Comments on: Inquiring Minds Want To Know

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:48:12 +0000

They got out, the question is whether anything will be above water when they return.

So far only some sloshing over the tops of the levees.

By: Kryten42

Kryten42 — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 06:20:17 +0000

I heard on our news this morning that they were evacuating NO. So it’s even making news here and there are a lot of well wishers.

I really hope everyone makes it OK. Good luck everyone.

Cheers!
Paul.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 02:35:13 +0000

I was thinking more of the rain, and proximity, Steve.

The outer bands are just starting to kick in, and the wind is getting a little gusty.

By: Steve Bates

Steve Bates — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 02:08:23 +0000

Bryan, it's still uncertain whether Houston will get anything really bad. Near landfall, at least, hurricane-force winds are forecast no closer than High Island; we're not liable to see the storm surge, and the primary danger to the city looks to be flooding in the middle of the week. Even so, the ground is nice and dry here lately. Of course there's all that wandering around that Gustav may do once it crosses into Texas from Louisiana well north of here; some models show it swinging back southwest toward us. But no one here is evacuating, and the local forecast mainly shows a lot of rain. This is another storm as peculiar as Fay. New Orleans is still the place apparently at greatest risk; I sincerely hope and pray everyone got out of there. BTW, a good source of Houston info for anyone who needs it is SciGuy's Gustav Archives in the Houston Chronicle web site. SciGuy (Eric Berger, the Chronicle's science editor) is an enthusiastic student of tropical weather, and he writes well.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:22:04 +0000

Every area has something, Kryten. At least these things give you some warning, and after a while there is less work to do. Some of the things I did prior to Fay, I just left in place while I watched to see what Gustav would do, so there is less work every time.

We would get tornados and hail storms in Wichita Falls, Texas. It was a good way to get a car you couldn’t normally afford, if you didn’t mind some dings, but you didn’t go out in them unless you owned a helmet.

We appreciate the thoughts.

By: Kryten42

Kryten42 — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:09:02 +0000

Makes me realise how fortunate I am here on the southern coast of Aus. We don’t have events like this. I have lived up north in tropical storm and cyclone areas, and whilst in the mid east, we had a severe sand storm, so I have experienced some of mother nature at her worst. Once, in Sydney, there was a hail storm that killed a couple people and destroyed vehicles and damaged many buildings as the hail were the size of golf balls and coming down fast and hard (was almost like a mini-meteor shower).

Good luck all. Be smart, be safe.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:17:19 +0000

The storm is going to have more affect on you, than me, Steve. We have been having such rainy weather this summer, that this is not going to be much different.

By: Steve Bates

Steve Bates — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:58:42 +0000

Be safe, Bryan and all of you in or near the panhandle.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:14:22 +0000

I wish I could help you out, Jack, but the models can’t figure it out. It is possible that after Gustav comes ashore and fades the steering models will start acting normally again, but right now the forecasters are frustrated by Hanna, and there are two Invests headed across the Atlantic to further muddy things up.

The only good news is that Hanna didn’t move close enough, about 900 miles, for the two storms to interact, because that situation generally boosts one or both of them.

She had to go to a school on the Atlantic Coast. She’s already seen the Pacific [we don’t have hurricanes] Coast. At least she didn’t choose New Orleans, Houston, or Miami.

At least she should own decent rain gear coming from Oregon, and tell her that only weirdo outsiders want to “experience” the wind and weather of a tropical event.

At the moment, and in the near term, it looks Hanna is just going to wobble around as a tropical storm.

By: Jack K., the Grumpy Forester

Jack K., the Grumpy Forester — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:43:12 +0000

…it’s horrible of me, I know, and I feel bad about it, but I am paying at least as much attention to Hanna. I’m scheduled to be putting my first-born on a plane Friday morning to fly back to college in Savannah and I’m having a bit of a problem with the concept of sending her off into the teeth of a possible hurricane landfall (I think the “How To Be A Parent” handbook has something in it about not doing this sort of thing)…

Of course, AirTran may solve the problem for me…