I don't know how many of you weather "nerds" (like me) connect to the Weather Underground, but Dr. Jeff Masters prints a daily Wunderblog for them. He is very good with details and explains developments in plain english and short sentences. He also accepts reader's replys and they are quite interesting also. This is a screen that compiles his reports for the month of June, complete with satalitte pictures.
Sooo, if you don't have time to race around all the sites out there, this is a good place to get your info short and sweet.
Pati
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/archive.html?tstamp=200606
Master's weather blog
Thanks Pati,
I am glad you are sending us straight to the source in your usual sweet manner. I keep WU for Jax on my favorites list so I always know what's going on here.
As with my daily it takes it longer to load than most sites. I didn't realize there was a blog with the site, but do now.
I do hope we can count on your timely down to earth Threads you have traditionally been starting for the last few years when hurricanes roll in. You are like a light in a storm to us and I missed your input last week.
The way all of the folks at DG pulled togeather last year after Katrina was just awesome and your leadership here was felt across the country.
I expect you to keep up the good work again this year.
Sidney
Aw shucks, Sugar. It's just that when you're the target it pays to keep track of where the ammo is coming from. LOL
Pati
I LOVE the Wundergrornd website. Dr. Masters is great. I do miss Dr. Gregory..it was always a hoot when he would say, "Go to bed people! Nothing is going to happen for at least 12 hours...get some sleep. You will need it tommorow!" What a great sense of humor!
I'm sure Dr. Masters will do great this year...since he is running the blog by himself, he has really come out of his shell. Also, there are a couple of really knowledgable guys that post regularly on the blog.
Also, the Navy has a great website. When you go to the Navy URL and see that they are scrambling the jets in your area, you know it is probably a good idea to start packing your evac bag. Not quite as accurate as having Jim Cantore show up on your doorstep, but still, a good warning sign (VBG).
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html
This is one of my "hot" spots too. My grandson is stationed at Kings Bay GA, (Chief in submarine service), and it's always interesting to see the ships movements as the storm approaches. Of course the subs just go and sit it out down deep.
Pati
Well, I have two folks here that I'll drop off at a shelter, but me and the dogs will hang right here in this supper sturdy 1942 Brick house. It has a10 x 12 center hall that is a safe room. And even when Dora hit in 1964 it didn't flood.
I accidently got in that creeping parking lot they call I-95 about 6 years ago when one of those big winds was coming. It took me 14 hours to get to DM's in Charlotte. I had to go for business, but the rest of that mass was evacuating.
Thanks for another link BB.
Sidney
We had friends get stranded on I-10 during Opal. They were stuck in their cars in the middle of nowhere with Cat 3 winds breaking around them. We were unable to evacuate due to DH's job, so we stayed put.
Since then, my family won't evacuate unless they can get out early. Even though the government has tried to improve the evacuation routes for NW FL, they really have not done that much. There are very limited routes beyond the I-10 corrider. Most of the roads leading to I-65 (the only significant northern evac route) are two lane. That was one of my reasons for selecting this area. Hopefully my family can now leave early enough and jump on I-10 to 231N, then it is all 4 lane to the turn off to my house. I'm now living 90 miles inland, and, like you, I have a house that has stood the test of time. I sooo prefer older homes to the slap dash construction of what passes for homes these days. The irony of it is, around here, the older homes are less expensive than the newer homes, unless they have had a ton of money poured into them to make them into fancy bed and breakfast type establishments. I also have a HUGE shed, so I have room for my sis to bring her dog AND her more exotic plants (of course, the dog is welcome in the house...the shed is for the plants so my own four legged beasties don't eat them!)
I look forward to comparing notes with you guys this storm season...although, in a perfect world, we would not need to.
Pati and you are the brains I just do a little shish boom bah, and throw eggs at the weathermen when they are sooooooooo disappointed when the bad weather goes somewhere else. They take over all the TV channels at the thought of a wind being higher than 30mph. Worse than terrorist.
