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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Not again! Bahamas in tropical storm warning |
| 2004-09-19 |
| The latest in a series of hurricanes and tropical storms in the Atlantic is heading for the Bahamas. Tropical storm Jeanne is "very near" Great Inagua Island packing winds of 50mph (85km/h) - which are expected to strengthen, forecasters say. Jeanne has killed eight people in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico and forced hundreds to leave their homes. It is unclear if it will hit the US, where operations have begun to assess the deadly impact of Hurricane Ivan. Forecasters warn that the hurricane season is far from over - even as millions of people are trying to recover from the havoc wreaked in the past five weeks. Up to 33 people are reported to have been killed by Ivan in the US, in addition to about 70 in the Caribbean with Grenada, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands worst hit. At 2100 GMT on Saturday, tropical storm Jeanne was moving at speeds of 7mph (11km/h) - a pace it was expected to maintain in the next 24 hours, the US National Hurricane Center said. "Storm surge flooding of one to three feet (30-90cm) above normal tide levels is possible in the south-eastern Bahamas," the centre said. It said a tropical storm warning remained over a number of areas including the Turks and Caicos Islands. The storm reached the Dominican Republic on Thursday as a hurricane, with winds near 80mph (129km/h), before weakening - and then strengthening again. It had raged through Puerto Rico on Wednesday, bringing up to two feet (60cm) of rain and flooding hundreds of homes. President George W Bush has cancelled campaigning this weekend to observe relief work in Alabama and Florida. He declared Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana disaster areas as the authorities counted the cost of Hurricane Ivan. Curfews were ordered in the worst-hit areas, while thousands of National Guard members were sent to help with rescue efforts and to curb looting. HURRICANE IVAN TOLLFlorida already had the status of disaster area after being hit by hurricanes Charley and Frances over the past six weeks. Ivan crashed into the Gulf Coast on Thursday, hitting a swathe of territory from Florida to Louisiana with winds of up to 165mph (265km/h). A series of destructive tornadoes spun off, ripping homes apart and flooding streets. The victims included an eight-year-old girl who died when a tree fell on her house. Electricity remains unavailable in much of the Florida panhandle, because of damage to power lines. In neighbouring Alabama, more than 750,000 homes and businesses are also without power. The Red Cross aims to support 85,000 people over the next six months in Grenada, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Cuba. |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |
| #14 Thanks, .com. I'd forgotten about the AccuWeather site. That's exactly what I was talking about, in a much more consumer-friendly form than NOAA usually has. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-09-19 8:35:29 PM |
| #13 Heh... And Ship'll give you a free bottle of Genuine Florida Gator Oil as a parting gift. Don Pardo has the details... Don? |
| Posted by: .com 2004-09-19 7:50:02 PM |
| #12 Please be sell all of your worthless Florida waterfront to me. Big Ship, the man with the dollars. $600 per acre, get me a simple fee and no questions asked, go back home to Jersey and tell 'em how you ripped off a yokel. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-09-19 7:46:40 PM |
| #11 Barbara (et al) - Try AccuWeather. For instance, here's the page which shows the current steering (actually the blocking element) elements for Jeanne... and explains to a degree which Jeanne is stalled... Not a bad site. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-09-19 6:00:56 PM |
| #10 NOAA's a great website. I just don't know enough about meteorology (sp?) to do any independent analysis. That's why they have weathermen, I suppose. |
| Posted by: nada 2004-09-19 5:55:04 PM |
| #9 What these maps never show are the upper level steering currents, which can - and do - affect even large hurricanes. There may be maps on NOAA that show them. Maybe I'll check when I have time. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-09-19 2:43:32 PM |
| #8 Karl looks big but his track not dangerous... yet you never know. With Jeanne, who knows..maybe somebody poured some Oktoberfest beer into her eye?? |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-09-19 2:01:58 PM |
| #7 TGA, you're right. What was I thinking? Tinfoil hat must've fallen off. In all seriousness, though, Karl's looking pretty big already. That is pretty odd of Jeanne to loop back around, but who knows where she can go? The forecasters were predicting (media hoping?) for Ivan to be the triple hit to mainland Florida. At least we have the technology nowadays to look forward at least a week in advance to warn people of possible tracks. |
| Posted by: nada 2004-09-19 12:49:37 PM |
| #6 naahhh, just a woman, what did you expect? |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-09-19 12:45:01 PM |
| #5 Jeanne's looping around to meet up and merge with Karl in the east. The Jews are behind it, doncha know? |
| Posted by: nada 2004-09-19 12:43:40 PM |
| #4 Ivan could have been much worse though... he could have devastated Havana and New Orleans. Jeanne sure has a funny track... reminds me of those missiles Wile E Coyote shoots off only to be hit by them. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-09-19 12:40:51 PM |
| #3 Sorry 'bout the link. It must drop out when they up date. Try going here: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ Then click on maps and charts under TS Jeanne. Then click on 5 day forecast track. The damn thing has a forecast heading NNE in the Atlantic then turns around and heads due west toward Miami. |
| Posted by: GK 2004-09-19 12:35:20 PM |
| #2 Take a look at Jeanne's track for Tue through Friday. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/graphics/AT11/refresh/AL1104W5+GIF/190858W5.gif Ever seen a hurricane do a loop before? |
| Posted by: GK 2004-09-19 12:24:32 PM |
| #1 Yep, definitely the beginning of the 30-year cycle of bad weather. You might want to sell that beach front property before God scrapes it down to the sand. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-09-19 5:55:11 AM |
