Bring it on!!

[Cardinal Aiyalin]

Alrighty, apparently someone has decided to screw with the sunny state of Florida.

Now, instead of continuing the cleanup after Hurricane Charley (some people STILL don't have power) we have to contend with a little beyotch called Frances heading in our direction. Actually, he's not a little beyotch.. he's a strong Cat 3 now, and will probably grow to Cat 4.. and unless he turns between now and Saturday, he's making a beeline for the Sunshine state.... and if we want to get really technical, if he doesn't turn it looks like he's making a beeline to Cape Canaveral...

If THIS m-fer hits, I'm getting the hell outta dodge. I can deal with Cat. 1's and 2's, but Cat 3 or higher is a whole 'nother ballgame.

I remember at the beginning of the hurricane season, some guy was going over the past seasons and what he portends for this season.. He said that since we haven't been hit with a major one since Andrew, the timing and conditions are right to be hit with at least 2 (if not three) major storms (cat 3 or higher). Well, so far he's right on one account.. let's see if he can bat 1000.

So let's all cross our fingers and hope real hard that this sob storm goes north.

In the meanwhile, I'm going to buy batteries, water, duct tape, plywood, canned goods, and propane.

[Kieran Devaneaux]

Jesus, you Floridians. How can you live in a state that gets hurricanes every other week? And I thought California's weather sucks....

-K.D.

[Rhianna Ravenloft]

One of the many reasons I don't live there anymore. ;) I flew the coop before the coop relocated me to Oz..

[Morgan Evanar]

Eh. I have shudders, a flat tile roof and hurricane glass. I'm not super-concerned. The hurricane looks like it could just follow the gulf stream and leave everyone alone.

[Shade Magus]

Ahh...yes I'm glad I got out of there and to Cali, though I do miss it...

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Originally posted by Kieran Devaneaux
Jesus, you Floridians. How can you live in a state that gets hurricanes every other week? And I thought California's weather sucks....

-K.D.

This is hereby nominated for Silliest Comment of the Week. California's weather ...sucks?? O_o

[Shawn]

We really haven't had a major hurricane in about a decade now. Charley wasn't even that bad; Most of the destruction was done to poorly constructed homes and trailer parks. I figure it's no worse than living somewhere that gets tornadoes or earthquakes. And unlike the other two, there's plenty of time to prepare for a hurricane.

[Cardinal Aiyalin]

Wow.. Shawn.. You have.. appeared. :)

Morg, I certainly hope so. I don't want to deal with anymore crap in Orlando. I was listening to the Weather Channel and they said something about a high pressure system that has the potential to keep it trained on Florida.. It will just depend on how long it'll last.

And I do agree with Shawn about one thing. At least I know that a hurricane is coming -- all you people who live in Cali are nuts. The next big earthquake could hit and you wouldn't know until the vibrations start. To me, that's the scariest thing I can imagine. I don't even want to VISIT California because Murphy's law dictates that it will happen when I'm there.

[Kathrine]

Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
This is hereby nominated for Silliest Comment of the Week. California's weather ...sucks?? O_o

Depends on the location. Like my area's weather, sucks the big one.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The weather guy tonight said that if Frances stays as big as it is right now, it'll rival Andrew for size and strength. Stay safe this weekend, Floridians. :(

[Crystal]

Hurricanes scare me because you have a warning. With a tornado you get a few minutes.. not really enough time to worry or get too scared about anything. Not much you can do, anyway.

Also, they last longer and cover a wider area. Tornados don't (normally) flatten large spaces. They just hit a house or two.

[imported_Marcus]

Good luck to all the Florida people

[Charley]

The cold front will bump it into the gulf stream. I doubt it'll be a concern.

[Morgan Evanar]

Almost every single weather model is disagreeing with you.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Correct me if I'm wrong - but Charley looked small as hurricanes go, but intense. Frances looks to me to be huge and even more intense.

Correct or Incorrect?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Correct, from what I've heard.

