hurricane coming...

Yeah, I am in the panhandle paying attention to that.

I got through it OK--we got a lot of rain, but nothing else.

Same

James! I didn't know you were a Floridian!

Yeah, I thought you were in NYC.

what if james temporarily left NYC to pay the panhandle a visit?

Ahem. Karl is correct.

Careful, that’s how they get you.

what if james temporarily left NYC to pay the panhandle a visit?

― Z_TBD (Karl Malone), Wednesday, July 7, 2021 8:45 PM (forty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ahem. Karl is correct.

― Planck Generation (James Redd and the Blecchs)

this happens so rarely I thought I was getting pwned

stay safe James and Alfred and all the rest, way down near Key West

I'm safe! Sipping coffee, reading Merwin.

Thanks! Not so bad over here. I am listening to Heaven or Las Vegas– but still don’t know what any of the words are!– and furiously typing Japanese into this app that Ed got me addicted to.

neanderthal, are you having as lovely as a hurricane as james and alfred??

seriously, you guys make it sound nice!

We got nada where I live. Just a liiiiiil wind

well, that does it. at breakfast tomorrow i'm telling my gal pals that i heard that it was really overblown, PUN INTENDED, and that climate change and increased strength of hurricanes is a hoax.

bring the Averna, Karl.

i've never tried Averna! is it like Campari? the labeling looks very similar

I thought Averna was a lotion

try it as a lube

Hey guys I tried Averna as a lotion, alcohol, lube, and vaccination and now I’m in the ft lauderdale defense hall of fame lobby

you always read about the versatility of Floridians

just realized I didn't post a single thing on social media about Irma, like, at all, from the moment it came into being. goes to show you how far off my radar it was compared to other distractions!

IRMA?

Elsa. jesus, I'm still traumatized by Irma. lol

Let it go, Nean.

I was the only person in the park who made any preparations whatsoever for this storm.

You can always depend on the versatility of Floridians
To fully adapt to a wide variety of situations

A Floridian is a can-do friend you haven't met

i like nean as a nickname, i may start peppering that in on occasion here too

People used to call me "Neaner" on the BBSes in 1995

Tracking Henri right now. Probably not going to go right over us, but definitely could be close.

Southeast Louisiana is bracing for a hurricane expected to land on Katrina's sweet 16.

Now forecasted to be a Cat 4 at landfall.

The only reason New Orleans isn't under mandatory evacuation is because the storm developed too fast for them to be able to implement contraflow. The hospitals are already stretched past capacity with COVID patients.

Good luck NOLA.

Really hope it doesn't hit as hard as is forecasted. Was in a briefing today with the team I work with down there and they are anticipating a bad week or two.

sounds bad

Be careful!!!

indeed. this is looking bad.

As daylight dawned on Hurricane Ida on Sunday morning, it revealed a picturesque storm. Its meteorological elegance belies an unfolding catastrophe that appears imminent.

Weather radar revealed that the eye was 15 miles wide. The eyewall, within which the most extreme winds reside, towered to 49,000 feet.

Hurricane Hunter aircraft penetrating the eye found extremely warm, dry air inside. In fact, temperatures spiked 15 degrees as the aircraft entered the eye at flight level. That represents the “warm core” nature of hurricanes. Hurricanes are essentially heat engines.

The dry air found inside the eye represents sinking. Air warms and dries as it subsides. In the strongest hurricanes, air rises quickly in the eyewall and sinks in the eye. That clears clouds out of the eye; the aircraft findings represent a strengthening storm. The Hurricane Hunters encountered significant turbulence inside the eye.

Crackling lightning was present around the eye. Overnight, an EEL, or Enveloped Eyewall Lightning signature, appeared. Hurricanes rarely feature the upward motion necessary to spark lightning. In this case, that upward motion represents continued intensification, and Ida is on the fringe of Category 5 status.

There was also some evidence of mesovortices, or smaller eddies within the eye. That can cause erratic changing winds within the inner eyewall.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/08/29/hurricane-ida-live-updates/#link-WQ4VL7S2V5BMZCTMBVJ5EOKJEQ

a picturesque storm

it revealed a picturesque storm. Its meteorological elegance belies an unfolding catastrophe that appears imminent.

"I admire its purity. A survivor... unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality."

i always thought of katrina as a category 5 - it was, when it was in the gulf, but then slightly weakened back to category 4 by the time it made landfall.

this one's on the edge of 5 and appears to be strengthening, still, as it approaches landfall. i guess that's well-known this morning but it appears to be quite different (worse) than what they expected yesterday

EYE OF A MONSTER: @NOAA's #GOES16🛰️gives an up-close look at the lightning swirling around the eye of #HurricaneIda, a dangerous Cat. 4 #hurricane, nearing the coast of southeastern #Louisiana. Updates: https://t.co/S9zyq5ZuZv #LAwx #MSwx #idahurricane #Ida pic.twitter.com/lhwYUy4DtN

— NOAA Satellites - Public Affairs (@NOAASatellitePA) August 29, 2021

i guess this is the EEL signature

My nerves can't take this.

I have friends there who weren't able to leave for various reasons, all my fingers crossed for them and the city.

Live cam on Bourbon St.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ziciboPx7w

Obviously it's still early and I by no means wish to handwave away the damage and destruction, but it seems a very encouraging sign that the levees and barriers seem to have held and performed well against this one.

indeed. i was feeling the schadenfreude possibility increasing every time i read about how officials weren't too worried about flooding this year because of the $15B in infrastructure since Katrina, etc

The worst of it for us is predicted to start in a couple of hours -- fingers crossed for our crappy roof.

good luck!

How did you fare, WmC? Hope you're safe!

Either it's slowed down so much that the worst of it hasn't hit us yet, or it completely blew itself out getting here. We've had rain all day but not much wind. The temperature drop has been wonderful. How has it gone for you? In the power outage zone?