I spoke too soon

As of 2 pm today


Now granted, this could still move in either direction over the next several days; the "uncertainty surrounding the track and strength of Gustav is very large.” However, it looks like I'll definitely have to watch this a little more closely than I had hoped. And this one makes me pretty damn nervous: it could be a big one. Hell, it's already hit land as a 1, and although it's gone back to tropical storm status, they almost always pick up speed over water. One thing's for sure: our Labor Day weekend could definitely suck.

The storm--a retrospective

I found this video on Youtube. It does a good job of showing what I had going on over here in the early morning hours. It also has music! (You'd have to mute and/or pause my blog song.) The song is growing on me, too. (I think I would have used "Umbrella," though--if I had THIS MUCH TIME ON MY HANDS.)



And then this one was just funny as hell. People get REALLY bored when hurricanes come, LOLOL.

Update

See that third little "hurricane" from the bottom, the one that says "8 am Tuesday"?



Yeah, that's me. Almost exactly. If it were shifted slightly off the coastline, it'd be smack dab on top of me.

Since that bitch Fay's projected arrival time has shifted more from Monday night to Tuesday morning, they just announced that we WILL have school on Monday. And after that, who knows.

I'm not too freaked out. Yet. More moridly curious to see what my first real hurricane will be like. I hesitate to use the word "excited" because God knows these things can cause tragedy and destruction and I feel like it would be disrespectful to past hurricane victims to even go there--maybe "anxious" is the word, anxious to finally experience one and get my first hurricane out of the way. Like a final rite of passage to becoming a true Floridian. (Oh, wait. I have to fuck up the voting process in November--THEN I'll be a real Floridian. Ha ha) The fact that it's still projected to be a 1 or 2 does help, although even those are nothing to sneeze at (LOL. Even in the midst of a meteorological crisis, I'm still slipping in my gay phrases). I'm not so much worried about damage (less likely, as a lower-level hurricane) as losing power (more likely, even as a 1). I'm not big on "roughing it."

I'm hoping to be able to get a snippet (LOL) of the storm on video from my phone and post it on here--and definitely pictures, before, during and after. I feel like I'm reporting from the trenches, LOL. (Of course, THAT plan will be shot to hell if I dive, squealing, under my bed at the mere hint of our first raindrop, which is not out of the question.)

www.abc-7.com has good coverage, if I go incommunicado and you want to play along at home.

My point of contact will be Mom, i.e. the Rock of Gibralter In All Types of Crises (tee hee)--so she'll have the latest. Her # is 1-800-NERVOUS-BREAKDOWN. ;) Maybe I'll make Katey POC #2, but she's already told me to "go outside and wait for it," so perhaps not. LOL

My rooommate just told me that I've already blown the "true Floridian" thing, because I went out and bought 10 (!!!) gallons of water yesterday, and a "real Floridian never would have done that. Loser."

Um...I think that's all. There will be other posts before then, of course, including a First Day of School One--but that about covers the hurricane stuff.

My first hurricane?

Karate class is cancelled on Monday night, my sensei told me today, due to "the hurricane."

Hurricane? Imagine my surprise, as I've been so busy this past week getting ready for school that I've apparently been out of touch with the outside world. I had absolutely no idea.

Here's what I discovered once I got home:

The storm track continues to point the potential hurricane in the direction of south Florida by Monday night or Tuesday morning.

All residents of South Florida need to stay well informed on Tropical Storm Fay this weekend.

Latest models and the National Hurricane Center track this storm close to or over South Florida on Tuesday, possibly as a Category 1 hurricane.

(For those of you who didn't do well in geography, Ft Myers is near the bottom left-hand side of the state.)

While the models are fairly uniform in the forecast track, there is still a great deal of uncertainty due to the disruption of the low-level circulation over Hispaniola over night.

If the center re-forms north or south of the expected location, the forecast tracks will likely shift.

There is also a great deal of uncertainty regarding the intensity of Fay as it makes its closest approach on Tuesday, due to interaction with Cuba on Sunday and Sunday night.

And as of Saturday afternoon, school IS still scheduled to start on Monday.