hurricane coming...

My debate now is whether to ride the storm by myself or stay with my parents, who don't live far away. I already have cabin fever, and I'm not sure how much longer I can take being in my apartment alone when we still got about forty hours before the storm begins.

My folks are 87 in (very) low country sc, my mom had room reserved inland starting fri and f'ing cancelled it because "I've been watching reports closely and we don't need to be there until Sunday and I don't want to pay extra." I am pretty mad.

sorry, hunt3r -- hopefully your parents are inland enough that they won't get the worst of it

neanderthal and alfred, suppressing all my paternalistic urges to scold you for staying and just wishing the best for your safety and the same for your family

My mother was due to fly to Miami this afternoon on her way to Chile. That's obv not happening any more.

To all ilxors in storm's path : thinking of you, and wishing you well and safe on the other side.

Well, it's harder to leave if you have dependents. I'm not in a flood/evacuation zone either.

thanks everybody for your thoughts. we heard from my cousins in st. john. one text - "we are okay. st. john is devastated"

to all ilxors in storm's path : thinking of you, and wishing you well and safe on the other side.

same. <3 to you all

Indeed.

barbuda, jeez

The aim is to get everyone off the island in the next few hours. It's a race against time before Jose comes through pic.twitter.com/79QFa7IK2h

— Laura Bicker (@BBCLBicker) September 8, 2017

times ran a piece about how much more powerful these storms are than a nuclear bomb; that kind of footage gives the abstract terrifying clarity

There's very few instances when I want a smartphone. This is one of them. It'd be nice to check on updates during the storm without power.

cell coverage may not be too reliable

at least there was no tsunami after the Mexican quake, right?

So the current track looks like it goes right up the middle of the state. Has Florida ever had a hurricane that did that? Trying to get some historical context here.

I should be fine overall, the winds will be bad but survivable and we have supplies. Most in Orlando are staying. ultimately I suppressed the urge to bolt because I woulda had anxiety attacks leaving my folks back here and my dad was stuck here for work. if they were still out of state I probably woulda headed out yesterday.

the bad advice bugging me is "don't go now - the roads are too jammed, you'll never make it". I know tons of people that got out of FL yesterday. the traffic is bad, but it is not THAT bad. definitely getting to the point where you need to make up your mind immediately but I hate when people circulate bad info.

brownie - I think Hurricane Donna in 1960? it's definitely not a usual track.

lucky me, my fridge was empty #bachelorlivin

So it looks like my dad will be hosting a few friends whose houses are not as stable as his (single pour concrete home with a tornado/storm safe room which is actually more like a safe closet). He just had a knee replacement about 6 weeks ago so I'm glad he's going to have people around to help out should anything happen. That said, it sounds like they've prepared as much as possible.

He's on the Atlantic coast of FL about 1/2 way (maybe a little more) dowmn.

I should be fine overall, the winds will be bad but survivable and we have supplies. Most in Orlando are staying. ultimately I suppressed the urge to bolt because I woulda had anxiety attacks leaving my folks back here and my dad was stuck here for work. if they were still out of state I probably woulda headed out yesterday.

the bad advice bugging me is "don't go now - the roads are too jammed, you'll never make it". I know tons of people that got out of FL yesterday. the traffic is bad, but it is not THAT bad. definitely getting to the point where you need to make up your mind immediately but I hate when people circulate bad info.

brownie - I think Hurricane Donna in 1960? it's definitely not a usual track.

― Neanderthal, Friday, September 8, 2017 12:38 PM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

are the roads bad past midnight too?

xpost thinking good thoughts for yr dad (and you) <3

tbh i stopped checking, but I don't think the traffic took a break in the wee hours.

when I briefly thought of going to Tennessee yesterday it was a two hour delay.

