During a conversation with family in New York I discovered that most of the small towns in the Catskills and Adirondacks didn’t know that there would be flash flooding in the mountains as a result of Irene.

I just didn’t understand that, because I’m sitting down on the Gulf Coast and I knew that this was a major flood event in the making, just based on Irene’s size. North of NYC you start climbing into the old mountain ranges of the Northeast, and after the wettest August on record in the area, there would be massive runoffs. You see it in Haiti and Central America every time a tropical storm passes through.

After thinking about it, it occurred to me, that the information was available, as I was looking at it on the National Weather Service sites, but it wasn’t being delivered. These little towns and villages don’t have much in the way of local media because they aren’t large enough markets to support radio or television stations, so there really wasn’t much access to information for the people who live there.

For those who had television access, it was probably satellite, and they would be watching the NYC stations, which would have NYC weather. If you lived on the wrong side of the hill, you wouldn’t be able to get satellite reception.

Rural America really hasn’t been included in the ‘Internet Age’.

Position: 23.4N 61.0W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [310°] near 13 mph [20 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 105 mph [165 kph].
Wind Gusts: 120 mph [195 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 175 miles [280 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 45 miles [ 75 km].
Minimum central pressure: 965 mb.

Currently about 385 miles [ 620 km] North-Northeast of the Leeward Islands.

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: 31.0N 91.4W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [060°] near 7 mph [11 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 990 mb ↑.

Currently inland about 55 miles [ 90 km] West-Southwest of McComb, Mississippi.

All Watches and Warnings have been discontinued.

No further advisories will be issued by the National Hurricane Center.

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.]