands aren’t there yet.
I can’t help you with the knot you will get in your stomach, that’s what the liquor is for.
Sod for the dog? Now THERE’s an idea I’ve never heard before.
I’ve have done all of hte things you mention except the sod for the dogs. They are labs and love weather for ducks. They have an artificial pond in the back yard (we call it the doggie water park) and have been out playing inthe water while its been raining.
Yes, my house reeks of wet dog. So far this has been pretty boring.
I’ve lived through Gloria and several Nor’Easters, I’m not really worried about the storm itself that much. We live walking distance from the HS (which is now a Red Cross shelter) and just beyond that is a hotel which is more likley for us b/c the hotel has emergency generators and tons of food and water and MIGHT let us have the dogs in our room.
So, unless a tree falls on the house or the roof lifts off, I’m fine right here. And if either of those things happens I have shelter very nearby. I’m cool.
For us the pain in the ass will be the power outage. Last winter”s blizzard left us w/o electric (or heat) for 3 1/2 days. And for most of that time you could not get a car out, so it’s not like we could even bring in hot coffee from Dunkin Donuts.
At least this time, I don’t have to worry about pipes freezing
It’s my understanding that you don’t need to hook your freezers and refrigerators up to a generator more than a couple of times a day. So, hourly would be overkill. Sorry I don’t recall exactly how many hours one can go.
Also, aside from stocking them with frozen water bottles, you can stick pillows in them to help keep them cold longer between generator hookups.
When I was living in NC, I fired up the grill on more than one occasion to heat water for coffee following an ice storm.
I actually find the threat of a hurricane to be a good thing. It gives me a reason to clean up my “messes” outside. You know, the rake that’s been leaning against the fence for a year. Get rid of the plant that died a year ago but its pot and remains are still on the porch. The coolers I rounded up and cleaned out on Monday, when Irene was still a threat to Florida, will probably still be on the back porch the next time a hurricane threatens, but at least I know where they are.
My dog hates getting wet, I’ve got to be practical about such things when it could be a day or two before she can get out again.
Betcha id NYC floods bad, someone will suggest building dikes around it.
Here are 5 good things about hurricanes
Don’t bet on the lack of wind. Irene was knocking down trees in the Raleigh area of NC, and that’s on the outer edge of the storm.
Remember that Cat1 doesn’t mean ‘not a problem’: trees can come down with 50 mph winds, too.
I feel sorry for Rikers Island…! No plans to evacuate them and they’re literally at ground zero of the flood prone areas…! 8-(
Take a gander…! 8-(
I keep thiking of what happeend to the prisoners in New Orleans. Shudder.
Exactly…! TexBetsy, an expat New Yorker, had raised that very point last nite…!
Heh. Thanks for that.
In Hudson Valley the himmicane (gotta have some gender fairness doctrine, dontcha think) hasn’t hit yet. Had some rain today, but it was another sys. Expecting 2″ rain, starting later tonight & 25-35 mph winds, which is no worse than a normal heavy wind, on current forecast. Hoping it’s even milder than that. A couple of days ago, August was 1″ less than record rainfall, so we don’t need no more friggin’ rain either. But it is what it is.
OK, this is unbelievable, especially after all the suffering associated with Katrina.
TPM is reporting that Eric Cantor wants cuts elsewhere before disaster releif is approved for the East Coast.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/cantor-spox-if-theres-hurricane-damage-costs-will-have-to-be-paid-for-with-spending-cuts.php
WTF!?!
Let me explain something to the heartless one, if the East Coast turns into a post apocaliptic landscape the way the Loyal Bushies were allowed to destroy the cultural treasure that was New Orleans, our economy will never recover.
Remember states like NY and Conn, and NJ send way more taxes to DC then they get back in federal spending.
Without the tax surplusage from states along hte east coast, your precious red states that live off federal welfare will starve.
So, go aheag Eric, try to kill the flock of geese that lay the golden eggs. What a tool.
Trees come down when the soil is saturated with water and the root system has nothing to hold on to. Those loblolly pines all over NC have extremely shallow root systems and need to be in stands in order to be safe regardless of the weather. You can knock them over with a feather if the ground is too wet. There is a reason I paid to have 10 of them removed from my property in NC.
