It’s late summer in Australia, and they aren’t worrying about snow and wind chills, they have tropical cyclones to deal with.

The state of Queensland on the east coast is preparing to get attacked by Cyclone Marcia, which is forecast to be a category 5 storm when it makes landfall.

The weather service is warning about possible core wind speeds of 295kph [185mph], high storm surge, and 300mm [a foot] of rainfall.

I’m worried about heating the house, they are worrying about having one. Officials are saying that any house built before the 1984 building code changes will probably be destroyed by the storm.

Update: The ABC is live blogging the storm and the damage it is causing.

Mustang Bobby showed the Miami weather with a wind chill advisory in effect. At 8AM here it was 31°F with a wind chill of 21°. This is not what we signed up for.

You elect Republicans to run things and you get oil spills and freezes 😈

Dave and Brian made it in early this morning. Ryne, Lance, and Kristin are sleeping away their 8-hour mandatory stop at Two Rivers. The only ones working are Rob and the Siberians who have made their way over Eagle Summit and are almost to Mile 101 with the Red Lantern.

At noon CST Rob is resting at Mile 101 while Ryne and Lance are on their way to the finish from Two Rivers.

The final four teams are all on the trail at 3PM CST.

Ryne finished at around 4PM.

Rob is at the top of Rosebud and ready to descend at 5PM CST. Lance is about 30 miles from the finish with Kristin about 30 miles behind him.

Rob is at Two Rivers for the mandatory 8-hour stop and Lance has finished his race.

The Official Standings are currently messed up.

The Current Standings at 8:30PM CST (5:30PM AKST):

Finish
1 Brent Sass (2) 2/17 1:52AM CST
2 Allen Moore (1) 2/17 3:06AM CST
3 Ed Hopkins (20) 2/17 11:02PM CST
4 Damon Alexander Tedford (7)^R 2/18 4:32AM CST
5 Hugh Neff (26) 2/18 6:11AM CST
6 Normand Casavant (3) 2/18 10:25AM CST
7 Jason Campeau (24)^R 2/18 4:43PM CST
8 Torsten Kohnert (14) 2/18 6:42PM CST
9 Nicholas Vanier (5)^R 2/18 9:44PM CST
10 Mike Ellis (22) 2/18 10:40PM CST
11 Dave Dalton (11) 2/19 2:43AM CST
12 Brian Wilmshurst (17) 2/19 5:24AM CST
13 Ryne Olson (16)^R 2/19 3:56PM CST
14 Lance Mackey (8) 2/19 8:23PM CST
Beyond Two Rivers
15 Kristin Knight Pace (12)^R
At Two Rivers
16 Rob Cooke (21)Φ
[Read more →]