Hurricane Dennis

[DivesWithTurtles]

Diving on the east coast should be good after noon on Saturday.

Hmm....

COASTAL WATERS FORECAST FOR SOUTH FLORIDA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL
353 PM EDT FRI JUL 8 2005

ATLANTIC COASTAL WATERS FROM JUPITER INLET TO OCEAN REEF OUT TO 60
NM AND GULF COASTAL WATERS FROM EAST CAPE SABLE TO CHOKOLOSKEE OUT
20 NM AND CHOKOLOSKEE TO BONITA BEACH OUT 60 NM...INCLUDING THE
WATERS OF BISCAYNE BAY AND LAKE OKEECHOBEE.
SATURDAY
SOUTHEAST WINDS 20 TO 25 KNOTS. SEAS 7 TO 9 FEET.
INTRACOASTAL WATERS ROUGH IN EXPOSED AREAS. OCCASIONAL SHOWERS AND
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS.

SATURDAY NIGHT
SOUTHEAST WINDS 20 TO 25 KNOTS. SEAS 6 TO 8 FEET.
INTRACOASTAL WATERS ROUGH IN EXPOSED AREAS. OCCASIONAL SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY.


My dive for tomorrow afternoon at Palm Beach has already been cancelled by the boat. I know the coastal waters forecast is often wrong, but...

 

[nipi]

#71 Ivan was a 4.

 

[Dee]

NO, NO, NO.....You guys keep this thing as far West as possible......Preferably Texas

Hey! What did we ever do to you!?!?! I have a feeling we'll have our turn this year.

Oh Man....you guys have my prayers, regardless of where this thing goes.

 

[Natasha]

There is a book called "A weekend in September" that's about the Galveston storm of 1900, the United States' worst natural disaster ever (minimum 8,000 - best guess 10,000 - estimates as high as 12,000 dead). I think it's from Texas A&M press, and if you live in 'cane country I highly recommend you get a copy and read it.
Rick

I live 27 miles north of Galveston. I'll have to read the book.
Keep it far away from Texas..and all the US. Let it just stay in the water and fade away. Adding it to my prayer list tonight.

 

[DEEPSEAWOLF]

For those of you who just need to keep food in case of power outages, I just picked up a camp generator 1200 watts for less than 200 bucks at Wal-Mart. That's the smallest and least expensive to be found 'round these parts. It'll run a few things at once, or a freezer/ac/fridge on rotations. one gal of gas lasts 5 hours plus on constant.
I am predicting Dennis will strengthen once it crosses Cuba. Winds prior were gusting in excess of 180 MPH according to the NOAA website! I think it will hit Apalachicola or just East of it at a Category 5 with sustained winds in excess of 165 mph. If we get hit by anything over a hundred in Gainesville, we'll be pulling student bodies out these paper apartment buildings! Our best wishes are with everyone in this hing's path.
Upgrading my castle plans to TEN foot thick walls now! Thanks Dennis! Stinkin' Hurricanes! At least we don't have tornado season like the Midwest, or Earthquake season like West coast. Those are all year long! I'll stick with my week plus advance notice of incoming storms weather!

 

[chickdiver]

#71 Ivan was a 4.

Not when it made landfall on the Gulf Coast. It was borderline when it came ashore, but the hurricane "experts" finally called it at a category 3 based on the wind speed indicators along the Gulf Coast. It's actually been the subject of much debate, as the Saffir- SImpson scale is based solely on windspeed, and does not take storm surge into consideration. Storm surge was the real agent of devastation on the Gulf Coast from Ivan. Ivan was an extremely strong storm for so long that it was pushing category 4 storm surge levels though the landfall windspeed was clocked only within the levels of a category 3.... go figure...

 

[SeaYoda]

As I write this, the tourists and gas have all but evaporated from anywhere near here. Gulf-Gulper, his family, and part of mine will be headed North to GA. Some of the family will be riding the storm out here in Niceville. As for me I'm headed South to the Hospital to babysit the lab until the storm passes and the Hospital opens again. I hope Dennis will miss us, but if he does visit, I hope they get the bridges open soon. I'm due to open the lab with a fellow worker and we will be the only ones there until help arrives when the bridges are clear. I'm taking my camera (in the waterproof housing) and if I get a chance I'll take some pictures. I probably won't be posting for a few days because the rotten people at work have SB blocked. See you all on the other side!

 

[Bill51]

I was just reviewing the 11PM NOAA charts and it looks like Dennis is back to 110mph winds and still maintaining a relatively small core of hurricane winds, so hopefully it won’t leave a large footprint when and where ever it hits. It appears that there is still a small low trough and a cold front (odd combination) connecting the NE quadrant of Dennis with the SW quadrant of Cindy that seems to be draining some of the inflow off Dennis and that is why it hasn’t gotten much larger despite the higher winds he’s had at times. Let’s hope it stays that way.

I had a meeting with some folks from FPL this afternoon and they have already sent many of their lineman from the east coast over toward the panhandle to be ready to start restoring power as soon as possible so hopefully they can keep your disruptions down over there.

I’m not looking for the east coast seas to settle down real fast right now because the high sitting over the Bahamas while not real strong at 1010 MB is going to keep the easterly winds and corresponding waves aimed right at us for some time. Those easterly winds are holding up all the way to somewhere between 39,000 and 45,000’ (boy that must be some windshear and turbulence to fly through up there).

 

[CBulla]

Its raining, its windy... so far much like Charley, including how its churning away down south, except its not turning NE. Reports are that Key West is down to partial power. However until it gets past the 26th parallel (Ft Myers lat/lon is 26.63N -81.85W) it can always get friendly with us.

The good news is that all the forcast centers seem to be saying the same thing.. Yawl up there in P-cola, put on your hardhats!!

Rick, ChickDiver, SeaYoda, S-bugman, and others up there.. my thoughts will be with you as this beastie heads north!

 

[Splitlip]

Its raining, its windy... so far much like Charley, including how its churning away down south, except its not turning NE. Reports are that Key West is down to partial power. However until it gets past the 26th parallel (Ft Myers lat/lon is 26.63N -81.85W) it can always get friendly with us.

The good news is that all the forcast centers seem to be saying the same thing.. Yawl up there in P-cola, put on your hardhats!!

Rick, ChickDiver, SeaYoda, S-bugman, and others up there.. my thoughts will be with you as this beastie heads north!

Just got off the phone with my wife's cousin in Key West. (actually Shark Key area).
Yes he is without power. It does look however that they dodged a bullet when the storm took the westward track over Cuba and weakened. He's getting the North East quadrant now it seems. Still has a while before the center move past him.
Hope the folks further north in the Gulf can catch some kind of break.