2694

Eh?

Sandy may not have been officially classed a hurricane as she made landfall, but she was a motherfucker and hit in 2012.

2695

Point taken. It’s too easy to get tunnel vision sometimes.

2696

I think 100% of people living in Florida are entirely within their rights to be horrified right now and would absolutely never begrudge you for feeling immediate and palpable fear for yourself and your loved ones. In a broader scope, though, from the relative safety of my central NC perch, I’ve got to figure it’s going to be a completely tragic week in the Leeward Islands :(

AKA, there’s room enough to feel fear and sympathy for all sorts of different imperiled groups, even within Comrade Penblade’s bleak heart.

2697

I went through Hurricane Georges in PR and it was quite the experience with 150mph winds. I can’t imagine 180mph winds.

The one thing I remember is that many of the buildings there were one level shorter after the hurricane. Apparently they liked building a wooden floor or two on the predominantly concrete bases. So pro tip: check the building and current floor are both fully rebar reinforced concrete before committing to staying there through a Cat 5 hurricane.

We checked into a big hotel that had generators and a giant cistern a day before ourselves, amusing ourselves by watching the CNN team repeatedly trying to exit into the storm for footage.

2698

“Major hurricane” is the term used to describe a category 3 or higher storm, the context being at landfall in the US. Sandy was category 2. It definitely cost us a big chunk of change for sure.

2699

Well, it decided not to go to 190 in the latest update. I never thought I’d read a news story that mentioned “theoretical maximum wind speed.” Sheesh.

2700

2701

It would be a crazy path to have a direct hit where I live given its current course, although a couple models do have it as a possibility. Otherwise, I have a lot of land between me and landfall, so I’m banking on it slowing down over land, whether it’s Cuba or Miami. I’m a little fearful of it being 120+ even this far in, but there’s a huge difference between that and 180. I just want my roof to stay on, that’s my number one priority. :O

Everyone in the Caribbean or South Florida though, I’d get out if I were you.

2702

I don’t think it will hit the US at 180 unless something wacky happens. Maybe 125ish. Most of the models have it hitting Florida 120 hours from now.

https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/storminfo/11L_intensity_latest.png

2703

Yo Rich, I think it may be wise for you to take a bit of a vacation up North for a few days.

2704

If it hits Cuba it will lose some steam. Unless it wanders around the gulf it won’t have a lot of time to rebuild strength.

2705

Apparently it’s raining Ash in Seattle right now due to the fires up North?

So, uh, that’s pretty fucked up.

2706

It’s the fires across on the eastside of the state raining ash on Seattle. I just stepped outside in Bellevue and it smells like a campfire.

Oregon also has major problems. The Ducks football team has abandoned Eugene to practice on the coast. Too dangerous to breathe that air while getting ready to play Nebraska this Saturday.

2707

Yeah I only mentioned 180 as a worst case scenario thing responding to Misguided’s post about it often exceeding the models’ predictions.

My initial post mentioned that the models have it dropping a lot of speed by the time landfall happens.

2708
2709

We could sure use some of that rain…

The economist said that if you spread all of Harvey’s rainfall across the entire United States it would amount to a centimeter of rain. Crazy.

2710

Nope. Step daughter and her wife live in a trailer. They’ll be staying here with their two dogs. So that’s four dogs and two birds. Like arrendek said I’m mainly worried about my roof. It all depends upon the strength at landfall. Best case scenario I won’t have to eat my MREs or drink bathtub water. Who knows though?

2711

We got some ash in Portland too. It’s like Zeus is shaking off his dandruff on us.

2712

I’d suggest you get your family outta there, but I realize it’s not always an option.

One thing about hurricanes that I’ve what’s wondered about…

Ok, so with massive flooding, usually water gets all crapped up, and a lack of clean water becomes a problem.

It seems like what you should do, after the high winds, when it’s just raining heavy, is put out a rain barrel… Because then you will have a barrel full of clean water in the immediate aftermath.

Is there a reason folks don’t do this? Or do they?

2713

Why bother going to that trouble, when you can just fill up your bathtub from the tap?