Uninvited guest..... (Hurricane Irma)

If you are in the path, are you staying or leaving?

  • Staying - I got dis....

    Votes: 11 45.8%

  • Leaving - Peace, I'm out.

    Votes: 10 41.7%

  • Hiding in my storm bunker under the carrot patch

    Votes: 3 12.5%
  • Total voters
    24
two fingers

two fingers

Opinionated blowhard. But not mad about it.
Inactive
Feb 7, 2005
33,959
116,590
5,212
53
Eastern NC USA
#1
Welp, it seems Hurricane Irma is headed up the East Coast. She's a strong one.

Hopefully our brothers and sisters in South Florida are getting ready and then getting OUT! This is not a storm to be reckoned with.....at least in its current form down there.

Yesterday is was tracking maybe more west (which would have been good because it weakens over more land). But now it seems it will skim the coast staying over or near warm water. That ain't good. We have been through enough of these to know that it's always best for them to hit at night and go hard west over land so they weaken faster. That is, of course, if they don't hang a hard right and go back to sea.

Hitting in the daytime and staying on or near water is the worst case. Heat and moisture keep them strong.

I read somewhere recently that almost 18% of all hurricanes that hit the US hit in or within 150 miles of North Carolina. We get our share for sure. Matthew flooded us pretty bad just last year. Floyd in '99 was brought its own huge floods. But we pretty much get hit by one every other year or so.

We'll probably start some mild prep tonight. Maybe gas up, swap out the LP tank for the grill, get some water and store some more, stock up on a couple of nonperishable goods.... all in the next couple of days. (Eastern NC by the way)

Anyway....


Discuss...
Predictions?
Prep?
Grocery store shortages in your area?
Gasoline supply issues?
Floridians, are you alright? Are you staying or leaving?

(These questions will be more important in the coming days.)

Latest Spaghetti model
spaghetti model.jpg
 
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#5
I'm in Tampa. Gas stations near me were either out of gas or incredibly crowded with people trying to get some. My local Publix and Target were out of bottled water, and other necessities were in short supply.

I'm pretty much ready to head up to Atlanta, but my girlfriend is hesitant to leave. Not sure why. This doesn't seem like something to mess around with, particularly when we are in a projected path for it, and we have friends we can stay with for free.
 
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#7
jmattbassplaya said:
I'm in Tampa. Gas stations near me were either out of gas or incredibly crowded with people trying to get some. My local Publix and Target were out of bottled water, and other necessities were in short supply.

I'm pretty much ready to head up to Atlanta, but my girlfriend is hesitant to leave. Not sure why. This doesn't seem like something to mess around with, particularly when we are in a projected path for it, and we have friends we can stay with for free.
Click to expand...

Tell her you're leaving with or without her. This storm is no joke. Her tune might change when you're in the car pulling out of the driveway.
 
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#8
I was in St. Martin/Sint Maarten and San Juan last week. Glad I'm not there now. This storm is not to be trifled with judging by the pics and video from the places it has hit. If I was anywhere along the Florida coastline right now, I'd be getting the bleep out of Dodge. Many of the people I know in Florida are heading up into Georgia and hoping for the best.
 
#9
jmattbassplaya said:
I'm in Tampa. Gas stations near me were either out of gas or incredibly crowded with people trying to get some. My local Publix and Target were out of bottled water, and other necessities were in short supply.

I'm pretty much ready to head up to Atlanta, but my girlfriend is hesitant to leave. Not sure why. This doesn't seem like something to mess around with, particularly when we are in a projected path for it, and we have friends we can stay with for free.
Click to expand...

Yeah show her the video @Bob Clayton linked to earlier. That thing plowed over some islands.

Best head up and in.....especially if you have some place to crash.
 
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#14
Some friends of ours from New Hampshire moved to Clearwater in May.
I asked if they were going to evacuate, they said no.
I sure hope they are going to be fine.

-Mike
 
#17
jmattbassplaya said:
The gf and I are on the road and are heading to Atlanta. Her office told everyone to work from home through Monday, and most people there are also heading north. The roads have been pretty crowded this far.
Click to expand...

Glad you guys are bugging out. I ain't yer dad but let us know when you arrive in ATL.
 
