Posts from — September 2008

SilentPatriot at Crooks and Liars is misinforming people in the post on Montgomery county, Virginia election officials warning students:

It reads, in part: “The Code of Virginia states that a student must declare a legal residence in order to register. A legal residence can be either a student’s permanent address from home or their current college residence. By making Montgomery County your permanent residence, you have declared your independence from your parents and can no longer be claimed as a dependent on their income tax filings — check with your tax professional. If you have a scholarship attached to your former residence, you could lose this funding. And, if you change your registration to Montgomery County, Virginia Code requires you to change your driver’s license and car registration to your present address within 30 days.”

The information on the taxes can vary, but is often true depending on the way taxes are filed. You need to consult your parents before you do it.

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Position: 24.9 N 86.7 W. [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC]
Movement: Northwest [315°] near 7 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 100 mph [160 kph].
Wind Gusts: 120 mph.
Hurricane Wind Radius: 115 miles [185 km].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 205 miles.
Minimum central pressure: 944 mb ↓. [still dropping!]

It is 325 miles South-Southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi and 675 miles East of Brownsville, Texas.

At 4 PM CDT…2100 UTC…a Tropical Storm Warning has been issued from the mouth of the Mississippi River westward to Cameron Louisiana. A Tropical Storm Warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected within the warning area within the next 24 hours.

At 4 PM CDT…a Hurricane Watch has been issued from Cameron westward to Port Mansfield Texas. Hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area by Friday.

The site has been down for three hours because at data base server went down.

Today has not been a good day since 3AM.

While I’ve been watching hurricanes both Cookie Jill and Fallenmonk managed to get a year older.

Position: 23.3 N 84.6 W. [1 AM CDT 0600 UTC]
Movement: West-Northwest [300°] near 7 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 80 mph.
Wind Gusts: 90 mph.
Hurricane Wind Radius: 35 miles.
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 175 miles.
Minimum central pressure: 967 mb.

It is 100 miles North-Northeast of Cabo San Antonio on the western tip of Cuba.

It came ashore in the province of Pinar del Rio at 9:30AM CDT [1430 UTC]. It is crossing some of the same areas devastated by the passage of Hurricane Gustav on August 30 with Category 4 winds.

UPDATE: This is the new data through the 8^th, and they have shifted down from a top temperature of 33° to 32°. There is still a huge pool of warmer water in the Western Gulf.

This is what the Gulf looked like on the 6^th, and based on the new track forecasting for Ike which is pointing at central to south Texas, it isn’t good news for weakening the storm prior to landfall unless it is really moving slowly and churns up the Gulf, bringing up the cooler water underneath.

There is a ridge of high pressure that currently runs from Brownsville, Texas [26N,97W] across the Gulf to the Atlantic East of Lake Okeechobee [27N,81W -the big dot on the maps of South Florida]. Ike will be bouncing along that ridge, which is why all of the tracks now turn the storm from West-Northwest to West after it enters the Gulf.

Southern Command is reporting the diversion of the USS Kearsarge, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, to Haiti to assist in the relief operations on the island nation as the result of being hit or sideswiped by four tropical cyclones.

Dr. Jeff Masters recommended the Lambi Fund of Haiti if you would like to donate to the recovery because the Fund doesn’t just provide immediate relief, but has programs to remediate some of the environmental damage that makes heavy rain in Haiti so devastating.

Go over to MSNBC and read ‘Water bear’ survives naked in space

A tiny, six-legged critter that can suspend all biological activity in extreme environments survived a journey to space that would have instantly killed any human and most other life forms.

In the first test of its kind, researchers exposed the hardy segmented creatures, called “water bears,” to the open and harsh vacuum of space, with all its deadly radiation, on a spacecraft in low-Earth orbit. Many of them survived.

The definition of the environment necessary for life keeps changing.

Position: 21.9 N 81.5 W. [1 AM CDT 0600 UTC]
Movement: West-Northwest [290°] near 13 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 80 mph.
Wind Gusts: 95 mph.
Hurricane Wind Radius: 35 miles.
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 175 miles.
Minimum central pressure: 967 mb.

It is just offshore just South of the Zapata Peninsula.

It is moving along the Southern Coast of Cuba and is expected to go ashore on the Western tip of the island tomorrow.

CBC reports that Vote set for Oct. 14: Harper expects tight, tough election

Canadians will head to the polls in a general election on Oct. 14, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Sunday in Ottawa after meeting with the Governor General.

Harper made the announcement outside Rideau Hall after his conversation with Michaëlle Jean.

“Her Excellency, the Governor General, has seen fit to dissolve Parliament,” he said.

“Between now and Oct. 14, Canadians will choose a government to look out for their interests at a time of global economic trouble,” Harper said.
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CNN just noticed: Lack of electricity may complicate new evacuations

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The federal government is “working with great urgency” to restore one-third of the households in Louisiana that still have no power days after after Hurricane Gustav, the chief of Homeland Security said Friday.

With Hurricane Ike possibly heading toward the Gulf Coast, the lack of electricity could greatly complicate possible evacuations.

“One of the concerns we had … was making sure we got enough power up, particularly in the gas stations, so that if people did need to leave again, they could gas their car up and they could go,” Chertoff said Friday.

Power has been restored to some gasoline stations in Louisiana, and Chertoff said fuel trucks capable of pumping gas directly into cars may be an alternative for other drivers.
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While I suspect that she may be a little late in posting anything because of the visit from Tropical Storm Hanna yesterday. today is the sixth blogiversary™ for Pen-Elayne on the Web.

Position: 21.2 N 76.6 W. [1 AM CDT]
Movement: West [270°] near 13 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 120 mph.
Wind Gusts: 150 mph.
Hurricane Wind Radius: 60 miles.
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles.
Minimum central pressure: 945 mb.

It is just inland on the North coast of Cuba in the province of Las Tunas about 85 miles East of Camaguey.

The sustained winds are down, but so is the pressure which is counter-intuitive. The aircraft have found an outer eyewall which indicates the storm is going through an eyewall replacement cycle. This explains the situation. The inner eyewall is collapsing and it will be replaced by the outer, but that weakens the storm for a while. This is good news because it is about to strike Cuba and if it begins its transit over Cuba as a weaker storm, it will be much harder for it to rebuild after it enters the Gulf. No guarantees, but things look better than they did at 1PM.

Position: 42.6 N 70.0 W. [4 AM CDT]
Movement: Northeast [050°] near 36 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph.
Wind Gusts: 65 mph.
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 200 miles.
Minimum central pressure: 995 mb.

It is 60 miles North of Chatham, Massachusetts.

Hanna is now extratropical and this is the final advisory.