I think the traffic is worse for people evacuating from South Florida because they have a lot further to go. JetBlue *had* $99 flights, kicking myself for not finding that earlier and going to NYC for an unexpected vacay.

xpost ENBB best wishes for your fam!

x-posts - Thanks VG. <3

Thanks and likewise, Neanderthal. Stay safe.

A friend from Miami just recommended this article -- it lists both starting points for charitable giving in Miami but also a slew of options for where Irma's already caused problems in the Caribbean.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article171986092.html

- I think Hurricane Donna in 1960? it's definitely not a usual track.

yep

By the way, to keep my sanity I've been blogging some updates and will likely keep doing so until time runs out.

friends in Gainesville who were booked on American just had their flight cancelled

that's why I was afraid to book a last minute flight yesterday :(.

is it going to get rescheduled? hate the thought of thinking you're getting out only to have that happen.

our airport is stopping flights at 5 pm tomorrow apparently.

he was gonna try to reschedule for Tuesday "if there still is a Gainesville airport"

latest Euro model even further west. GFS starting to fall in line. how far west? who knows.

I'm hoping the intensity prediction doesn't shift to more powerful. not easy to predict that.

Erica, Alfred, Neanderthal, and all others weathering this or who have loved ones there: please be safe. Sending good thoughts <3

feel like I need to post what I'm drinking throughout the night.

thinking this is a good St Bernardus ABT 12 occasion

Stay Safe Florida Folks!

Florida can hanld eit they are hurricane experts

These photos from space of Barbuda are sobering but it appears they've evacuated the entire island now

Catastrophic damage on #Barbuda can be seen from space. Entire island stripped of tropical foliage and left brown. #Irma https://t.co/IZ5EKvvuoA

— Brenden Moses (@Cyclonebiskit) September 8, 2017

BREAKING: AP Exclusive: Miami detaining homeless against their will to shelter from the storm.

— The Associated Press (@AP) September 8, 2017

good

So! The trend's looking slightly better for southeast Florida: Irma keeps inching west. Now the keys, Key West specifically, are in a bowl of shit. The west coast up through Tampa-St. Pete looks like it's gonna get it.

Xposts is Gainesville gonna be in trouble? I thought they'd have only a marginal effect. My best friend lives there

Gainesville is about as inland as you can get in Florida, but they're likely to get torrential rain and 70+ mph winds.

otoh who fucking knows. We will late Sunday.

yeah this thing ain't done shifting I don't think. I'm preparing for 100+ mph wind gusts, if we don't get that, that's a win IMO.

4 pack of St Bernardus acquired

(we aren't currently projected to get that, mind you - just what i'm preparing for).

our local meteorologist told us he's not evacuating and that it's better for us to just hunker down since we're in no real danger of life-threatening flooding here

Strongest winds are northeast of the eye, no?

Storm surge too, but that's not a factor where I live.

yeah, Orlando is on the stronger side of the storm. the original track pre-5 pm yesterday had us on the weaker side. we're projected to get hurricane force winds currently of Cat 1 strength (maybe lower 2)

I've been through that before, but with Charley that thing was zipping at 20 mph so it wasn't for as long. Currently gearing up to be the strongest one I've ever been through.

I miss the 90s. when all the hurricanes were CAt 1 pussies.

(well obv except for Andrew, just meaning there weren't so many juggernauts out there in one season)

no idea if this is incorporating 5 pm track, but...neat lil site. layout's a little confusing, the defaults election clearly states the speed is in "knots" but if you look at the bottom it's actually mph.

https://digital.weather.gov/?zoom=6&lat=27.06051&lon=-80.20394&layers=F00B0TTTTTT®ion=0&element=10&mxmz=false&barbs=true&subl=TFFFF&units=english&wunits=english&coords=latlon&tunits=localt

latest forecast sayin maybe only cat 1 winds and it's overnight Monday. woohoo sleep through it!

(for where I'm at obv)....if it keeps going west, who knows.

feel like at this point the 11 pm forecast will say it's going to hit San Jose