And here’s a nifty map, you can check out power outages, storm tracks, a whole slew of things — and mix and match your criteria
http://crisislanding.appspot.com/
some people ain’t got no soul
What I have not understood is the “storm denier” set that has popped up today.
It’s just puzzling to me that people who call the coverage hyped “since it’s only a Category 1″ don’t really get it that bad storms that kill people are, you know, bad storms that kill people.
The WaPoo is a favorite whipping child for us, but I don’t see one bit of hyperbole in this graphic: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/in-the-path-of-irene/2011/08/26/gIQAZwwLhJ_graphic.html
I mean, they’re not claiming 150 mile-per-hour winds, when the forecast is 75, 74 or whatever, and showing consistent rain amounts with the forecasts.
I get it that people are cynical about the mainstream media in general, but really….
plus the wind is blowing at them from the wrong way
http://www.lipower.org/stormcenter/outagemap.html
power outages are up sporatically around the Island.
A blogger living in Brooklyn near Coney Island just got a robo call from Con Ed telling him he is going to lose power, so I guess they are turning it off on purpose in anticipation of a saltwater infiltration of their equipment.
Salt water can wreak havoc on the switchgear and transformers, but it’s worse if they are live when the flood happens
It is both a bad storm AND highly highly hyped.
Well, Christie has been talking apocalyptic death for 2 days now and I think it’s getting on some people’s nerves.
But, having said that, the sign of GOOD PLANNING is that the storm does not do that much damage and there is minimal loss of life.
So, if the government proves is does work (unlike during Katrina when gov’t was clearly broken) storm denier types will claim it’s b/c the storm was no big deal, rather tha admitting that gov’t behaved with competance.
That’s smart thinking on Con Ed’s part, it still sucks for those afflicted by it tho…! I do think that it is much more beneficial to over-hype it than to underplay it…! Seriously, expect the worse, hope for the best…!
Agreed
New friends who live about 2 miles away emailed me their cell phone numbers, in case I needed to call in an emergency. It did occur to me to make sure that my cell (only phone) was fully charged in case we lose electricity, but it had not occurred to me to have a PAPER listing of phone numbers of peeps I could call in an emergency. The only record I had had was on my computer, which would be useless in an electricity outage. So I really appreciated the email, both bc how sweet it was for them to think of me, but to alert me to a prep item I would otherwise never have thought of.
I also have a paper list of the #s for the red cross and the power company. And insurance companies.
Rikers won’t be evacuated which really seems actionable if people die, especially those awaiting trial.
Think of the delinquent child support guys incarcerated there. A lotta ex’s probably gloating right now.
There’s a distinction with a difference – that’s Christie talking hyperbole, then the media covering it.
That’s not the media claiming 190 mile an hour winds when they’re 80 miles per hour.
Oh great, the roof has decided to leak. I have a lovely collection of vases placed strategically around the living room floor. Sheesh
Cynthia,
We are having some heavy winds from the outer bands here in the Carolinas. No real heavy rain in my area though. What my local stations are saying is that your area and New York have very low areas that can’t handle that much rain in such a short period of time. Flooding and Flash Flooding of roads is not something New Yorkers have much of, I guess.
The Carolinas are prone to wicked weather both summer and winter.
Uh Oh! Go get big plastic bins for the leak.
Oh noes, I hope when the winds do hit, your roof holds fast, Cynthia…! 8-(
Stay safe, M’dear…! *g*
Im sitting here in maryland right in the weather channels “dangerous” zone, right on the bay and it is , truly, no big deal. I doubt it will make it to NY as anything more than some rain. Thats all ive seen all day and its passing right over us.
Hi, Cynthia—
Park Slope, Brooklyn, checking in. Rain, sporadic during the day, is now steady, and a mild but steady breeze is starting up. That’s concerning, because the brunt of the storm isn’t due here yet for 12 hours. Many eateries still open; liquor and video rental stores have been doing brisk business all day–the masses shall be adequately anesthetized when peril approaches.
