Posts from — September 2010

Position: 28.2N 64.7W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northwest [340°] near 13 mph [20 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 100 mph [160 kph].
Wind Gusts: 120 mph [195 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 345 miles [555 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 90 miles [145 km].
Minimum central pressure: 945 mb.

Currently about 285 miles [459 km] South of Bermuda.

The aircraft has found that Igor is slightly weaker than anticipated due to an eyewall replacement cycle.

While the normal drop in strength caused by the eyewall replacement is good news, what is not good news for Bermuda is the failure of Igor to recurve as soon as had been predicted. One of the things about hurricanes that most people don’t realize is that they have four quadrants.

Using an analog clock face, the worst of any storm is found from 12 to 3. The Northeast quadrant has the strongest winds and the longest reach. Up until today, it looked like the storm was going to pass to the east of Bermuda, which meant the 9 to 12, Northwest quadrant would impact the island. That would have reduced the damage considerably.

Even though it doesn’t look like Igor will make a direct hit on Bermuda, a miss to the West is not as good news, as a miss to the East.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Bermuda

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Adrastos at First Draft suggests in his post, Tell Me About The Rabbits, George, that they should make a new movie version of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, only have women in the main roles of George and Lennie. Adrastos thinks that Christine O’Donnell, the newly nominated Republican candidate for the Senate in Delaware has been auditioning for the role of Lennie for years.

Ms O’Donnell has stated her belief that “scientists” have created mice with the brains of humans.

You really have to wonder where a rumor like that would start, but then I remembered an old animated movie of a children’s book, The Secret of NIMH, that is based on that assumption. It then occurred to me while thinking about Of Mice and Men, that the more recent animated series, Pinky and the Brain, contains both the altered mice and a similarity of the main charaters, i.e. Pinky Brain is superficially the character George, while Pinky has characteristics of Lennie.

When dealing with people who believe in conspiracy theories, one shouldn’t neglect cartoons. They are designed to appeal to children…

Position: 26.0N 49.2W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [300°] near 18 mph [30 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 70 mph [115 kph].
Wind Gusts: 80 mph [130 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 115 miles [185 km].
Minimum central pressure: 991 mb ↓.

Currently about 1535 miles [2470 km] West-Southwest of the Azores.

Cooling water and higher wind shear will weaken Julia over the next few days.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 24.6N 62.0W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [315°] near 13 mph [20 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 110 mph [175 kph].
Wind Gusts: 130 mph [210 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 345 miles [555 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 105 miles [170 km].
Minimum central pressure: 947 mb.

Currently about 560 miles [900 km] South-Southeast of Bermuda.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Bermuda

Igor is on track to “visit” Bermuda Sunday night. It is strengthening again.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 18.6N 97.4W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Southwest [250°] near 7 mph [11 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1000 mb ↑.

Currently about 55 miles [90 km] East-Southeast of Puebla, Mexico.

Karl made landfall at 11:30 AM CDT [1630 UTC] as a category 3 hurricane with 115 mph [185 kph] sustained winds and a pressure of 976mb about 10 miles [15 km] North of Veracruz. It has a relatively small wind field, but it is dumping rain, and there will be 6-9 feet of surge topped by waves battering the coast.

Mexico has canceled its coastal Warnings and Watches. Karl has reached the coastal mountains and is losing strength. It is expected to become a remnant low in the next 6 to 12 hours.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Just Relaxing

Nice day.

[Editor: KT enjoys some quiet time in the driveway as the other cats have wandered off to nap somewhere else.

Friday Ark

MSNBC reports on what sounds like a tornado in New York City.

One person dead when his car was struck by a tree. Roofs ripped off, trees up-rooted, 100 mph winds, hail.

I hope that city-dwellers like Elayne made it through without injury. It struck at the evening rush-hour.

Update: Elayne confirms: an F2 Tornado in Brooklyn.

Position: 23.5N 42.9W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [290°] near 24 mph [39 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 80 mph [130 kph].
Wind Gusts: 95 mph [155 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 115 miles [185 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 35 miles [ 55 km].
Minimum central pressure: 983 mb ↑.

Currently about 1375 miles [2210 km] Southwest of the Azores.

The closer Julia gets to Igor, the weaker the storm will become as the outflow from Igor increases the wind shear.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 22.0N 58.7W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [310°] near 9 mph [15 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 125 mph [205 kph].
Wind Gusts: 155 mph [250 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 290 miles [465 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 105 miles [165 km].
Minimum central pressure: 935 mb ↓.

Currently about 805 miles [1295 km] South-Southeast of Bermuda.

Igor just finished its second eyewall replacement. It had maintained its status as a category 4 hurricane since September 12 but finally dropped to a strong category 3 this afternoon.

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for Bermuda

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 19.7N 94.5W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [270°] near 9 mph [15 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 100 mph [160 kph].
Wind Gusts: 120 mph [195 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 105 miles [170 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 15 miles [ 30 km].
Minimum central pressure: 968 mb ↓.

Currently about 115 miles [185 km] East-Northeast of Veracruz, Mexico.

The pressure continues to drop which indicates strengthening. On its current track it should come ashore in the state of Veracruz tomorrow afternoon, but Tropical Storm conditions will be felt along the coast in the morning.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the coast of Mexico from Veracruz to Cabo Rojo

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for the coast of Mexico north of Cabo Rojo to La Cruz

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the coast of Mexico north of Cabo Rojo to La Cruz and the coast of Mexico south of Veracruz to Punta el Lagarto

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Día de la Independencia
Estados Unidos Mexicanos

¡Viva México!

Some background on 16 de Septiembre and El Grito de Dolores.

El Bicentenario de la Independencia de México.

Today is México’s Bicentennial.

A WWL report carried on CBS: Massive La. Fishkill Prompts Oil Spill Questions

It’s been a rough summer in some of the waters around Plaquemines Parish in Lousiana – first, hit by the oil spill, and now, hit with fish kills .

“This is an extremely large fish kill, and there are many species in there,” said Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser. “It’s not just one group of fish– it’s redfish and trout and flounder. All species have been identified in this fish kill.”

Plaquemines Parish officials spotted a massive fish kill on Friday. Hundreds of thousands of dead fish were floating west of the Mississippi River, in Bayou Chaland. It came several days after the discovery of starfish kill in nearby Barataria Bay. Then, on Monday, came the discovery of a dead baby whale near Venice.

The death of the starfish eliminates them as culprit in the empty oyster shells, and the death of the baby whale sheds doubt on the low oxygen level hypothesis, so you are sort of left with toxicity as a cause of these kills.

[Read more →]

There is nothing really new in the column, The media is in denial about its own failings. It covers the same complaints we have all had about the M$M and the crummy job they have been doing lately… well, except for the fact that it’s on the ABC site, complaining about the Australian media.

It is cold comfort to know that the Australians are also watching their media surrender reliable information on the altar of profits for corporations. When all of the “cost containment” comes from “production” the “product” will always suffer. The problem isn’t producing a product cheaper, it is producing a cheap product and expecting people to pay the same price for it.

Position: 20.2N 56.5W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [295°] near 9 mph [15 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 135 mph [215 kph].
Wind Gusts: 160 mph [255 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 240 miles [390 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 45 miles [ 75 km].
Minimum central pressure: 942 mb.

Currently about 980 miles [1580 km] Southeast of Bermuda.

If you don’t have to stay on Bermuda, now would be a good time to leave.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]