I wish this thing was hitting in daylight so I would have a better idea of what's going on once the power goes out.
I concur... being in the dark during 90+mph winds is not going to be fun at all! good thing I have night vision on one of my guns, hopefully I won't see a tornado heading for me while looking into the darkness.
Here's the latest Impact Weather alert. My company subscribes to these so I thought I'd pass em along. -------------------------------------------------- Hurricane Ike - Intermediate Advisory 42a Issued: 07:49 PM CDT Thursday September 11, 2008 At 7PM CDT, Hurricane Ike was located near 26.2N/89.9W or about 370 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas. Ike is moving to the west-northwest at 10-12 mph. Maximum sustained winds remain near 100 mph. Ike has continued to move steadily to the west-northwest over the past few hours. We expect Ike to remain on a general west-northwest track tonight as it is steered by a ridge of high pressure to the north of the hurricane. This ridge is expected to weaken some on Friday. A turn to a more northwesterly track is expected by Friday afternoon due to the influence of a low pressure trough over Texas. This will likely bring Ike to a landfall near the Bolivar Peninsula late tomorrow night or early Saturday morning. From there, we expect Ike to continue across eastern Galveston Bay and then move northward and weaken over eastern Texas. However, just a slight delay in the northwesterly turn could bring landfall further to the south near Freeport. If the turn begins early in the day on Friday, then Ike could make landfall further to the northeast towards the Sabine Pass area along the border of Texas and Louisiana. Though Ike has not increased in strength, there is still the potential that it will intensify to a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 115 to 120 mph on Friday. Ike continues to be a large hurricane with tropical storm force winds extending out about 230 miles to the northeast and east of the center and about 200 miles to the northwest of the center. Hurricane force winds extend out about 75 miles northeast and east of the center and about 30 miles to the northwest of the center. Tropical storm force winds are expected to begin along the Upper Texas Coast near 8-10 am on Friday with hurricane force winds expected by late Friday evening. Storm surge of up to 15 to 20 ft is expected from the Bolivar Peninsula to Sabine Pass on the current forecast track. This surge will occur rapidly late Friday night or early Saturday morning. Should Ike track further to the west and make landfall west of Galveston Bay, then a storm surge of up to 15 to 22 ft would be possible in Galveston Bay. Our next full advisory will be issued by 11PM CDT. Meteorologist: Mark Mathiesen
Tornadoes are the last thing to worry about my friend. Just pray you don't see a zombie running full speed at you while looking into the darkness.
That's the most frustrating part for me, Sitting in a house at night with no power while there's a hurricane blowing through. If you can at least see what's happening you'll know where you stand, otherwise you just have to guess at what's going on.
In the press conference that the city of Houston gave around one, one of the reporters asked if they recommended Corpus as a place to go to get away from the storm. The answer given was no, the conditions expected there due to the storm were still expected to be bad due to it's being on the coast, despite the fact the storm was no longer expected to hit Corpus directly. I'm not necessarily saying that Victoria would be better. If it was me though, I'd rather be closer to the storm but further inland rather than a little further away but on the coast.
That might be a welcomed sight, instead of worrying about if a street sign all the way from south Houston will be flying through the windows at 80 mph.
Absolutely -- with Corpus Christi, you're also talking about the side of the storm (west and south) where there isn't significant surge. I'd much rather go to Corpus than Victoria. For one, I can tell you from three years ago, most of the area around Victoria still was completely deserted on Friday. Second, I'd much rather go further south. Much. The chance of this hitting anywhere near Corpus is virtually non-existent, and you'll know for sure by the morning (far more than a politician at noon today). Of course no politician will recommend it -- it's the same reason why Louisiana officials didn't recommend going to Beaumont or even Houston during Gustav. They want the exposure of caring about their citizens for political gain, which to the uninformed viewer means getting away from the coast. Corpus in this storm is the equivalent of Beaumont/Houston during Gustav. It's the perfect place to go to avoid traffic and to have a good weekend. Highly doubtful you'll get more than even a half-inch of rain.
Or Cat, they don't want to be politician who sent people to their destruction as unlikely as it may be.
Sooooo anyone else here think that this thing will shift further east? It seems like a real possibility given the trend of the last couple of days.
Of course he won't say so, but I get vibes from Billingsley that he thinks it may end up tracking further north. He said the 10pm update should shed some light. I'm feeling a little better about Mo City.
Should I be alarmed that there is a Port-O-Potty right across the street from my house? Or, should I consider myself lucky seeing as I had Popeye's twice today...
Well, by "east" I meant "north". They haven't said anything about the ridge of high pressure coming in from the NW in awhile. Is it too late to order a big, fat Pacific cool front?
Fair point. Sometimes I forget that the general population isn't as tuned into the models as we are. It's completely safe for someone like us, because obviously we'd check the models constantly and devise a new plan if the 1 in a billion shot happened that the path were to change significantly enough for Corpus to have any impact. Obviously there are contingencies to everything, and it's easy to forget how uninformed a lot of people (not us, obviously) really are when it comes to this stuff.
There's a saying that helps. "Run from water, Hide from wind" Most of the injuries and deaths come from storm surge. Very few people get hurt from the wind, unless they live in a mobile home or very old house. Storm surge lasts for several hours and can stretch very far along the coast.
