Irma

Frayed Knot
Sep 06 2017 08:29 PM

Round and round she goes, and where she goes next nobody knows

[fimg=400:3cclezq9]https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/map/DCT_SPECIAL45_1280x720.jpg?v=ap&w=1280&h=720&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0[/fimg:3cclezq9]

Currently a Cat 5 looking like it'll scrape the northern shores of the bigger Caribbean islands before turning north.

[fimg=400:3cclezq9]https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/map/DCT_SPECIAL24_1280x720.jpg?v=ap&w=1280&h=720&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0[/fimg:3cclezq9]

The current projections have her most likely taking one of those paths that hits Florida at its southern tip first thing Sunday then tracking straight up the entire peninsula.
The NFL, which has previously bragged about their ability to cause bad weather to move around their schedule, has already postponed the Sunday game set for Miami,
and several college games are being moved or moved up.
The Yanx are due for a Monday-Wednesday series in Tampa/St Pete

Ceetar
Sep 06 2017 08:38 PM
Re: Irma

This storm is huge, fastest winds on earth right now I saw.

Seems like the timing of the turning north is huge. too early and it ravishes Georgia and the Carolinas, too late and it heads into the gulf.

And don't look now, but Tropical Storm Jose is intensifying right behind it on a similar path.

seawolf17
Sep 06 2017 08:39 PM
Re: Irma

Selfishly, there's a strong possibility we're going to try to sell our house in the next several months, so I need any potential hurricanes to stay the hell away from Long Island until we're out of here.

But unselfishly, this is quite scary and it's going to cause a lot of destruction in the next week or so wherever it winds up.

Ceetar
Sep 06 2017 08:48 PM
Re: Irma

seawolf17 wrote:
Selfishly, there's a strong possibility we're going to try to sell our house in the next several months, so I need any potential hurricanes to stay the hell away from Long Island until we're out of here.

But unselfishly, this is quite scary and it's going to cause a lot of destruction in the next week or so wherever it winds up.

Moving to North Jersey to hang with me?

Ceetar
Sep 06 2017 08:59 PM
Re: Irma

Apparently Barbuda and Antigua are basically completely leveled.

seawolf17
Sep 06 2017 10:43 PM
Re: Irma

Ceetar wrote:
Apparently Barbuda and Antigua are basically completely leveled.

I don't know. Depends on where you read it. Very strange, although I guess it's breaking news so you have to kind of wait a bit to find where the real story fits.

cooby
Sep 06 2017 11:27 PM
Re: Irma

seawolf17 wrote:
Selfishly, there's a strong possibility we're going to try to sell our house in the next several months, so I need any potential hurricanes to stay the hell away from Long Island until we're out of here.

But unselfishly, this is quite scary and it's going to cause a lot of destruction in the next week or so wherever it winds up.

Not selfish. Nobody wants this kind of thing.

Only one thing good to come of Harvey that at least people are preparing for Irma.

Lefty Specialist
Sep 06 2017 11:38 PM
Re: Irma

We have an office near Orlando and they're closing Friday so everyone can either board up or get the hell out. Problem is it's looking like it's going to strafe the entire state.

batmagadanleadoff
Sep 07 2017 12:43 AM
Re: Irma

If only Obama had put a stop to all of that Chinese currency manipulation, Hurricanes Harvey and Irma would've been a lot weaker.

Frayed Knot
Sep 07 2017 12:54 AM
Re: Irma

Lefty Specialist wrote:
Problem is it's looking like it's going to strafe the entire state.

Yeah that's the problem, where do you go?
Just as the Houston mayor said how impossible it was to evacuate the 4th largest city in the country, evacuating the 4th largest state would be even less practical.
Plus, in addition to the population, Florida is physically a much bigger state than a lot of folks realize. A run for the border can be a full day's drive without traffic.
And once you're at the border then what? They can't go to the panhandle because it might zig that way; if they run towards Georgia it could chase them there; and it's not like running east or
west are options.

themetfairy
Sep 07 2017 01:01 AM
Re: Irma

Meanwhile, the Caribbean is being hit hard. Apparently 60% of the population of Barbuda is homeless. The four strongest government buildings in St. Martin have been destroyed, and there has been incomprehensible devastation that won't fully be apparent until the storm has passed. People who didn't have much in the first place have lost everything.

Ceetar
Sep 07 2017 02:32 AM
Re: Irma

Frayed Knot wrote:
Lefty Specialist wrote:
Problem is it's looking like it's going to strafe the entire state.

Yeah that's the problem, where do you go?
Just as the Houston mayor said how impossible it was to evacuate the 4th largest city in the country, evacuating the 4th largest state would be even less practical.
Plus, in addition to the population, Florida is physically a much bigger state than a lot of folks realize. A run for the border can be a full day's drive without traffic.
And once you're at the border then what? They can't go to the panhandle because it might zig that way; if they run towards Georgia it could chase them there; and it's not like running east or
west are options.

