Arlene coming on shore

[red930]

Wanna watch what some of us have to deal with today.

 

Cobia and I are just west of the Alabama border. The first county is Jackson and we are just off the coast.

 

Cobia is actually closer to the open water of the Mississippi Sound.

 

I'm a few hundred yards from the Pascagoula inlet, just North of Interstate 10.

 

These links require JAVA!

 

This is the Long Range Radar Loop out of Mobile. In this display we are just above the "s" in New Orleans.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/radar/loop/DS.p20-r/si.kmob.shtml

 

Here's the Short Range Loop.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/radar/loop/DS.p19r0/si.kmob.shtml

 

Here's our fishing pier in closeup.

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.360214,-...05558&t=k&hl=en

 

Our pier is still in the center of the image but at the far right you can see the city of Mobile along the edge of the image.

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.360214,-...22729&t=k&hl=en

[cpuz]

What?!? OMG!! I can't see those links...

 

EDIT: Yes, I can now, I was trying to view them in my reply and /or needed to install java. My first instinct was to tell you to GET OUT OF THERE!

 

turning on the weather channel now.

 

EDIT 2: WC reporting pounding rain in Pensacola, according to Jim Cantore ( like his reporting, think he's originally from philly.)

 

EDIT 3: I'd like to try storm chasing, like chasing and running from a big tornado, and I mean big, like a cat 5.

[red930]

We never use the Weather Channel down here except for video feeds.

 

The only place for information is the National Hurricane Center/Tropical Prediction Center...

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

 

The Weather Channel is in the business of selling advertising so everthing is a crisis or something. With all the storms we get, they are always down here making up some crap about what's happening and exagerating conditions.

 

Even the local TV stations are starting to get into the act of blowing things out of proportion like the Weather Channel since they have to compete with them for eyeballs.

 

It's almost to the point of being criminal.

 

The bottom line is always take the dire news from the Weather Channel with a grain of salt and realize the motivation of the source!

[cpuz]

We never use the Weather Channel down here except for video feeds.

 

The only place for information is the National Hurricane Center/Tropical Prediction Center...

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

 

The Weather Channel is in the business of selling advertising so everthing is a crisis or something. With all the storms we get, they are always down here making up some crap about what's happening and exagerating conditions.

 

Even the local TV stations are starting to get into the act of blowing things out of proportion like the Weather Channel since they have to compete with them for eyeballs.

 

It's almost to the point of being criminal.

 

The bottom line is always take the dire news from the Weather Channel with a grain of salt and realize the motivation of the source!

 

 

Prob the reason for my reacting in post 2.

[red930]

You know those big Noreasters you guys get. Multiply that a couple of times and you get a CAT 3 storm.

 

A CAT 5 storm will leave very little standing.

 

This area took a direct hit from Hurricane Camille in 1969.

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s269.htm

 

Just look at the before and after images of Biloxi at the time of the storm. Click on the hurricane graphic at the bottom to go to the following pages...

http://www.maritimemuseum.org/camille/

 

There are still empty lots along the coast where no one will ever build again because entire families were wiped out. Sustained winds were clocked above 225 MPH. Large ocean going ships were moved as far as a half mile inland on the storm surge 20 miles away from the center of the storm.

 

At one casino my office was on the first floor. There is a column with the high water mark from Camille. It was just under my nose and I'm 5' 10. The lobby floor is 10 feet above the high tide mark. You do the math on the storm surge 30 miles from the actual land fall. Scary huh?!?

[Skip04]

We get them once and a while too, fortunately, just not as frequently as you folks in the south. Last 1 was Bob 14 years ago. I have alot of pics somewhere around of the damage.http://www.geocities.com/hurricanene/Majorne.htm

 

 

Hope you all remain safe down there, and sustain minimal damage.

[cpuz]

You know those big Noreasters you guys get.

 

Yep, I remember the big blizz o 96 when we were down in philly 30+ "! HERE

 

It was illegal to drive on I95 during and the day after it, unless if you were emergency personnel or police! The snowfall in places was up to my waist and I'm 6' 1"!

 

Now, up here in NH, we LAUGH at easters. heh.

[red930]

You know those big Noreasters you guys get. Multiply that a couple of times and you get a CAT 3 storm.

 

A CAT 5 storm will leave very little standing

 

There are still empty lots along the coast where no one will ever build again because entire families were wiped out. Sustained winds were clocked above 225 MPH. Large ocean going ships were moved as far as a half mile inland on the storm surge 20 miles away from the center of the storm.

 

Much as I hate to disagree w/u ExRoadie,from what little storm chasing experience I have and talking to ppl w/a lot of experience,It seems time makes ppl forget the folly of building to close to the shore in areas vulnerable to hurricanes.

In Pensacola last year I witnessed the effects of Hurricane Ivan,

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/ivan/photos/

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/g...galleries.shtml

Some of the structures built w/more hurricane proof technology were still standing,while there was nothing left but debris where older houses had been.

FEMA has mandated that any structures being built in certain zones have to comply to a certain code.

Those ppl were not new to the devastation that comes w/a hurricane,Opal had only been 10yrs ago

 

I even did some work for FEMA and got to talk to their ppl,it just seems that the monetary value of ocean front property,combined w/a time period where there is an absence of storms,makes ppl forget about the past,plus you have new ppl coming to a hurricane vulnerable area and they see this beautiful beach and some real estate agent is only to willing to sell them the property and they intend to build there.

Saw again areas in Pensacola w/extreme flooding where ppl had built,others on higher ground only said,we knew that was high risk area and we would of never built there.There was a 50ft wave reported off the coast during Ivan

[cpuz]

playah: first link no work.

[OceanSeasforMe]

Riders of the Storm.

 

I dont leave for a Cat 1 or 2 as I am 12 miles off the beach.

 

Cat 3 and cat 4 get my attention real fast and I plan an exit strategy just in case.

 

Good luck with it guys.

[red930]

playah: first link no work.

 

Try agoogle on Hurricane Ivan,he was a bad boy.

[red930]

playah,

 

I know what you mean about the short attention span those guys exhibit.

 

Hurricane Camille hit during a different time. There were no satellites and doppler radar. People got out of the way while others decided to ride the storm out.

 

That decision was fatal and most likely wouldn't be made today.

 

Even with the incredible boom down here over the past 15 years, those lots are still vacant. All that remains are the brick and concrete steps that once lead to the front porch.

 

The current land speculation driven by highrise condo contruction has led to offers of millions of dollars per acre but the families still say no out of respect for the dead. There's over 300 years of history for these communities and family ties run very deep.

 

It's nothing like the recent boom you can see in places like Gulf Shores, Orange Beach or even the Destin/San Destin area. Those places were little more than sand dunes and scrub brush 30 years ago.

 

How many of the beach houses in Panama City have been replaced by condos. Hell, even Lavila is gone!