Hoping Con Ed will leave us alone, especially since my immediate area houses two of the evacuation centers available for folks from Coney Island, the Rockaways, and Brooklyn waterfront sectors. And despite my revulsion and contempt, at times like these it doesn’t hurt that Chuck Schumer lives here.
Like you, my cat and I are presiding over three laptops, a tablet PC, a cell phone, and a Crackberry, all charged to the gills. Saving the rented DVDs in case power and communications crap out (Weeds season 6 and one of the lesser Coen Bros films).
Stay safe.
Sorry to hear that. I slated the cedar roof on my kitchen wing to be replaced next year. My contractor has been trying to get me to replace it for 5 years or so, but I’ve been telling him it hasn’t leaked so I’m not going to do it. Recently I’ve notices a coulple of minor leaks on the front & back porches (which come & go, I think bc the wood swells when its wet & closes the hole), so it’s moved up to priority, but no leaks in the room it covers. I told my contractor if it doesn’t make it thru the winter, we’ll just cover it with tarps.
In his passive-aggressive way, to prove he was right all along, he responded by telling me that the price of cedar had gone up so much it would have been financially better for me to do it when he told me I should.
I ignored his P-A remark.
Heh. Maybe I should go on cnbc & see if I can get a chart of the price of cedar roof shingles.
Don’t forget you can charge your phones in the car if you have a cable. Mine went dead during a week-long outage in Tulsa a few years back and I forgot that even though my car was stuck in the garage, I could open the doors, run it and charge my phone.
So. Jersey shore here. AC area. The wind and rain are seriously picking up outside now and this thing is 200 + miles south of us yet! The next high tide here is at 6:50 am and this thing is going to pass here at about then, not a good thing. Flooding on the bay sides of these Islands will be intense. I live in the center of Absecon Island / AC on relatively high ground 15 ft. above sea level at my street, my house sits another 8 ft. above sea level from the street. So I’m not that worried about flooding. In the 33 yrs. I’ve lived here water has only crossed the street here once, that was in 1991 during the Halloween storm AKA (the perfect storm.)
Sounds like you’re all set, ralphbon…! Best of luck…! *g*
I’m not a storm denier, I’m a storm realist. I outlined to Cindy, up thread, what I thought she should do to prepare. By the way, I did all those things myself on Monday, when I still thought Irene might hit Florida.
Keep in mind a Nor’easter can have stronger winds than a cat1 hurricane. It’s also not unusual to have microbursts that high.
And no one is downplaying the potential flooding.
Aside from preparing for what you hope will happen (the best) that is all you can do, prepare. Panicking and hyperbole does no one any fuckin’ good.
Leaving areas that aren’t under evacuation orders, does no one any good, because you don’t know when you will be allowed back in. I’d rather ride out the storm in a house that has survived decades of storms, then end up stuck in a parking lot of a highway with all the gas stations out of gas and supplies. At least at home I can immediately start getting things back in order.
And yes, a tropical storm that stalls can make a bigger mess than a big bad hurricane. I also know that first hand.
But getting one’s shorts in a wad because the Boston Ferns hanging on the front porch might fall down, does no one any good.
For the record, isolated summer microbursts are the only thing that put a neighbor’s trampoline on my roof and caused my neighbors and I to go around trying to figure out which screens belonged to who. Oh yeah, a microburst also caused one of my husband’s boats to cruise down the driveway and end up sitting on the front bumper of my car. No hurricane needed.
All of you up there, KEEP IT DRY!
Safe and dry to all of you.
Plenty of experience with flooding. Sections of one of the parkways feeding into NYC (I can’t dredge up the name right now) floods on the slightest provocation. Ah: Saw Mill River Parkway. The river by my house floods and closes roads at least every other year & sometimes twice in the same year. I own riverfront (Wallkill River) but the bank is about 20′ high in summer. One late spring, several years ago, it carried away the very expensive teak bench I had on the bank, but that’s the only time I’ve known about it getting over the bank by me. My house is a good distance away from the river, on the other side of a road, and prolly another 20′ above summer river level.
