Hurricane Gustav

With the overnight SW jog, I am seeing the same thing as the NHC, which is west of NOLA on Tuesday am.

This sounds Rita like. I am heading to Houston today or tomorrow. Good thing in case I need to evacuate PawPaw.

After 2 evacuations, we put little bright orange stickers on the files we'd need to take with us. Easy to grab and go. Back up those computer files on an external hard drive and take that with you too. If you have a laptop, definitely take that to check on what's happening and connect to SoWal.

And if you dont have an external hard drive you can just take the internal one with you. They are quite easy to unplug and small enough to fit in a purse. I have done this on several occasions.

I stopped about 30 minutes above Lafayette, La. yesterday to buy more water and batteries. They were already out, completely. :shock: I am guessing people here are gun shy, with good reason. Mr. IBD is headed to Grande Isle to bring back a boat and I was told that they are buttoning up the oil platforms today and evacuating them. So much for a nice weekend in NO for Labor Day...

We are ready....

You can always follow us back to the ATL. . .we're going to be in Sowal over the weekend and I guess driving back in the rain.

Beachmom/Punzy -- where ever you go, don't forget to stop and get GAS!!!

HA!HA!...Everybody's a comedian!!!

Wait, the Dargs can't leave, we were evacuating there!

Wait, the Dargs can't leave, we were evacuating there!

No worries, I'll let you stay there with me. ;-) I have already made reservations at the Darghotel if they leave.

Maybe a silly question but how far does one need to go to off the coast to get to safety?

well, you can join us at the bay and be okay in most cases. but if its predicted to be cat III or above we evacuate to Bham (family) where it always follows and we still end up in a storm and without power. many friends head over to Disney for a funn family vacay.

well, you can join us at the bay and be okay in most cases. but if its predicted to be cat III or above we evacuate to Bham (family) where it always follows and we still end up in a storm and without power. many friends head over to Disney for a funn family vacay.

Nobody around here does that anymore, not after Charley! :shock:

No worries, I'll let you stay there with me. ;-) I have already made reservations at the Darghotel if they leave.

But I was counting on Dargaritas to ward off the humid electricless state.

But I was counting on Dargaritas to ward off the humid electricless state.

Hmm, I understand. But as far as electricless, that's not a problem. I come prepared. My generator will power a fan, the fridge, tv and cable box or satellite, two lamps and a window air conditioner unit so it's not too bad.

OK, so I am listening to WWL this morning and the meteorologist is saying that the track changed so much overnight because the National Hurricane Center didn't have the true center of the storm correct yesterday (yet another thing we can blame on George Bush;-)). She opined that our first realistic track would be coming out later today.
If you are interested in 24/7 hurricane hysteria you can stream WWL here: http://www.wwl.com/

OK, so I am listening to WWL this morning and the meteorologist is saying that the track changed so much overnight because the National Hurricane Center didn't have the true center of the storm correct yesterday (yet another thing we can blame on George Bush;-)). She opined that our first realistic track would be coming out later today.
If you are interested in 24/7 hurricane hysteria you can stream WWL here: http://www.wwl.com/

hurricane hysteria I just wanna see some football!!

No worries, I'll let you stay there with me. ;-) I have already made reservations at the Darghotel if they leave.

well, you can join us at the bay and be okay in most cases. but if its predicted to be cat III or above we evacuate to Bham (family) where it always follows and we still end up in a storm and without power. many friends head over to Disney for a funn family vacay.

I am already worn out from messing with Gustav.

I am already worn out from messing with Gustav.

I wouldn't be packing my bags yet; however, early planning reservations are good.

Hey, if you evacuate will you leave Skunky, Punzy and I some Dargaritas in the fridge. :funn: Sorry, I had to do it.

One way to keep important papers & photos safe and easily accessible is to put them on a disk or the internet. You can easily scan documents and have a disk w/ pdfs instead of a stack of paper.

I have a dedicated gmail address that I email my pictures to for additional backup.

Local weatherman reminded us last night that 5-day-out predictions have an average error of 300 miles. Wonder what the average error is for 4 days out. . . . .

Local weatherman reminded us last night that 5-day-out predictions have an average error of 300 miles. Wonder what the average error is for 4 days out. . . . .

I would think the room for error decreases with time. I have often noticed that many Hurricanes like to take a quick right just before landfall.

Local weatherman reminded us last night that 5-day-out predictions have an average error of 300 miles. Wonder what the average error is for 4 days out. . . . .

Yep, 5 days out they were saying Katrina would make landfall in Seagrove Beach, so I take most of their early predictions w/ a shaker of salt!

Maybe a silly question but how far does one need to go to off the coast to get to safety?

BeachSi02 called it, going north, expect heavy rains, possible flooding, tornadoes, power outages, far up into Alabama and GA.

With Hurricane Ivan, there was really bad flooding around Asheville, North Carolina. Sometimes tornadoes and inland flooding are far more dangerous than the coast. ...

Funny you say that. I left town for Ivan, and went back to my former home of Asheville for a week. We got heavy rains, light winds for about three or four days. It was the most rainfall in over 100 years. I have photos of Biltmore Village completely underwater. The French-Broad River was about to top the really tall bridge. I waited long enough, and when the rain stopped, I decided to head back to FL to see if I had a house. I was trapped. Couldn't go my usual way home through Biltmore Village. River Road was also under water. Tried to go leave via the west side of town, trapped again. East route of town also flooded by the river, so I had to drive north and scoot around Asheville -- crazy.

Local weatherman reminded us last night that 5-day-out predictions have an average error of 300 miles. Wonder what the average error is for 4 days out. . . . .

I would think the room for error decreases with time. I have often noticed that many Hurricanes like to take a quick right just before landfall.

Yeah, I don't recall any predictions that included the little south/southwest jaunt it took last night! :roll:

Yeah, I don't recall any predictions that included the little south/southwest jaunt it took last night! :roll:

It the sowal collective unconscious making the push. Let's keep it up, folks.

I wouldn't be packing my bags yet; however, early planning reservations are good.

Hey, if you evacuate will you leave Skunky, Punzy and I some Dargaritas in the fridge. :funn: Sorry, I had to do it.

Sorry- the tequila will be with me!!

One more suggestion if you evacuate- power surges as the grid goes down can zap a lot of home electronics. Unplug and then trip the breakers for everything except for two things- a) the refridgerator and b) the outlet nearest the phone jack. Get a cheap old school answering machine that requires the power to be on in order to give the 'Hi, this is the Funn residence' and you've got an easy way to check the status of the electrical grid when you're away from home.

OK, so I am listening to WWL this morning and the meteorologist is saying that the track changed so much overnight because the National Hurricane Center didn't have the true center of the storm correct yesterday (yet another thing we can blame on George Bush;-)). She opined that our first realistic track would be coming out later today.

That is just completely nutso. Was she suggesting that NHC faked the data from the hurricane hunter flights? Or perhaps they faked the satellite passes too?
And all the other data that not just the NHC but private services use to work up a track? Why would anyone think that?
True enough the NHC could sure use some more money and equipment, but they are still getting real time data and they have some very good mets who might be surprised to hear how they got it wrong.

The reason why the NHC couldn't find a center of the storm parts of yesterday is that it didn't exist. The mountains of Haiti once more ripped a tropical cyclone apart until it was barely a tropical depression.

Once that happens, and if you've still got a lot of disturbed air and nothing to prevent redevelopment, it's common to see a center of circulation reform elsewhere in the blob'o'weather, something that takes a couple hours to happen.