lphilpot

Isaac

Something about late August and hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.

The forecast track isn't pointed directly where I live (yet?), but there are more than a few of us in the Gulf region who are looking down Isaac's gunsights right about now to some degree or another. Bill, John, Kurt, Tom, el segundo ... off the top of my head, and I'm sure I'm leaving out many - Who else? Let's all stay safe and hopefully powered-up for the next few days. In 15 years of working for an electric utility, I've developed a different attitude about weather. I'm not a lineman, but I look at weather differently than I used to.

To get this marginally on-topic, the weather in and of itself won't interfere with my cycling plans for the Labor Day weekend, since I have none. We're (still?) planning on a weekend away which doesn't include any bike rides (unbelievable, I know ). Hopefully the weather won't cancel those plans...

skilsaw

Hurricanes and tropical storms are natural disasters you can see coming ahead of time, if only a week or 10 days in advance. Then there are earthquakes, volcanoes and forest fires that strike suddenly with devastating effect. Use the time wisely, and I hope your basement stays dry and your lights on through the next week or so.

Good luck

lphilpot

Thanks - Actually, I'm not as worried for myself as for those closer to the coast and nearer the centerline of the track. Then again, if Louisiana keeps eroding away like it has been, I could be near the coast before long.

doctor j

My son called in tonight. He is in the Gulf on a floating drilling rig. They have disconnected and are headed west.

PatW

I live in Central Florida. So far so good. It looks to be rainy today and maybe tomorrow which is a good thing. We are still "behind" on our rainfall. We seem to be getting more here then the people on the west coast. A bunch of feeder bands have come out and gotten us.

I grew up in Ohio and hurricanes really are not that big of a deal except for losing power. They are nothing like a tornado which is really, really scary.

AzTallRider

My wife is getting out of New Orleans just in time - this afternoon. She has been there visiting her Mom. My wife's immediate family lost 4 homes to Katrina, with only 1 being rebuilt. As a child, Hurricane Betsy had her family being rescued from a hilltop, and thunder still freaks her out. With this week being the anniversary of Katrina, everyone is especially nervous.

lphilpot

Tell that to the people of New Orleans, the Mississippi / Alabama Gulf coast and the Florida panhandle after Katrina. Seven years later, the after effects are still clearly seen all around. Or ask SW Louisiana / east Texas about Rita. Or Mississippi about Camille ... or Audrey, for that matter.

Agreed, tornados can certainly be terribly devastating (one passed along the road by our house once), but dismissing hurricanes as "not that big of a deal" trivializes their impact more than I feel is fair. Even Gustav in 2008 had a huge impact in our area and we "just" lost power for days.

AzTallRider

A hurricane that has been travelling over land for a good distance is an entirely different animal than a hurricance just making landfall, especially if it is coming off very warm water, like the Gulf. Your Ohio experience wasn't "the real deal" when it comes to hurricances. 1,800 lives lost certainly qualifies as being a big deal in my book.

qcpmsame 

Those that think you have a week or so to get ready (usually about 24-48 hours if we are lucky, do not go by the Weather Channel's crap) and that the power being off for a bit is the worst part haven't been through a Hurricane. Look at the dollar amounts and deaths from the hurricanes that made landfall in the U.S., not other countries just here. then come to our area when one hits and drive around (if it is possible for a few weeks, possibly) and look at the destruction. I pray you never have to go through one, or a tornado or earthquake, either. I have lost friends in hurricanes and been through 6 landfalls here since 1979, (we are close enough that we could count the Mississippi and Louisiana storms too probably, it it mattered, say Cat 5 Camille or Katrina or Andrew's 2nd landfall.)

Bill

RedC

I thought we were immune being in the center of the state til the summer we got 4 (Charlie, Jean, Frances and Wilma) I'm glad Isaac passed us by and I hope you guys are not harmed and none of us ever see a Katrina or Andrew again. I've been in the center of 5 hurricanes and none of them were expected to come near me 24 hours before they hit

El Segundo

I am in the northern part of Alabama so most of what we get from the hurricanes is a lot of rain. A week after Katrina I went to Pascagoula MS with a team from our church to help with the recovery process. The news media can not begin to show all the misery these storms inflict on communities.

You guys/gals in the target area keep safe.

Charlie

lphilpot

Well, duhhh.... so much for that idea!



I'm located near the red/white circle.

Hopefully a bit of north wind, a little rain and move on. Of course, nothing like NOLA and others south will experience.

B. Carfree

I've mostly lived where we are waiting for "the big one", as in earthquake. We make our preparations, or not, and hope we are out of town when it finally hits. I think if I lived in hurricane country, I would arrange for annual late August vacations. In the immortal words of King Arthur (Monty Python version), "Run away, run away!"