I have a stream that runs thru the property, also far enough away from house not to worry about it. It used to run all summer, no matter how dry. It arises from the ground right on the other side of the back property line. Now it dries up in droughtish conditions. Water wells from development lowering water table.
My bee hives are near the stream, but when it exceed its normal course, it is downstream from them.
I have my beekeepers phone number on my paper list in case I need to call him. *g*
I didn’t say YOU, and there are people on different threads denying flooding, wind damage etc.
There is idiocy about FEMA camps and forecast data collusion and such which I find remarkable in it’s stupidity.
Ha!
They will probably go up in price now. They usually do around here after big storms. I hope not for your sake, but experience has taught me a few lessons.
Stay safe, my Friend. Keep it Dry!
Thanks. Also, we wisely invested (code words for this being my wife’s idea) in a cheap, old-fashioned, non-wireless, plug-in-the-wall telephone.
I actually suspect FEMA is salivating in the wings to undo the PR damage done by Katrina. Eric Canter aside.
Thanks, Ctut. That especially means a lot coming from someone living precariously atop a SEA OF MAGMA!
im soooooo glad i left hurricane country,after almost being killed in Wilma…………dont forget the Clorox trick…8 drops ina gallon of water makes it potable,could have saved lives in NOLA
dont worry Cat1 …is not terrible
It’s also the single largest rock, on the densest plate, on the planet too..! ;-)
I hope you all are safe tonight.
NOAA says check the tide tables for high tide versus the low barometric pressure bottom for some of the peak storm surge.
Not to mention affects of rain runoff and onshore winds.
http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/noaatidepredictions/viewDailyPredictions.jsp?bmon=08&bday=28&byear=2011&timelength=daily&timeZone=2&dataUnits=1&datum=MLLW&timeUnits=1&interval=highlow&format=Submit&Stationid=8518490
uyn…forgot about the girlzzzzzzzzz
That’s some kewl tips . . . we freeze small water bottles for our multi day fest coolers . . . cuts down on ice cost n less mess, too.
LOVE the pillow thing . . . that’s just ingenious. Insulation of course! Great one . . .
sometin,to make ya smile
Vermont towns vote to arrest Bush and Cheney
http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/03/05/us-usa-politi…
(Reuters) – Voters in two Vermont towns on Tuesday approved a measure that would instruct police to arrest President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for “crimes against our Constitution,” local media reported.
The nonbinding, symbolic measure, passed in Brattleboro and Marlboro in a state known for taking liberal positions on national issues, instructs town police to “extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to prosecute them.”
The east coast has too much money for the govt. to Katrina it, and there’s not really any land grabs or population shifts to be gained in the process . . . so any thots of the east coast being neglected in the horrid ways NOLA was are nothing of any reality.
‘Sides, so far this Irene has been a mild kitty . . . let’s see what happens with storm surges in NY n north . . . so far, the subways didn’t even flood. 6:30 left coast time.
eCahn, yes . . . n thanks.
Irene has just gotten well into Virginia and is already about to become a tropical storm. The size of it means that the rain bands go way out; NOT the tropical force winds. It looks a lot worse than it is.
NO trees came down, here in Myrtle Beach, which was way closer to the center of the storm than was Raleigh.
I’m not saying people shouldn’t be prepared, or leave if they’re in low-lying areas, but this storm is mostly going to damage property on the oceanfront, where the property should not have been built in the first place.
The Weather Channel began terrorizing everyone by talking about a class 3 wallbanger hammering the heavily-populated northeast. It was bullshit from the gitgo. The more they can scare people, the higher their ratings are. It’s called exaggerating to make money; perhaps some of you have heard of it?
OK, now thunder and lighting getting intense. I’s gonna unp;ug my laptop son to protect it from surge
Yeah, it didn’t happen to you so it didn’t happen. You’re not one of the 6 dead and you’re not one of the 730,000 people out of power – so far.
We get it tanbark. We’re supposed to yawn, not believe our lying eyes.
Can you count, Kelly?
The latest advisory on the storm, which is only into Virginia, has the wind speed down to 80.
