To all who live near Gulf Coast, in Florida up to AL,GA & beyond, be prepared and stay safe!

Sept 10-17

Florida took a hard hit but Hurricane Irma could have wrecked even greater destruction had it not interacted with the coast of Cuba




After days of alarming warnings forced millions from their homes and shut down daily life across a wide swath of the southeastern United States, Cat 4 Hurricane Irma breached the Florida coast on Sunday morning, Sept 10, 2017, making landfall just after 9 a.m. at Cudjoe Key (located between Sugarloaf Key & Summerland Key) with 130 mph winds. Storm surge at Cudjoe Key was reported at 10' to 14'


Now reduced to a Cat 3, Hurricane Irma lashes the Everglades with 120 mph winds and begins its journey up the Florida west coast.

Miami radar
https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/miami-fl/33128/weather-radar/347936

Tampa radar
https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/tampa-fl/33602/weather-radar/347937
.

Video of Downtown Miami
http://people.com/human-interest/dr...seawall-and-completely-flooding-streets/ (then scroll down to vid)



NOAA S.Florida local info Sept 10
Watches, Warnings or Advisories for
Florida: copy link below

https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/fl.php?x=1%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20

000
WTNT61 KNHC 101812
TCUAT1

Hurricane Irma Tropical Cyclone Update
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL AL112017
215 PM EDT Sun Sep 10 2017

...URGENT...WATER LEVELS FROM STORM SURGE TO RISE RAPIDLY IN THE
NAPLES AND MARCO ISLAND AREA...

With the passage of the eye of Irma during the next couple of hours,
the wind direction will shift to onshore, causing water levels along
the southwest coast of Florida to rapidly rise in a matter of
minutes. MOVE AWAY FROM THE WATER! Life-threatening storm surge
inundation of 10 to 15 feet above ground level is expected in this
area.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


St.Martin
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5aff...2&s=c4324d32b73ef5249c702b548684faae
After Cat 5 Hurricane Irma hit the french island of St. Martin, 95% of the buildings were destroyed

Caribbean Island path of destruction from Hurricane Irma
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/damage-hurricane-irma-caribbean-49726687

Try and stay safe M8 hoping for the best for ya all

Stock up early and make sure you fill the tanks with gas early in the week before the price gouging and panic sets in.

you got that right Master - the lines start forming real quick once it's confirmed

Various computer model predictions of Irma's track for the next few days. We've studied hurricanes in detail for several decades now and this is the best we can do in predicting their course over just a few days, yet I'm supposed to believe we have global temps and sea levels 20-100 years from now figured out down to scientific perfection.

that track has it going north but unfortunately it may have to go over Florida to do it

"that track"?

The graphic shows about 2 dozen tracks, from the Yucatan Peninsula to Nova Scotia!

FL. Governor Scott has declared a state of emergency for all 67 counties.

I think by Thursday we will have a much better idea of where the storm is going. Right now the tracks are indeed all over the place so speculation is really a waste of time.

Preparing for a serious threat to your existence is just plain smart.

Can you imagine trying to get out of S. FL Friday?

Oh no doubt Nixer. Preparing ahead of time is always the smart thing to do. It's not worth taking the gamble.

Right there PM,,My old father in law refused to leave his home in fort Pierce when one hit in the 90's He was in his 80's and had emphysema..he told me after it was the stupidest thing he ever did..Next storm he got sheltered with everyone else,,,We don't get hurricanes here and I'm up on a hill with now rivers/streams near ..We loose power a lot but that's a good time to read and keep batteries handy to play tunes on my cd player..hope you guys are safe and ride it out,,

Take a look at the highest probability tracks here.

If I lived S. of Orlando, especially within 20 miles of either coast, I be seriously considering a long weekend in Northern AL hill country. Tried to pre-register with FEMA, won't let me.

Topping off gas tank and grabbing a few extra cases of water on the way home from class today....maybe some ammo.

Better be safe than sorry. "Hmmm... I've got fuel for a few weeks and I don't have to go for grocies for a while" is a million times better than no fuel and no food.

you can only PREDICT the weather, it's a science and mother nature doesn't always play by the rules... My older brother was in the Keys during Andrew and that blew up before hitting Homestead. People better move off the coast and no be stupid and try to ride it out. Take the stuff that can't be replaced and god forbid don't die your pets to the trees outside like people did in Texas...

I remember about 10 years ago they forecasted for a Nor'Easter for Southern NH. My boss called me the night before and said don't bother coming in (which never happens) Woke up the next morning and NO SNOW had fallen. Now because of that one time our work has only closed 1 time due to weather. I live 40 mins in good weather so because I get a bunch of PTO I'll just call in or leave early because 99% of the time you work doesn't have you in their best interest and the people who are always supposed to make the call never come in and work from home...

I moved to a new house two years ago and I don't have the pre-set bolts to attach plywood sheets. So, I guess my project for the next couple days is to do them. Much better than trying to redo screws each time. I'll pick-up some plywood and put it in my hangar until I need it. Then all the small prep stuff.

NHC 11:00 statement (9-5-17)

"Irma is an extremely impressive hurricane in both infrared and
visible satellite images. Experimental GOES-16 one-minute visible
satellite pictures show a distinct 25-30 n mi wide eye with several
mesovortices rotating within with eye. The aircraft have not
sampled the northeastern eyewall where the strongest winds were
measured shortly before 1200 UTC this morning, but the Air Force
plane will be entering the eye in that quadrant momentarily. A peak
SFMR wind of 154 kt was reported, with a few others of 149-150 kt.
Based on these data the initial intensity is set at 155 kt for this
advisory. This makes Irma the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic
basin outside of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico in the NHC
records".


GOES-16 (true color)

TG,,I was lucky working in R.I textile mills the owners feeling was "He didn't know what the weather was outside my front window..." If it was dangerous just call in and stay home Years ago he lost two men trying to get to work on bad roads,,He never closed just made due with the ones who could walk to work and never gave any crap to any one calling in..And I've seen the times a prediction of snow turned up nothing but 10 miles down the road they got tons of snow...Moving from new England to Ohio I haven't seen any real snow in 10 years,,,Don't get Nor'easters here just mostly lake effect crap off the lakes b ut they all still head for bread and milk and an inch or two screws them up..

A few notes:

The US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are going to get slammed but nobody seems to give a damn about them. VI is important, as it has a major oil refinery there, and Puerto Rico, well, it just rocks.

What is the deal with rushing out to by milk, bread, and eggs before a storm? Is French Toast really the ultimate survival food? I think I'm missing something about this that I've never quite comprehended.

We care about the VI and PR .... but being where they are the people and govt there are more likely to be prepared for tough storms than your avg continental U.S. citizen. Besides that there's not much the U.S. mainland can do until the storm gets out of the way.

As to French toast - my choice for food in the event of a strong storm is cans of sardines and beans but that also produces its own storm