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#18
two fingers said:
Discuss...
1) Predictions?
2) Prep?
3) Grocery store shortages in your area?
4) Gasoline supply issues?
5) Floridians, are you alright? Are you staying or leaving?
Click to expand...

1) Harvey is proof that these are not predictable, no? Will predict anyone in the direct path or wet side or surge-affected area will no be happy. With Harvey, I kept hearing "Wobble Baby" in my head b/c that's what that storm did....all over the place.
2) Prep? Kinda late. Told bandmates Tuesday at our gig the week Harvey hit that they should be prepared for Allison 2 flooding. They laughed.
....more prep below
3) Grocery: only cleaned them out of a few cases of water and the local fuel stop for about 12 gallons of water. One SHOULD have food enough to live for weeks or months or a year with no resupply, but that's me and took "Be Prepared" seriously decades ago in the Scouts.
4) Gas supply? This was a minor issue. Our small gen runs about 8 to 12 hours on 4.3 gallons. We had about 30 gallons of fuel(2 to 3 days running 24/7 up to 5 or 6 days running 12 on 8 off ) and about 60 to 70 gallons in our vehicle tanks(with syphon pump). Social media helped locating local sources especially our county info pages. Gas went from $1.99 to $2.55 for regular overnight with a lot of places running out. For gen fuel without syphoning, we watched social media and then actually called the place alleged to have fuel to confirm prior to driving there and back.
5) Florida Folks My son's in-laws live in Broward County of south Florida. They are at his place now in northern Alabama. We did the same for my mother-in-law and relatives from New Orleans when Katrina was headed their way.

Final words: Cat 2 and above with all models, steering currents, and radars showing a direct hit on us, we're out(25 miles inland from the Gulf). For Harvey we were going to evac(as we did for Rita and Ike) but at the "deadline to get out safely", majority of models + radars+steering winds showed Corpus Christi to Rockport/Aransas Pass getting the direct hit so we stayed.

Harvey Experience:
We were 70 miles from Rockport when Harvey hit and fortunately it did not do the customary "turn northeast" at the last minute. 85 mph wind gusts, lots of rain but LESS than Tropical Storm Bill. Rain went east of us(Houston). We lived in 1 room on a small generator + 1 window unit + 12/3 extensions to let our freezer and refridge take turns so we saved them....for 3 days. For Claudette we were on gen-power for 2 weeks. This generator and the proper sized cords for your distance and current work fine(PS having an electrical engineering degree, voltmeters, and an amp clamp to verify loading helped): 3500W/4000W Generator, 196cc

Posts on this thread document some of our week+
Tropical Event Harvey 2017

Some useful sites for Irma:
Category 6
Tropical Tidbits
Mike's Weather Page... powered by Sparks Energy!
LSU Earth Scan Laboratory: NHC Tropical Outlook and Discussion
Navy/NRL TC_PAGES Page << use NHC forecast mostly but give path distance to cities in the cone
National Hurricane Center << guys who may evacuate soon if not already

Folks who fly perfectly good airplanes into Hell of Wind to get info for us all
NOAAHurricaneHunters (@NOAA_HurrHunter) | Twitter

Big picture of weather:
wxloop wv_east_enhanced 12
RAMMB/CIRA SLIDER: Satellite Loop Interactive Data Explorer in Real-time with GOES-16 and Himawari-8 Satellite Imagery << interactive but server is loaded up big time

Models you can run:
pivotalweather - GFS - MSLP, 10 m AGL Wind for Wed 2017-09-06 18z
Experimental forecast Tropical Cyclone Genesis Potential Fields << may go offline, FSU site

@two fingers and anyone on the path of Irma: be careful, be safe, and DO NOT BE STUPID
 
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#19
I am in central SC, so the worst here will be some flooding and power outages. Still, I can't even get a parking spot at the grocery store today. So, I didn't go. I really just needed dog food. Bread and milk. I must buy all the bread and milk.
 
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#20
I'm in Sarasota. "Had" two gigs this coming weekend on Bradenton Beach and Anna Maria. No official cancelation has come but common sense says not happening.

My brother and his wife are in Sint Maarten. He texted mid morning today "safe now".

My kids live in Naples and Tampa. The one in Naples is coming up here. We're prepped up and going to sit it out, unless we see something different tomorrow or Friday. We're in zone "e", so the last on the evac list.

Wind is the concern, but we're doing what we can.
 
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