Those jazzy sat photos show very widespread rain bands; not heavy windfields.
If you want to play chicken little, be my guest, but the reality is that very shortly, this is going to be a big rainmaker, along with some moderate wind-damage, mostly to expensive beachfront properties that, happily enough, are no longer taxpayer subsidized for rebuilding.
As for people losing their lives, that’s a tragedy, or course, but when you consider that one was a surfer out IN the ocean, and another was hit by a limb that fell on him, and so on, it’s kind of difficult to get too excited about the Weather Channel pimping this as a major hurricane. It isn’t.
Given fairly recent storms like Hugo and Andrew and Katrina, it ought to be easier for you to comprehend.
My comprehension is perfectly intact. You opine midway through an episode where you are unscathed, but threats remain for others – elevated threats. There’s physical science reasons why 75 mph makes it a hurricane.
Your predictions about Libya ring in my mind – you were as wrong then as you are now, since you don’t synthesize information well.
You want to shreik and yell about the storm, go ahead. It IS exciting, but until you’ve been in 120 mile an hour winds, trust me, you don’t know what a hurricane IS. New York has big power outages practically every winter, when it really hurts. I’m sorry to uhhh, rain on your paranoia parade but this is not going to be a major disaster. But feel free to ignore reality, if it gets you fired up.
As for my stand on Libya, if you think that recent events shoot that down, then I’m arguing with someone whose dysfunctional grasp of reality isn’t limited to the weather.
Khadaffi is done for. There is going to be a new government in Libya. One that is almost certain to be more representative of it’s people than the one run by a crazy despot. Have you not figured that out yet?
The only sad thing is that if Obama had shown more courage and perception, he would have separated Khadaffi’s military from him a lot sooner than it happened, and lives would have been saved. But the collapse came, and as chaotic as it is, there is a fair chance that it will make for a better life for most Libyans.
I have no idea why you wanted to leave Khadaffi in power, and talking with you, I don’t really care, but you aren’t thinking clearly. Maybe it’s the drop in pressure, you think? :o)
Here are the windspeed probabilities from the latest NHC forecast.
In them, New York’s chance of getting 60 mph winds is about 50%.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/031343.shtml?50wind120#contents
You have more positions about Libya than the Kama Sutra:
Your bluster is admirable. Your consistency of thought isn’t.
ive been in steady 150 knt.winds for hrs…freaking freight train
Andrew,Katrina,Donna as a child,and Wilma,the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded
http://www.hurricaneville.com/historic.html
interesting
There has been a good deal of discussion about the limitations of the Saffir-Simpson scale of rating hurricanes on Dr. Jeff Master’s blog at weatherunderground, particularly regarding the storm surge.
While it is true that Irene is presently a weak Cat 1, its internal pressure is 954 mbs, the pressure found in most Cat 3 storms, and the expected storm surges (and the surges that already occured in North Carolina) reflect a cat 3 surge. Also, the geographical size of the storm means it is pushing a huge amount of water, as well as the fact that since it was once a cat 3, the water buildup is already high.
Example–hurricane Camille was a cat 5 storm when it hit Mississippi with 195 mph winds. The storm surge was 23 ft. Katrina on the other hand was a cat 3 storm when it hit Mississippi, yet the surge was 27 ft. Katrina was a far larger storm geographically and had been a cat 5 previously.
My long winded point–the category of a hurricane in predicting storm surges may not reflect the actually intensity of the surge.
What’s that nautical rate in mph?
Not so much, IMHO . . . this one is a minor one.
Only thing left at 9:00 pm left coast Saturday is storm surge into NY . . . n so far, even the subways in NY didn’t flood.
Kelly . . . . love ya hoss, but Tanbark is THERE, n I’ve known him since ’03 or so . . . this storm seems a bit overblown.
Cynthia Kouril in NY even reports the same info . . .
As horror goes, this one is not Katrina . . . n yer in Colorado dude.
I guess I Don’t really understand this whole backlash thing yer on wrt minimizing Irene conspiracy you proclaim.
Shit is as shit does, dude, this one was over hyped, but the NE also did need the heads up as they are NOT acclimated to emergency response matters.
