The Kaousuu Weather Network: Hurricane Earl

[Cain]

Meteorologists probably saw "Baal the Storm God" and decided Earl had more threatening connotations.

Wow, weird.  Okay, total honesty:  I picked "Baal" completely at random, and have never heard of that movie.

:confusedsmile:

You can see their point though, right?

[East Coast Hustle]

I'm actually disappointed that the hurricane named after my wife didn't make landfall. I had so  many jokes stocked up too.

If it makes you feel any better, it has made the return trip from the bahamas to VA fairly hellish. Our captain even got seasick, and he's pretty used to shit like this.

That's 2 hurricanes worth of waves, right there.

Some friends of ours wanted us to go to the beach yesterday to play in the surf from Danielle, which isn't going to be anything like what Earl is going to bring, but I can't BEGIN to talk about how bad of an idea it is anytime people think it's fun to swim in hurricane swells, because if you get caught in one of THOSE rips, you're done.

When I said, "HELL NO." They called me a pussy. Fine. I'd rather be called a pussy than risk drowning because of an obviously stupid choice. People die every year up here when we get storms that skip off of the Cape because they want to go in the surf, you'd think somehow they'd learn.

nah, we're too far north now to be getting anything from Earl yet. It's over STT right now and we're about to round Cape Hatteras.

and yeah, people who think it's fun to swim/surf in hurricane-driven waves are idiots, and frequently dead idiots.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

Our weather is gonna be really nice this week.
The storm is pulling all the moisture off the state so we've finally got some sun shining and there's a nice breeze.

However, the rip current in the ocean right now is BAD. My friend's buddy went surfing saturday and ended up way out further than he expected and found a man-less surfboard. Till he got closer and saw the other end of the leash.
Bad bad bad. Ended up hauling the guy back to shore. There was no saving him.

Stay out of the friggin water people. Please.

[Adios]

Our weather is gonna be really nice this week.
The storm is pulling all the moisture off the state so we've finally got some sun shining and there's a nice breeze.

However, the rip current in the ocean right now is BAD. My friend's buddy went surfing saturday and ended up way out further than he expected and found a man-less surfboard. Till he got closer and saw the other end of the leash.
Bad bad bad. Ended up hauling the guy back to shore. There was no saving him.

Stay out of the friggin water people. Please.

Holy shit. That sucks.

[Richter]

I have G+T left from this weekend (When DID Leln move those out.  Bloody ninja...), and rum courtesy of her.  So long as I'm not tapped for fmaiyl storm prep, and so long as the roomies have not devoured my frozen provisions like starved rats YET, I should be fine. 

If not, I'm going to run on the winds and hunt those who cross my path.  Should be winter for a proper Wendigo outing but why the hell not?

Our weather is gonna be really nice this week.
The storm is pulling all the moisture off the state so we've finally got some sun shining and there's a nice breeze.

However, the rip current in the ocean right now is BAD. My friend's buddy went surfing saturday and ended up way out further than he expected and found a man-less surfboard. Till he got closer and saw the other end of the leash.
Bad bad bad. Ended up hauling the guy back to shore. There was no saving him.

Stay out of the friggin water people. Please.

Damn : (

[East Coast Hustle]

What news I could get out of STT before communications went down was not good. Earl hit them as a category 4 with 135mph winds and stronger gusts, shearing off tornadoes on the mountainous parts of the island. People are losing their roofs, I don't even want to think about what's happening in the slums where people live in corrugated zinc shacks. They had gotten 5 inches of rain since this morning, flash flooding all over the island.

I don't even want to think about what's probably happened to my mom & stepdad's fruit orchards, I just hope they still have a roof.

[Suu]

Well, pardon my bluntness, but they DO live on an island where hurricanes hit constantly. RI is high risk, FL even more so, but a Caribbean island is like a target.

[East Coast Hustle]

All the cell towers must be down, I can't even get a voicemail or a message telling me I can't get through. Just nothing.

[East Coast Hustle]

Well, pardon my bluntness, but they DO live on an island where hurricanes hit constantly. RI is high risk, FL even more so, but a Caribbean island is like a target.

actually that part of the leeward islands is not on the usual hurricane paths. they almost always track south (the ones that end up in the gulf or hit mexico) or north (the ones that hit the carolinas). Before Hugo in '89 STT hadn't had a direct hit in over 50 years.

Also, when your family's lives and livelihood are in question "they live on an island, they should expect it" sounds kind of dickly. Just saying.

[Suu]

I thought they weren't getting a direct hit? The eye was north of PR last I looked.

[Suu]

Ah crap. Just checked the radars...He jumped 2 categories in 8 hours and going right into the Gulf Stream.

They moved the forecast models so we're in a higher percentage of being hit now on Friday night.

And happy birthday, Tropical Storm Fiona.

[East Coast Hustle]

the eye passed just to the north of STT and Tortola. Which is the only good news I can find as it means they were spared the northeast eyewall winds, which are always the worst. The real danger on STT (especially on the mountainous northside) isn't from the hurricane winds themselves, it's from the tornadoes that are sheared off and sent through the guts and valleys (you know, where people tend to build houses). All I know for now is that there are no communications with the island. Phone and internet are down and so is cell service. The last blog post I could find from anyone suggested that the storm was much more powerful than they were warned of, and that with the damage to the power infrastructure it would likely be months before electricity was fully restored. I don't get the impression that it's as bad as Hugo or Marilyn, but those were exceptional storms and even half of the damage that those caused would be alot of damage. It's not the states and doesn't have the resources of the states so even though on a personal level almost everyone is very aware of what's needed for hurricane preparedness, the infrastructure and resources to rebuild quickly just don't exist. Especially if there's damage to the airport and/or port facilities since everything has to be shipped in from elsewhere. If there is, again, a hint of good news it's that St. Croix seems to have escaped mostly untouched which means since they have a refinery that STT won't have to wait for gas to be shipped from the states. So people will at least be able to run their generators.

[Suu]

It's because it jumped two categories before they had a chance to know it.

[Eater of Clowns]

I hope everything turns out alright for your family in STT, ECH.

[Cain]

So when do we get the fiery oil/lightning storms Michael Bay promised us?