Hurricane Earl

[Foofoogal]

Praying for those on East Coast. N.Carolina etc.

Please stay safe. I am very familiar with Hurricanes all my life and they are not fun.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Thank you, Foofoogal. I plan to drive down to my house in Beaufort after work this evening. If the NHC's projected path proves accurate, the strongest winds will pass sixty or so miles east of Beaufort. Still, Earl's wind field is now so large, most N.C. coastal communities (including Beaufort) will experience hurricane force winds tonight.

As best I can recall, this is my eleventh hurricane....but my first Cat-4.

Post edit: As I was typing the above, the NHC was issuing the 2 PM EDT advisory. Earl is now only a Cat-3, which is very good news to hear.

AF

 

[Foofoogal]

hmm..a category 4 will rip off roofs and totally destroy mobile homes. [huh]
Keep us posted if you are able.

 

[Mid-fogey]

Well...

...we'll see. I've seen a few here and you never know.

 

[Silver Dollar]

Hurricanes make me sick. I've seen what they can do first hand with Andrew 18 years ago. Thank goodness the winds from Earl came down. Hopefully you'll stay on the western side of the hurricane where the winds are a bit less. That's what I used to hope for. The reason I live in Louisville now is because I couldn't stand living in northwest Florida or as we called it Hurricane Alley. I always wound up in the north east quadrant where all the bad stuff is. Just make sure you and the family get out safe.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Thankfully, Earl was not much of an event last night. Very little wind and rain in Beaufort and almost none in New Bern. Ol' Earl didn't even blow the pecans off my pecan tree.

I just wish the news media would reign themselves in when it comes to pre-hurricane sensationalism. When they work themselves into a hurricane frenzy...as they did before this storm...and then the storm fails to live up to their hyperbole, people begin to ignore the threat hurricanes pose. I'm guessing many people who have never experienced a real hurricane landfall are waking this morning asking themselves what all the fuss was about...and thinking that hurricanes aren't too bad after all.

AF

 

[Cricket]

Perhaps it was Hurricane Katrina, but even when I hear about a hurricane brewing, even if its nowhere near us, I start to get nervous.

I was so thankful to hear Earl has went from a cat. 4 to cat. 2 this morning over the news. Katrina was a cat. 4, and I was so worried about the east coast.

I hope all are safe, and let's hope the season ends quietly with all the other storms forming out there.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We ended up cancelling a concert tonight due to the Weather Channel-fueled hysteria, since we figured nobody would show up, and the grocery store is glutted with tourists buying duct tape and batteries. Me, I get a surprise night off, so I'm just going to go to bed early and hope there isn't a tree limb on my kitchen floor when I wake up. But I don't expect it to amount to much more than a whistle storm.

We had an actual hurricane hit here in 1991 -- Bob -- and I climbed up on the roof of a six story building to secure a satellite dish with clothesline so the radio station wouldn't lose its news feed. So this storm, such as it is, isn't going to scare me.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

The Midwestern cold front appearsmto have chased Earl east. While this is grand news I do wish we would have gotten the cooling rain that was promised.

O well. Back to sweltering here in Jersey

 

[Big Man]

... I just wish the news media would reign themselves in when it comes to pre-hurricane sensationalism. When they work themselves into a hurricane frenzy...as they did before this storm...and then the storm fails to live up to their hyperbole, people begin to ignore the threat hurricanes pose ...

Amen to that.

 

[Mr Vim]

My thoughts and prayers are to all my fellows in the Coast Guard on the East Coast...

and the news media? Man, is that old. I remember Jim Cantori (spelling?) from the Weather Channel being in Galveston for Hurricane Ike, before and after.

We used to shout at him to go home because he was bringing the storm with all his talk.

 

[Foofoogal]

Glad all are ok. It is a da** if they do or da** if they don't really with the news.
Over 100 people died in Houston traffic during last Hurricane as they waited too long. Had family in that mess.
Personally I am honking in the car about 3 days ahead of one. Been in a few and respect them. To me it is no different than a wall of fire headed to your home. They are still looking for many people in Galveston that were shown rockin and rollin at pre hurricane parties. I personally do not care what adults do in a situation like this but criminal to have children in them and not leave.

Been when they turned out to be duds but no one ever knows what these things do no matter how tech savvy weather gadgets get.
Hurricane Carla I think went out and back in about 3 times slamming the Texas coast.
Just my personal take on them. Just don't think police and fire people need to be saving people unnecessarily and putting themselves in harms way due to stupidity.

 

[Mid-fogey]

Having lived...

...through several, and having a dad who lived through several -- including the great hurricane of 1933, and the Ash Wednesday storm, no amount of false alarms will dull me to the threat.

We saw only moderate winds here on the peninsula, and only light rain.

 

[Boodles]

I was happy to hear the good news, Mr. Finch.

