No weather effects in Houston. I doubt there has been any ripple effect with respect to flight delays, but you can check your flight online.
Stephanie Abrams of the Weather channel is very cute. I wish she was still wearing the super tight T-shirt from a few days ago, as opposed to the rain suit she is wearing tonight. Ivan looks like a bad one. Glad it missed the Houston area.
Jeff, are there any theories as to why the season was more active than predicted? I read an article that says that Florida is due to enter into a cycle of heavy hurricane activity for the next several decades after a fairly quiet period in the last 30 years.
I've done a very stupid, stupid thing. Since my family is rather old, I returned early this morning to my boyhood home with the Mother of all Four Wheel Drive vehicles (my ancient International Harvester truck) and enough tools to rebuild Mobile when the need arises. I'll be down here for a few days to help my parents. I have a bad feeling that my Husqvarna chainsaw and winch will be needed come tomorrow. The winds are kicking up about 40 mph with a few gusts up to 60 mph (a rough estimate). The horrid howling noise I heard during Frederic has yet to manifest itself. It's raining like a b*stard out there. I'll be logging on to let y'all know what's up (we've got a generator) at regular intervals. If you guys are interested, you can watch the storm coverage from a local TV station here. Or you can check out the storm blog here.
I'm not sure which models you are getting your reports from, because Gizelle and Claudia Schiffer have the storm heading straight for Miami.
It's one of the 1000-1300 series from 1972, with a Cummins diesel, Allison transmission, suspension lift and plenty of other goodies.
All those cajuns and others who have come to Houston to escape Ivan can enjoy a great football game on Saturday for free! Only condition is that they must cheer for the undefeated Owls! Football: Rice Owls Offer Free Tickets To Ivan Refugees HOUSTON — Refugees from the path of Hurricane Ivan in Gulf Coast areas who are temporarily in the Houston area will be offered free tickets to Rice's Saturday night game against Hawaii, athletic director Bobby May announced Wednesday. Persons may take their Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama or Florida driver's licenses to Gate One at Rice Stadium at 5 pm Saturday to receive tickets for themselves and their families to the Owls' Western Athletic Conference opener. "We would like for the folks who have been displaced by this storm to have the option of a three-hour break Saturday night," added associate AD Mike Pedé. "All they have to do is produce proof of residency in one of the affected states." Rice (1-0) comes into the game with a four-game winning streak after its 10-7 victory over Houston in the season opener on Sept. 5. Hawaii, featuring Heisman Trophy hopeful Timmy Chang, is 0-1. Rice has seven players who hail from coastal areas in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, and head coach Ken Hatfield expressed concern for their families Wednesday. "We just hope everybody was able to get out and into a safe place," said Hatfield. "That's utmost on everybody's minds tonight." For more information on the ticket offer, call the Rice Athletic Ticket Office at 713-522-OWLS (6957).
The generator just kicked on as the lights flickered and went out. My parents have one of the natural gas-powered ones and I have another one ready to hook up that runs on gas in case natural gas service is disrupted. The trees outside my vantage point are going sideways from the view of my spotlight out the window. The winds have definitely picked up.
If this thing had made a direct hit on New Orleans I guess there would be 50,000 + deaths ~ seems ridiculous they are so unprepared... _______________ ..."I think it's safe to say we will have flooding in this city," said Mayor Ray Nagin. However, he contradicted a statement from his emergency preparedness director that the city needed at least 10,000 body bags to handle possible drowning victims. Of the roughly 2 million who fled the path of the storm, often in bumper-to-bumper caravans on highways turned into one-way evacuation routes, 1.2 million were from greater New Orleans. Thousands of tourists were believed stranded in New Orleans, along with 100,000 mostly inner-city residents without cars. The mayor advised them to resort to "vertical evacuations," suggesting they take shelter in buildings taller than two stories. If that is not possible, he said, they should go into an attic and take equipment with them that would allow them to cut through the roof and get out. full article
Sorry I didn't keep up with the thread...you decided to head to Mobile?!?!?!?! Man, GOOD LUCK with everything. I'm kind of jealous that UA has the rest of the week off. It's almost inconceivable that they are getting a real hurricane before I am. I'm not trying to sound competitive or dumb, and I hope everything is okay since my parents and friends are in Bama. They already cancelled all pregame football events on the quad and so was Parents Weekend. If they can't play Western Carolina on Saturday I doubt it will be rescheduled. I'm still hoping for the Bengal Tiger ass-whooping against Auburn. Now I get to watch out for Jeanne... STAY SAFE!
Well guys, I'm still alive. The howling got kicked off in the wee hours of the morning and just let up what seemed like a short, short time ago. Apparently, they shut off the natural gas temporarily, but during the height of the storm, we weren't exactly able to hook up my little gas generator. I don't scare easily, but the howling of the wind gnaws at you and shakes you to your very soul, especially when you hear objects striking the house and the sound of your shingles flying off the roof. My parents, grandparents, and several aunts, uncles and cousins sat huddled in the hall while the storm unfolded. In a little while, I'm going to venture outside and see what's left.
It actually isn't more active than predicted. They are right on course for the 14 storms they predicted in August - revised from the 16 they predicted in June. We've had more MAJOR storms hit the US coast than expected, but the main reason it has seemed busy is because all the storm have come one after the other in about six weeks.
Computer models for Jeanne show hit hitting anywhere from south Florida to southern North Carolina. http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200411_model.html
Glad to hear that you and your people are OK. Hope the damage isn't too bad. Man, did New Orleans dodge a bullet or what??
Thanks. My parents' house lost a few shingles, but amazingly enough, I didn't even need to use my chainsaw. When the rain finally passed, we raked up the yard and we're waiting for the all clear so we can check out the damage to my parents' vacation home in Orange Beach. Fortunately for us and unfortunately for the beach house, the storm took an eastward jog at landing (something CNN denied was going to happen and one of the local weathermen, David Glenn, called right on the nose. My wife watching the streaming coverage WPMI did on the internet last night while watching CNN observed that. Needless to say, she was relieved when I called her around 7 am our time and my kids were as pleased as I've ever heard them when I called. Barring any further problems or a great deal of must-repair damage to my parents' place in Orange Beach, they are coming back with me to North Georgia, where we are going to have to deal with the stationary remains of the storm, which will likely mean flooding. One of the small mountain streams that flow into the Chattahoochee before it turns into a major river south of Atlanta crosses my property and I'm afraid all of that rain will possibly flood out the valley we call home. New Orleans didn't just dodge a bullet. They dodged a damned 16-inch projectile. Check this link from the Times Picayune special section for what they dodged: Washing Away. But it's like I told my wife about Florida, statistically, not God's will or anything else, time is running out for New Orleans. Eventually, a storm will go over Ponchatrain and wash the lake into the town. To call it a catastrophe would be like saying a Rolls is a fairly nice car. It will be one of epic and biblical proportions, which is sad because A. it need not happen and B. I love visiting New Orleans and my family there. Nothing beats some hot chicory and beignets at the Cafe Du Monde or watching a band play at Tipitina's or the Saenger Theater. I've got to agree with you on the NO issue. Why can't they take a page for the Dutch, whom have been reclaiming land from the sea for years? I just hope we rectify the situation before it is too late.