[Charley]

Originally posted by Morgan Evanar
Almost every single weather model is disagreeing with you.


We'll see in a few days, won't we?

[Cardinal Aiyalin]

Mark, you're right.. Also Charley was pretty fast moving -- it swept through Orlando at around 35 mph.. enough to do a lot of tree damage, but nothing really really major. Frances is huge, and it's only moving at 16 mph. Frances could cover the entire state of Florida as it is now.

The problem with the theory of the gulf stream is that there is a huge high pressure system that is sitting off Florida's coast. It's normally there, however right now it is a lot larger than usually is. That high pressure system is keeping the hurricane moving towards Florida. If the high pressure system changes (which seems doubtful), Frances will sweep into the Carolinas. However, it's looking like it's going to hit Brevard county (Melbourne), which is about 30 minutes away from us (yippee). In addition, they are predicting it to increase -- possibly even to a Category 5..

My parents, who live on the beach, will probably get evacuated tomorrow.. they'll end up at my house. School is closed for us on Friday, and the other counties around us closed tomorrow as well.

I think the thing I'm really scared about is the whole debris issue. They haven't gotten around to picking up any debris in my area (lots of nice, neat piles of projectiles!), and there are still a lot of trees around us that are leaning pretty bad. The news said this is going to be the first time in over a century that Florida has been hit with two Cat 4 (or higher) hurricanes so close together.

I wasn't too scared about Charley (sorry Charley, you don't scare me, lol).. but this is a big boy. I hope my parent's home is still there when it's all over. We'll make it through though.

Now I'm going to go and beat people up for the few remaining scraps of anything useful. They're out of almost everything around here -- hardline phones, battery operated anything, canned food, batteries, water, plywood... ::sigh::

[Cardinal Aiyalin]

So.. uh..

anyone want any house guests? Even my husband is a little worried, and when Mr. IloveHurricanes is worried.. then I'm scared to death.

Hotel rooms from Miami to Macon (Georgia) are filled to capacity...

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Oregon's pretty safe, feel free to come visit. We have kittens. :)

Oh, and volcanos, but Mt. Hood isn't erupting any time soon. I think... :uhoh

[Lady Vader]

Originally posted by Kieran Devaneaux
Jesus, you Floridians. How can you live in a state that gets hurricanes every other week? And I thought California's weather sucks....

-K.D.

I don't know which Cailfornia you're living in, but the one I'm living in has verreh nice weather. :p


Originally posted by Cardinal Aiyalin
So.. uh..

anyone want any house guests? Even my husband is a little worried, and when Mr. IloveHurricanes is worried.. then I'm scared to death.

Hotel rooms from Miami to Macon (Georgia) are filled to capacity...

CA is free from hurricanes and tornados... and we haven't had any sort of teeth shattering earthquake in some time. And even if we did, it lasts maybe all of a few seconds. Quick and painless.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

BTW, if there haven't been any earthquakes in some time, that means that the next big one is around the corner because the tetonic (sp?) plates have had lotsa time to stretch out good. Picture a rubber band. :p

[Lady Vader]

Well, there was a 3.something last week somewhere, but I didn't feel it, so it wasn't a very big one.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Those are 'pre-shocks', instead of aftershocks. You always have a few small ones before a big one.




:lol i'm so talking out of my butt right now :mneh

[Lady Vader]

Your butt can talk??? O_o

Seriously, though, yeah, we are due for a decently sized one. But, eh, it's just an earthquake and it only lasts a few seconds. They can actually be kinda fun (when you're not being sucked in my a gigantic crack :p)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I think it's the Lois Lane Superman Movie "sucked into a gigantic crack" senario that scares people. :)

[Charley]

California weather does suck. Its boring. 70's and low humidity 365 yay.

It also makes you a frail little weenie traveling anywhere outside of California :)

[Cardinal Aiyalin]

Thanks for the offers :)

Unfortunately, once I would drive there.. I would have to turn around, lol. And there's also that Murphy's Law thing.. It will happen when I go to California (an earthquake).