Thankfully, Earl was not much of an event last night. Very little wind and rain in Beaufort and almost none in New Bern. Ol' Earl didn't even blow the pecans off my pecan tree.

I just wish the news media would reign themselves in when it comes to pre-hurricane sensationalism. When they work themselves into a hurricane frenzy...as they did before this storm...and then the storm fails to live up to their hyperbole, people begin to ignore the threat hurricanes pose. I'm guessing many people who have never experienced a real hurricane landfall are waking this morning asking themselves what all the fuss was about...and thinking that hurricanes aren't too bad after all.
AF

I was happy to hear the news that Earl took a favorable right turn. The night before on the TV there was "Hurricane" Jim Cantore in Buxton or Hatteras or both. I feared the worse. That guy has a knack for showing up in the impact zone.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Thanks, Boodles.

Now TS Igor has formed and the local media is already in the first stage of "hurricane frenzy". Last night, one news person led her story with, "A new tropical storm has formed...Igor...and he's got his eye set on eastern North Carolina!" Never mind that the storm is just off the African coast at 25 degrees West...as the gull flies, well over three thousand miles from here!

AF

 

[Foofoogal]

I do understand what you mean Atticus though. I may not of sounded like that earlier.

The funniest thing ever with the hurricanes was I was watching the news one time a few days before one and a local news lady was watching a coke can on the ground barely rolling and acting like it was a zillion miles an hour. It was hilarious.
The one that just hit by Corpus made a mess of Texas with flooding though.

 

[ClaraB]

I'm guessing many people who have never experienced a real hurricane landfall are waking this morning asking themselves what all the fuss was about...and thinking that hurricanes aren't too bad after all.

AF

Little behind on this as it's been ages since I've visited the lounge, but I just wanted to jump in and say that I think you really hit the nail on the head with this one, Mr. Finch.
Earl was my first hurricane ever and living 2 miles from the ocean, I was quite concerned. Heck I've been in blizzards, floods and even rode out a "micro burst" while camping, but this hurricane had me worked into a frenzy.
As Earl approached I took proper precautions, gathered the necessary items, brought anything that couldn't be anchored down outside, and packed a bag in case they called for an evacuation. And then Earl turned and I relaxed a bit and waited for the wind and rain that was supposed to come.
I went to bed that night still expecting to wake up to some damage, branches down, maybe some flooding. Needless to say I woke up to nothing unusual, things were just as they had been when I went to bed, in fact it was a beautiful morning.
I was actually a bit disappointed, to tell you the truth.

What I've learned from Earl is not that hurricanes aren't all that bad, or that they shouldn't be taken seriously, but that the news media is just terrible and capable of whipping me and everyone else into a frenzy. Next hurricane that approaches I will still take seriously but I may pay a little less attention to what the weather channel and local news is saying about the storm, I think all that panic they create is bad for my health

 

[Silver Dollar]

Little behind on this as it's been ages since I've visited the lounge, but I just wanted to jump in and say that I think you really hit the nail on the head with this one, Mr. Finch.
Earl was my first hurricane ever and living 2 miles from the ocean, I was quite concerned. Heck I've been in blizzards, floods and even rode out a "micro burst" while camping, but this hurricane had me worked into a frenzy.
As Earl approached I took proper precautions, gathered the necessary items, brought anything that couldn't be anchored down outside, and packed a bag in case they called for an evacuation. And then Earl turned and I relaxed a bit and waited for the wind and rain that was supposed to come.
I went to bed that night still expecting to wake up to some damage, branches down, maybe some flooding. Needless to say I woke up to nothing unusual, things were just as they had been when I went to bed, in fact it was a beautiful morning.
I was actually a bit disappointed, to tell you the truth.

What I've learned from Earl is not that hurricanes aren't all that bad, or that they shouldn't be taken seriously, but that the news media is just terrible and capable of whipping me and everyone else into a frenzy. Next hurricane that approaches I will still take seriously but I may pay a little less attention to what the weather channel and local news is saying about the storm, I think all that panic they create is bad for my health

Those like myself who have been through several hurricanes know exactly what to do and exactly what to expect. We're never disappointed when the conditions are not as bad as they made it sound. We just say Thank God we didn't get it. True, they do whip you up into more of a frenzy than they really should but no matter what they do or how crazy or lax they get, there are always about the same number of folks who take things seriously and those who blow the whole thing off. During Hurricane Ivan, a large number of people died in Florida because of inadequate preparation and waiting too long to do something about it. Katrina was way worse. The main thing is to be prepared to ride one out or evac to a safe location when necessary or know what actions to take during the clean up. That way although you may lose material possessions, you won't lose your life.

 

[davestlouis]

My only personal experience with hurricanes was Agnes in 1972...we lived in Ohio, but were vacationing in Florida. We cut the trip short, and got the heck out of Florida before it hit. All I remember was lots of rain, sitting in the back of my dad's 69 Olds Delta 88, and my parents sounding nervous when they were talking to other adults.