Time To Pay Attention
Hurricane Dean is not simply the first hurricane of the season, it is on track to become a major hurricane. It will smack into the Lesser Antilles around Dominica as a Cat 2 Friday morning and continue to strengthen as it crosses the Caribbean. It threatens the south coast of Hispaniola and will probably be a Cat 3 at Jamaica. On the current track it will be a Cat 4 smashing into the Yucatan Peninsula around Cozumel and exit into the Gulf as a Cat 1 hurricane.
Erin came ashore around Lamar, Texas and is moving to the northwest as a rain event, and Flossie losing strength in the cooler waters west of Hawaii.
9 comments
That looks nasty for the Caymans.
It looks nasty for any island. Right now it is compact and moving quickly, which is better that something like Katrina which was massive and slowed. I wouldn’t want to be on the Antilles for a Cat 1.
Cozumel is going to get blasted again.
This is looking like a rerun of hurricane Wilma in 2005.
Holy (expletive), that thing looks mean. I don’t want to be where it goes, and I don’t want to evacuate either, unless it is completely unavoidable. I don’t care if I am prepared for a moderate hurricane; I don’t want that one here. That wish and $4 will get me a fancy coffee drink at Starbucks.
OT, quite a few Houston neighborhoods and major roads are still flooded even though the rain mostly stopped here a couple of hours ago. We’ve had the wettest August in recent history even before Erin, and even if Dean came here as a mere tropical storm, with the ground as wet as it is now, I can’t help thinking of T.S. Allison.
I hate to say it, but the models are aiming for the mouth of the Rio Grande/Bravo again. So far it looks like it will track south of Erin, but it’s early yet. As much rain as you have had, it could get you from the back side as a tropical depression.
Yes, but according to the projections it’s projected to be a Category 4 right on top of the Caymans, which is considerably worse than it looks for any other island.
They are basically large reefs, with no freshwater. With sealevel rise expected as well they might not be much longer there anyhow.
If you imagine this ever happened before, if our history began on an island and far enough from any other land mass that our island was to us the whole world (surrounded by the ocean of chaos), would there not have been a “worldwide” flood but for someone building a boat?
From an editorial I found published today:
Whig, I’m not saying it wouldn’t be a good idea to get off the Cayman Islands because there’s now way of being sure how the steering will go this far out, but if the steering holds, Dean will pass south of the islands. Now, as currently configured Dean is a small, tight hurricane moving quickly, and the rapid intensification argues for it to remain small, but powerful, an oversized tornado.
If it slows its forward motion it will expand, but currently Jamaica may only get tropical storm force winds on its south side. I wouldn’t bet my life on it. The Caymans have no high ground, so I would leave.