They are broadcasting that hotel rooms all throughout Georgia and up to Mobile, AL are completely full.. and they haven't even started to evacuate a lot of the potential hit areas yet. They're shutting down a few major highways to allow one-way traffic from the coast. Yesterday people waited 8-9 hours for the *hope* that they'll get plywood.. and gas stations are already running out.

I think because I've lived in Florida so long and have been through a few of these, some reactions still shock me. The radio station I listen to was talking to someone who is visiting Orlando from the mid-west.. and they were shocked! They had no idea why we were buying plywood and what it was used for! We cover our windows with it to protect them from flying debris, and also to protect from the winds. 140 mph winds can shatter glass just by itself.

What's bad is people are starting to panic (and I hate to include myself, but it's true)... I couldn't sleep last night and I am so sick this morning that it's killing me. It got a *little* better for us when it shifted path slightly to hit near Vero Beach.. it might weaken a little before it hits us.

[Clarrke Benq]

From the weather maps, it looks like it's bearing a bit more west and also, probably will weaken a bit. Still looks like a cat 4, but not a cat 5.

Makes me feel thankful for the mind blowing drought we have right now. At least we dont get things like Hurricanes.

[Morgan Evanar]

I don't want to move anymore. I carried numerous bits of office equipment down three flights of stairs today, since my folks are moving the office into the house. Also, there is six miles of runway between downtown Miami and the building.

Bastards who own the building haven't fixed the elevator in months :mad
Oh yeah, this isn't one of those namby-pamby new photocopiers, either. This is an early nineties beast with a sorter and four paper trays. :P

[Charley]

Time to hijack this thread for my own armageddon contingencies :)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

be safe! And s'Il too. :hug

[Cardinal Aiyalin]

Be safe Charley..

Don't have too wild of a hurricane party over there.

I hate to say it, but just about everyone in Central Florida is thanking a higher power right now.. even though it means it's going to hit someone else!

[Dan the Man]

It's going to erase Dauphin Island from the map, and Mobile Bay is going to be devastated like it hasn't been in decades.

Even as far inland as Birmingham, we're really going to get bombed here. Unreal.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Work was scheduled for tonight, but that got canceled real fast. I relocated to Patton's house for the night, and Skeletor is mad at me. He DID NOT like the car ride over :\

[Dan the Man]

HAHAHAHA I can only imagine.

[Cardinal Aiyalin]

Oh goodness.. cats and car rides rarely mesh well !

Good luck to you, as well, s'Il.. Hopefully you guys won't end up looking like we did after Charley :(

[Dan the Man]

The eye is in downtown Mobile. Ivan will be knocking on my door by morning.

[Charley]

erm...actually the eye's still off the coast. I heard the news report wrong.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

The eye is passing over the bay coast in Baldwin County. So its not the worst case scenario for Mobile, but its still pretty damn horrible.

Waiting to get hit in the morning...

[Charley]

Its starting to bluster here, and the rain's coming.

I made a diagram to show you whats happening:
<img src=http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/attachment.php?s=&postid=685005>

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wow. Sorry to hear that, Charley. I'm remembering you guys in my prayers. Stay safe.

[Charley]

The truly nasty stuff isn't even here yet, and its already way powerful

[Cardinal Aiyalin]

And now, for the next act..

Hurricane Jeanne.. expected to upgrade to a Cat 3 and be the worst to hit Central Florida of the previous two hurricanes!

Woohoo.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

>_< When is she/it supposed to hit?

n/m found out myself.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/graphics/AT11/refresh/AL1104W+GIF/251503W.gif

[Cardinal Aiyalin]

Alrighty.. we're out of power again.. we don't know when we're going to get it back. Other than that, our house made it through the third hurricane this year.

We're at my parent's house (they have power).. so we're ok..

[Dan the Man]

Be safe Jen :)