I hope this one ends up as a mere nuisance. Stay safe down there.

lphilpot

Yeah, tropical weather is one reason not to live in the deep south. I've grown to like the (semi) desert southwest, but of course they have a little thing called wildfire ...not that we don't ever, but almost never on the same scale. There's not a lot of absolute defense against either, although it's somewhat possible to mount a slight defense against fire: water, trenching, etc. Sometimes. Then again, if the fire is big enough, it's like tropical weather in that it just keeps on comin' ...

I've cleaned my gutters/downspouts and we'll batten down tomorrow what could get blown around. All in all, I really still don't expect severe wind where I live. Maybe some TS force, but it should be reasonable. However, working for the electric company I could end up having to cancel next weekend's plans even if the weather is nice by that time. We'll see.

Thanks.

ursle

Not dissing, hurricanes spawn tornadoes...

El Segundo

How are the coastal members doing tonight? Any first person reports?

doctor j

The son called tonight. His rig and a number of others made it safely, at a blistering pace of 4 knots, to the western Gulf of Mexico. He said there a quite a few rigs from his company and others floating in the area waiting for the storm to pass. Family in central Louisiana (a little south of LPhilpot) have finished preparations and are awaiting wind and rain. What is left outside is secured to keep it from becoming a missile. They will not get hurricane force winds. Most likely, they will get TS winds in gusts, a bunch of rain, and lose utilities for a while, hopefully no twisters.

doctor j

I served as the ham radio operator on a feeding crew for the Louisiana Baptist Men. We got into Franklin, LA the day after Andrew left. The place looked like it had been bombed. It was eery.

lphilpot

Yeah.... after Katrina, there were stories of linemen in my company burning their workclothes at the end of the day since the toxicity levels were so high around New Orleans (something 40,000x normal in places, what I was told). More than a few spent the day chest-deep basically in sewage. My boss said the smell was noticable over Slidell even from a helicopter. I was in Covington briefly in Sept '05 and while everyone was working busily, nothing was "normal" at all. Really devastating.

qcpmsame 

Here we just had heavy rains and moderate winds, so far. Tornado hit south of us mid-afternoon, uprooting a few trees. I received an alert on my cellular about 0300, this morning, for a tornado in our area, watch until 0515. Now it is sideways rain and wind, we have some minor coastal flooding, a few isolated inland flooding instances and very minor wind damage. South of New Orleans is taking the brunt of this up until now, and the HHC/NWS said it will take about 36 hours to finally move through. Hope the one levee breach in Plaquamines Parrish is the only place that breaches. Everyone in Louisiana and south Mississippi is in my prayers and thoughts for their safety.

Oh, gasoline prices went up 25 cents, to 3.84 last night at most stations, Found a convenience store with $3.59 and filled up as a precaution. This was just as NPR had a business piece that said the oil prices overnight actually went down as there was minimal disruption of the production and refinery capacity. Glad I left the oil industry and off shore engineering in the 80's, not for me.

Bill

lphilpot

Oil prices may have gone down, but clearly greed has gone up. I guess any excuse is good enough when looking for a 'reason' to raise profits...

El Segundo

Trying to follow the events on the news, looks like huge amount of rain down there.

This morning in north Alabama is clear skies, bright sunshine, tomorrow morning is our turn to get the storms as Isaac moves on inland. Hoping this thing does not spawn any more tornadoes in the area, we are still recovering from the tornado outbreak of 2011.

Stay safe down there.

Charlie

berner

I lived in Biloxi for about 12 years and left for New England just before Katrina made landfall. Looking at that part of the Gulf Coast on Google Earth, I was amazed at the amount of destruction visible from satellite images. Even today there is much still missing that will never be replaced.

islandseas

I'm on the opposite side of the continent from the hurricane area but am watching it on CNN and my thoughts and prayers are with all in the danger zone.....we get strong winds here on Vancouver Island but nothing like you are experiencing. Take care and be safe....Karen

John_V 

I guess Isaac is a Republican because he left us alone while the convention is going on. It rained some on Sunday and a little more on Monday with some winds around 30-40 mph. Yesterday, it rained twice and so far no rain today but the winds are starting to pick up. Most of the damage that we have in this area is from flooding; a lot of it started by TS Debbie back in June. There has been some wind damage along the beaches, but nothing like we normally get. The daily, summer thunderstorms haven't done anything to help the water recede, so with every rain, we get more and more standing water. Tampa has been very lucky since we haven't had a direct hit hurricane since the mid 60's with Hurricane Donna. The next closest was Hurricane Frances, part of the four-in-a-row group that came at us one week apart of each other.