As with Alberto, when they predicted it would come right across to Jax I sighed with relief. That was an almost guarantee that it would not be much here.
Much worse damage was done by a human friday afternoon when an idgit cut a big limb off a tree next door and it split one of my matched Crepe Myrtles down the middle.
;)
Ack! I'd have been tempted to feed him the Crape Myrtle along with a heavy helping of my foot.
I know what you mean about the doom and gloomers. A gal up in the capitol was appalled when she walked down the halls on June first and folks wished her Happy Hurricane Day. What do you say to that? "Ummm, thanks! And I hope your home doesn't get turned into a box of toothpicks, either!"?
Folks who have not lived in Hurricane Alley, don't get it....it isn't a happy occassion or excuse to party. People used to talk about my wild hurricane parties. How do these rumors get started? I've never even even BEEN to a hurricane party, much less held one. I think it is the height of no-brainer to get drunk when you most need your wits about you. But that is just my opinion...and, like noses, we all have one! I guess folks just assumed I had hurricane parties because I become so obsessed with them. But the closest I have ever come was post hurrricane when my freezer full of fresh bass started thawing, I got out the two Coleman double burners and threw a BYOCS (bring your own chain saw) fish fry. I fried up a whole freezer full of bass and got all my trees cut down in one afternoon!
I totally freaked when I first moved to KC seven years ago and we had gale force winds on a bright sunny day. I kept waiting for the 'eye' to pass. LOL!
It's nice talking to you guys. I know I become obsessive about hurricanes, but it is good to talk to others who are knowledgable and who are seasoned survivors.
I also had friends who spent hurricanes trapped on an interstate when the evacuation route was too clogged with traffic to move. I cant imagine how horrid that must be. Moral of the story is, If you are going to get out, then get out early. It is a tough decision that we make periodically, sit tight or leave.
I always pay close attention each hurricane season to weather information. I start to get a little nervous when I see Jim Cantore show up in my area.
Even though I have been through bunches and bunches of hurricanes, it is still the topic of the day when one is brewing.
I finally figured out why we are getting all this rain coming from the east and then circulating arund Atlanta and heading back out into the Atlantic! It is that little blob Dr. Master's discussed sitting over Brmuda. It is causing a forntal boundary that comes in over Georgia and clashes with the eastward moving weather right around the Bama, Georgia line. Then, it streams north and heads back out into the Atlantic. Weird, but I'll take waht rain I can get...even if it is coming from the east instead of the south or west. LOL!
It has rained and stormed two days in a row...and now it is starting to thunder again...
You are lucky. We are finally getting some sprinkles.
I saw on the doppler mosaic that it is pouring around Crestview and just the other side of DeFuniak. Looks like you will be getting some....I hope, I hope, I hope. So far, we have just had thuner today. It has been pouring all around us, but we are under a bubble again. The sky is looking weird though...kind of yellowish gray....I suspect we'll have a storm before midnight.
I already emptied two of the buckets of rain water. That is how much it took to give my container plants a really good soaking. And that doesn't include teh ones out in the yard...just the ones in the 'carport nursery'.
We got about five minutes of rain. That is just a tease.
Loks like Crestview might have gotten a smattering this evening. Walton County looks like it got a good soaking....and now it looks like it is headed thsi way. Got my buckets out to catch it. LOL!
Still no rain.
Shoot! Doesn't look like you will get any today either unless you get some popcorn showers this evening....Your water bill is always higher down there than it is up here anyway...I hate to see what it will be this month.
When the dust clears and you get the house, I think I'd have a well put in. I know it would cost an arm and a leg, but it would be worth it in the long run.
You are absolutely correct. I dont care what it takes. Did I tell you I gotta get a new roof too?
Yep...join the crowd. I just need the back addition reroofed...but I have to replace the wood as well...and probably the struts/joists. Could be worse...Cuz needs a whole roof and you know how big HER house is!
Sounds like a family affair.
LOL! We could support a roofer for the summer if you know anyone who wants to start a business.