Comments on: Yo, ER… https://habitablezone.com/2022/09/26/yo-er-2/ Sun, 19 Apr 2026 04:50:17 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2022/09/26/yo-er-2/#comment-51071 ER Wed, 28 Sep 2022 00:32:15 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=97453#comment-51071 Ian is in the Gulf of Mexico, roughly 200 miles away, bearing about 250 degrees (just S of due W). It is gaining strength, just short of hurricane strength, this is a big storm, and it will get bigger. We could feel the initial signs while Ian was still S 0f Cuba, Conditions here in Fort Lauderdale are blustery, windy, with thunder and lightning. Its been raining all day. There have been reports of wind gusts into the 30s and 40s, but it is mostly about half of that, sustained. It will reach its closet point of approach, about a 100 miles away, early next morning. We'll be expecting our stormiest conditions here about then. If it remains on its present course, it will be pretty nasty here, but we're not expecting much damage. I haven't even lowered the storm shutters. The roads should be passable tomorrow if I really need to go anywhere, but I'm avoiding leaving the house unless I really have to. It is now expected to come ashore somewhere between Ft Meyers and Tampa as a category 3 or 4 storm. They are predicting heavy damage around landfall, both flooding and wind. As I write this, I can hear heavy wind and rain outside the house. Its what they call a "feeder band" passing over us, like the arm of a Grand Design spiral galaxy. The Carib Indians called it <em>Hurakan</em>, the storm god. I am perfectly safe, comfortable, I know exactly what is going on and what to expect, and I have all the tools of modern technology to help me keep track of it and to help me understand it. But it is still an awesome, humbling experience. What a magnificent planet we live on. Ian is in the Gulf of Mexico, roughly 200 miles away, bearing about 250 degrees (just S of due W). It is gaining strength, just short of hurricane strength, this is a big storm, and it will get bigger. We could feel the initial signs while Ian was still S 0f Cuba,

Conditions here in Fort Lauderdale are blustery, windy, with thunder and lightning. Its been raining all day. There have been reports of wind gusts into the 30s and 40s, but it is mostly about half of that, sustained. It will reach its closet point of approach, about a 100 miles away, early next morning. We’ll be expecting our stormiest conditions here about then. If it remains on its present course, it will be pretty nasty here, but we’re not expecting much damage. I haven’t even lowered the storm shutters.

The roads should be passable tomorrow if I really need to go anywhere, but I’m avoiding leaving the house unless I really have to. It is now expected to come ashore somewhere between Ft Meyers and Tampa as a category 3 or 4 storm. They are predicting heavy damage around landfall, both flooding and wind.

As I write this, I can hear heavy wind and rain outside the house. Its what they call a “feeder band” passing over us, like the arm of a Grand Design spiral galaxy.

The Carib Indians called it Hurakan, the storm god. I am perfectly safe, comfortable, I know exactly what is going on and what to expect, and I have all the tools of modern technology to help me keep track of it and to help me understand it. But it is still an awesome, humbling experience.

What a magnificent planet we live on.

]]> By: podrock https://habitablezone.com/2022/09/26/yo-er-2/#comment-51070 podrock Tue, 27 Sep 2022 20:38:23 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=97453#comment-51070 The forecast track of Ian takes it straight up north to crash as upslope into the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Piedmont. If it is still packed with moisture, and I think it will be, things could get interesting there. Upstate South Carolina and Georgia best be thinking about preparations as well. Hang in there, ER. Let us know how things are when you can. The forecast track of Ian takes it straight up north to crash as upslope into the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Piedmont. If it is still packed with moisture, and I think it will be, things could get interesting there. Upstate South Carolina and Georgia best be thinking about preparations as well.

Hang in there, ER. Let us know how things are when you can.

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2022/09/26/yo-er-2/#comment-51065 ER Tue, 27 Sep 2022 12:47:14 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=97453#comment-51065 My mother surviv3ed the great hurricane of 1921, which flattened Tampa. She was only a year old, but it was family legend. Her house was demolished, they found parts of the roof 4 miles away in the mangroves around McKay Bay, Every now and then we'd drive down to Palmetto Beach and she'd point out the pilings in the water, all that remained of the house (it was build over the water). The track of that storm was very similar to Ian's. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane_track.png/413px-1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane_track.png <img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane_track.png/413px-1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane_track.png" alt="" /> My mother surviv3ed the great hurricane of 1921, which flattened Tampa. She was only a year old, but it was family legend. Her house was demolished, they found parts of the roof 4 miles away in the mangroves around McKay Bay, Every now and then we’d drive down to Palmetto Beach and she’d point out the pilings in the water, all that remained of the house (it was build over the water).

The track of that storm was very similar to Ian’s.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane_track.png/413px-1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane_track.png

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2022/09/26/yo-er-2/#comment-51064 ER Tue, 27 Sep 2022 12:27:59 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=97453#comment-51064 We've taken the usual precautions. The models tell us Ian's going to miss us, but I don't trust them either; for one thing, they are too precise too far ahead of time. My house is 7 feet above sea level, but fortunately, I live 8 miles from the sea, and there is no history of rain flooding here in my neighborhood. Also, the Interstate is between us and the ocean and runs parallel to the coast, so it will act as a wall to protect us from storm surge. My house has storm shutters and doors, a new roof, and a fortified garage door, so we are ready for everything but the worst. We have to be, in the event of an evacuation, there are only two ways out of town, and they will be clogged with millions of people trying to escape. Evacuation is not an option. I can survive, I'm an old Cracker and know how to deal with these things, but my wife is frail and aged. I don't think she can survive 11 days without electricity like we did during the last big storm to come through here. This time of year the temperature stays between 80 and 90 day and night and the humidity is ghastly. We’ve taken the usual precautions. The models tell us Ian’s going to miss us, but I don’t trust them either; for one thing, they are too precise too far ahead of time.

My house is 7 feet above sea level, but fortunately, I live 8 miles from the sea, and there is no history of rain flooding here in my neighborhood. Also, the Interstate is between us and the ocean and runs parallel to the coast, so it will act as a wall to protect us from storm surge. My house has storm shutters and doors, a new roof, and a fortified garage door, so we are ready for everything but the worst.

We have to be, in the event of an evacuation, there are only two ways out of town, and they will be clogged with millions of people trying to escape. Evacuation is not an option.

I can survive, I’m an old Cracker and know how to deal with these things, but my wife is frail and aged. I don’t think she can survive 11 days without electricity like we did during the last big storm to come through here. This time of year the temperature stays between 80 and 90 day and night and the humidity is ghastly.

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