So, I just don’t get yer positioning on calling out others for the sitch as ya do.
Love ya, but, IMHO yer off base on it, especially with Tan.
It’s a no brainer . . . it was over called, by media, and it’s come it softer n lighter. Just admit it, man . . . I won’t think less of ya. Nor will any others, including Tan . . .
it is also slow moving which dumps alot of rain…we had one that moved 2 miles per hr.,cant remember which one..it sukked
interesting pics of Andrew
http://ldctstormchaser.blogspot.com/2010/08/hurricane-andrew-16-years-later-blog.html
Tell me about the CAT 3 level damage to North Carolina. Or NY, or anywhere . . . cuz, so far, as far as all I know, it’s been minimal . . . notwhithstanding yer ivory tower researchness.
Why the fuck are progressives yakkin about this shit, and getting most of it wrong?
It’s useless . . . there’s a class war goin on for fuck’s sake, this Irene is a minor distraction . . .
Idjits.
tru dat
terror,terror,terror
terrrrrible storm/
ive been through so many…but the last,was almost my last days,hrs. Wilma was the end for me…no more
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/WindTunnel/Activities/knots_vs_mph.html
Check the local North Carolina media for the reports of storm surge in the sounds between the outerbanks and the mainland. Or just check archives for Katrina and its storm surge, and the reasons why.
Meteorologists believe in science, and there is a growing consensus that the Saffir-Simpson scale does poorly in reflecting storm surge. They also believe in global warming and evolution.
I’m not talking about the paid talking heads on the weather channel. I have no idea what your comment on progressives means.
It’s about 60 mph over New York. Which is uncomfortable, and scary if you’ve never been in one before, and can sure brain someone with a dropped limb, or zap them with a downed power line if they contact one, but major disaster? I don’t think so.
The reality-verdict is starting to come in:
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20110828/D9PD5C500.html
While I’m at it, here are some shots of Andrew damage, in August of 1992, on the National Geographic site.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/forcesofnature/forces/h_img_3_9.html
Check out the photos of a sheet of plywood driven straight through the heart of a big palm tree. Same thing with a 2×4 stud. South Florida was devastated. New York is basically inconvenienced.
I’m happy about that. ’nuff said.
My consistency is fine. Everything you posted points out that I said that I’ve been saying that we should help overthrow a tyrant whose time had come, and that Obama was dragging his feet about it, which would make it harder, the more he dragged them. It WAS a stalemate, ultimately broken by the Libyan people, themselves, and the fact that the Libyan military bailed on sticking with Khadaffi…the military pressure from the U.S. and friends was clearly a big part of it, and could have succeeded sooner if Obama had been willing to commit to it more forcefully.
You are looking at the bottom line, and ignoring it, with both Libya and the tropical storm that, as I predicted, is now inconveniencing New York.
Khadaffi is history, and the Libyan people have a chance at a new and more representative goverment. Obama, reluctantly, played a part in it. None of us are privvy to the…negotiations…between the “coalition”, but I’m confident that France was pushing hard for a policy of separating Khadaffi from his military, since that would be, and was, the 8 ball in the side pocket.
Libya was worth doing, and we did it, with emphasis on the “we” to include France and Italy and the Brits.
The world is a better place for Khadaffi’s exit from the stage. That you were willing to sustain him, for whatever bizarro-world reason, and are STILL critical of someone who wasn’t, is shameful.
Basically, you don’t know your butt from a hole in the ground, and your posting proves it.
More reality:
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20110828/D9PD6AQO0.html
What the heck is this?
(excerpt from “Ron Paul calls for spending cuts before hurricane relief,” RawStory.Com, Aug. 28, 2011)
eCahn was spot on about FEMA being co-opted by a bunch of winger authoritarians.
And Margaret was right about Obama having to take responsibility for not cleaning these rats out and putting in people with a populist ethic.
Having said that: thank you, Mr. Paul, but in a disaster scenario, I’ll take my chances with government agencies, as purpose-twisted as they may be, rather than be turned over to the tender mercies of the “marketplace”.
From commenter, Juan Liberale: