Hurricane Coming

Evacuating the Florida Keys

Even though it seems that the worst of hurricane Ike will be south of the Florida Keys, officials decided to go through with the mandatory evacuation orders for residents starting Sunday, September 7th. The tourist evacuation took place on Saturday, with about 15,000 of them leaving - taking their $$$ with them.

The resident evacuation takes place in phases, with Key West first starting at 8 a.m., the Middle Keys (Marathon area) at 12 noon, and the Upper Keys (Key Largo area) at 4 p.m. When the decision was made, hurricane Ike was a category 4, so they decided to take no chances.

We know how these things go, a last minute bump to the north and those who left the Keys will be glad they did - those that stay may be in for a wild ride. It appears that many residents (especially those in the Upper Keys) are taking their time, making hurricane preparations, and waiting to leave. Contrary to news reports, gas stations are not crowded here, nor are they running out of gas. We, along with most of our neighbors filled our cars days ago.

We are leaving today, but only out of boredom - with the boat out of the water and businesses closing, there’s really not much to do.

windy |

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Hurricane Ike Predictions

As stated in the previous post, Ike is the storm to watch……and that’s all we can do, because the National Hurricane Center doesn’t have a clue as to where it is going at this point - 4 days out. Being in the upper Keys, along with having property and family in Palm Beach County, we are watching every hurricane update. Since it appears that the hurricane will impact South Florida in one way or another, we are starting our hurricane preparations today by taking the boat out of the water and bringing things inside.

Most of the state is in the “cone of uncertainty” and the most recent updates have been progressively moving the center to the south - currently appearing to cross throug the Keys. Of course, the path will probably change many times between now and the next four days, wavering in intensity from 4 to 2. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that it continues to be pushed farther south - better yet, that the front coming from the west would make it turn to the north before it gets here.

The steering currents guiding Ike are so unpredictable, that this hurricane looks to be one of those last minute calls. Memories of hurricanes Andrew and Wilma are reminders of how erratic strong hurricanes can be. Everyone continues to remain calm, going about their business in paradise, but we all agree that this flipping the coin is getting old!

windy |

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Florida Watching Tropical Storm Hanna

We no sooner exhale from watching Gustav, still waiting to hear what damage it left behind, when we turn our eyes to the parade of storms headed our way.

Tropical Storm Hanna became Hurricane Hanna and was knocked back down to tropical storm status as it came in contact with the islands. When it makes its way through Haiti and the Bahamas, it will probably retain hurricane status when it gets back over water – hopefully it won’t stall.

Forecast models vary greatly, depending on which news station you watch. For now, many of the Florida weather forecasters say that Hanna is expected to head towards Savannah, or further north.

As always though, they give the disclaimer that these storms are very hard to predict so far out (3-4 days). Because Tropical Storm Hanna is moving at an angle to our coast, they say it could potentially swing as far south as Miami, or as far north as the Carolinas. Get your coins out (*grin)!

Predicting intensity is still difficult at this point, as there are factors that are there to help diminish the storm’s strength, as well as factors that could play a part in strengthening the storm.

As of around 11 a.m. on Tuesday, September 2nd, Hanna was about 370 miles southeast of Nassau, moving west at near 6 miles per hour, expected to start a northwest track and speed up in the next 24 hours. Tropical storm force winds extend to 175 miles.

As we reach the peak of the 2008 hurricane season, those of us living in Florida know the drill and should already be prepared – shame on you, if you’re not. There is absolutely no reason for any panic and you should not be rushing out to hoard supplies you should already have at home (can you tell that this makes me nuts?).

Tropical Storm Ike is still way out there and I’m no weather forecaster, but personally, I think that’s the storm to watch. Then there’s Josephine.

windy |

2008 Hurricane Season, Hanna |

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