I mean, inland. You're still gonna get hit hard but without the coastal flooding you should be okay and the hurricane should weaken some by the time it gets that far inland. LIke Gainesville and along i75.

Frayed Knot
Sep 07 2017 03:36 AM
Re: Irma

It looks like wind is going to be the bigger problem with Irma so I'm not sure that hiding in inland Florida (to the extent that FLA even has an inland) is going to duck anything. Hell, it might wind up as
the worst place to be depending on the exact path and no one's going to know that until it's too late to move anywhere.

Harvey was different in that it was a mere TS once it made landfall, but then it stalled over the same area -- an area which is essentially built on a swamp to begin with -- and proceeded to drench them
for four days straight. It was the storm equivalent of getting run over by a car, which then reverses and backs up over you, then goes forward to flatten you again, and then sits on top of you and pumps
carbon monoxide into your face for the next 72 hours.

This one sounds like it could come and go over any particular area maybe within a handful of hours, but while it's there it's going to kick the shit out of everything.
Virtually all the damage from Harvey was from overwhelmed rivers that had nowhere to go. This one's going to knock stuff over.

Fman99
Sep 07 2017 11:30 AM
Re: Irma

Very anxious for all of my family members in Florida, Fmom, my aunts, uncles and cousins, most of whom live along the coast between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

Benjamin Grimm
Sep 07 2017 01:10 PM
Re: Irma

I don't think I had ever heard of "Barbuda" until this week.

sharpie
Sep 07 2017 01:19 PM
Re: Irma

A co-worker of mine has a house in Barbuda, I believe her husband grew up there. It's a small place in a tiny village. I would guess it doesn't exist anymore.

Benjamin Grimm
Sep 07 2017 01:28 PM
Re: Irma

I don't know if this image will refresh itself in the days to come, but right now it shows Irma passing north of Cuba and approaching the tip of Florida around 2 a.m. on Sunday. If the storm sticks with this path, it looks like coastal areas of Georgia and South Carolina will be hit hard.

EDIT: It appears that the map does refresh itself. It now has Irma reaching Florida six hours later than previously, at 8 a.m. on Sunday.

Frayed Knot
Sep 07 2017 01:47 PM
Re: Irma

Georgia, with its smaller coastline and being slightly set back the way it is, usually escapes the worst of these storms compared to other SE coastal states, but it looks like it might take the brunt of this one
especially if the path is slightly off coast and those counter-clockwise winds push everything inland. Savannah and Charleston are in for a whupping if certain patterns hold and both are vulnerable spots.
They don't call that area the 'low country' for nothing.

I remember Charleston, where I've got some cousins, getting ripped apart back in ('88?) when Hugo basically ran a straight line from west Africa all the way to SC and slammed directly into that port city.
This one, coming up from the south, might at least have some of the starch taken out of it before it hits there.

cooby
Sep 07 2017 02:52 PM
Re: Irma

Scary to think a 15 to 20 foot storm surge could put a whole island nation underwater. Where do you climb to safety?

Also if you evacuate from Florida that's a long drive home when it's over :(

Benjamin Grimm
Sep 08 2017 05:34 PM
Re: Irma

The Washington Post wrote:
“Once again, we are paying the price for living in paradise, and it is tremendous stress,” said local resident Richard Crisler, who recounted his terrifying memories of Hurricane Andrew more than two decades ago. “I’m feeling an oppressive sense of dread.”

Some people have a strange definition of "paradise".

Frayed Knot
Sep 09 2017 12:05 PM
Re: Irma

'Irmageddon' tracking slightly more west coast of Florida as of now.
Good news (or at least less bad) for Miami/Ft Laud (also PSL), and for Savannah/Charleston
Not so good for Tampa/St Pete, Sarasota, etc.

Benjamin Grimm
Sep 09 2017 12:51 PM
Re: Irma

It also looks like, because the storm is now expected to pass over the Gulf waters instead of exclusively over land, it will stay stronger for longer.

41Forever
Sep 09 2017 02:48 PM
Re: Irma

My parents, brother and sister and assorted aunts and uncles and cousins are in the West Palm Beach area. Parents are about a half-mile from the ocean, but up on a bit of a hill and have special windows and such and are convinced they'll be OK. A little scary, though.

Frayed Knot
Sep 09 2017 03:53 PM
Re: Irma

Hi, just wanted to let you know that I'll be dropping by soon -- Irma

[fimg=800:3adlxw9x]https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/ap17251560649782.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0[/fimg:3adlxw9x]

This was from early Friday (note the daylight to the east not quite reaching the coast yet) with the eye just north of eastern Cuba.