From NASA:
If you could slice into a tropical cyclone, it would look something like this. The small red arrows show warm, moist air rising from the ocean’s surface, and forming clouds in bands around the eye. The blue arrows show how cool, dry air sinks in the eye and between the bands of clouds. The large red arrows show the rotation of the rising bands of clouds.
Ewww..that looks fierce. So bloggers…are we under seige or will Irene zip right up the coast and give us a little rain?
I am hoping for the latter. Please keep us updated on Irene as well as any aftershocks you feel.
From NTK: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
Sooooo……
Earthquakes.
Hurricaines.
Republican Primaries.
When are the locusts expected?
Next week.
The following link is to the National Hurricane Center. They are the “horse’s mouth” on these matters and from where the commercial networks/news sources get most of their information. I’ve found over the past couple of days sometimes that the NOAA website has been easier to access than the Weather Channel’s site and some of the other commercial sites. Their servers can’t seem to handle all of the traffic. Many people don’t realize that they can go directly to the source and avoid ads, TV personality blatter, etc.
As you can probably surmise, I’m a big C-Span fan also.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
Thanks very much for posting this information. Do they have a mobile Droid or ipad app?
I just put channel 5 news app on my Droid in case I lose power.
I guess NOAA is on the chopping block also? Holy cow.
@Moon-howler
I don’t know if they have any “apps” but I can access the site on my iPad.
I hope NOAA is threatened, but I guess the politicians will have to find some way to pay for the corporate welfare and union handouts. NOAA probably doesn’t have the influence or money to buy support as do corporations and unions.
Sorry, “I hope NOAA is NOT threatened, . . .”
Here’s another “horse’s mouth” source for everyone who likes to read information directly rather than hear it from an untrained model working as a broadcast “news professional.”
This is the USGS page on earthquakes. You can see where they have been taking place, and get details on specific quakes.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/
Former Secretary of State Condi Rice ranked high on the creep/war criminal meter this week. According to reports, Darth Cheney bashes her in his confession … I mean his memoire … describing a scene where she came into his office, plopped down in a chair, cried, and told Cheney she was wrong and he was right. Then, it turns out the Qaddafi apparently had a crush on Condi and kept a photo album of Condi pics in his palace. I hope she is pal-ing around with a better class of people now that the Bush administration is over.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/photos-indicate-qaddafi-diplo-crush-on-rice/
@Cargosquid
Turning into disasters of Biblical Proportions…I’m waiting for the Stay-Puf Man to appear!
@Raymond Beverage
Ray, when someone asks you if you’re a god, you say “YES”!
Dang, it’s too late to start my “Lister-D engine-to alternator generator kit” project. Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda, right!!
@Morris Davis
Remember Qaddafi’s bodyguard? You gotta hand it to him…if you’re gonna have a personal bodyguard, that’s the one to have.
http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2011/082011/08262011/647883
Faux news has already blamed Obama for all of these events.
The new fault under Mineral is being named Bush’s…..
President Obama asked for a sign….
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FBfs5–eK54/TldsCjHaeaI/AAAAAAAA0Hk/DvmClE8JbDE/s1600/theo6.jpg
Still waiting on the locusts…
I’m hoping it hits NC with a vengence easing the impact to New England 🙂
I’m hoping it skips past NC and eliminates New England.
@SlowpokeRodriguez
You’re referring to his former Ukrainian nurse, Oksana, I believe.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/04/10/my-years-as-gaddafi-s-nurse.html
Not a Tom Brady/NE Patriots fan? Haters…gonna hate.
But seriously, Unless you live right on the coast and are vulnerable to beach errosion, I don’t think this storm is gong to be much to worry about. Sure some powerlines might get knocked down and such, and the kids might drive you insane ’cause their soccer game’s been canceled, but this thing is going to be a weak cat2 or even a Cat1 by the time it gets here, and will just weaken from there. Watching Mayor Bloomberg issue orders for all nursing home to be evacuated by 8pm tonight made me chuckle. Most in-resident healthcare facilites have back-up power, 30 days of food and water. Most importantly, they have the facilites to take care of the elderly and disabled. Your average shelter in a school gym does not.
I think much of this is an overreaction by public officials because of Katrina. NOLA had PLENTY of notice, and failed to do even the most basic of preparations. Areas surrounding NOLA did, and there was a clear difference in the way the citizens of these jurisdictions fared in the aftermath. Now, whenever a strom approaches, public officials want to err on the side of extreme caution. They’d rather be accused of overreacting than face the political fall-out from not reacting enough.
I have been through 17 hurricanes or typhoons in my life. In Okinawa, we’d have 3-4 a year. These storms have ranged from weak cat1’s to a weak Cat5. The Americans went into full lock-down mode. The Okinawans went on about their business in a reasonable fashion.
We’ll be fine in Manassas/PWC.
@Steve, where would a nursing home evacuate to? Seriously. That sounds like ill-founded advice.
Flooding and tree damage are our downfall here. I lost a tree in Isabel and a tree in one of the blizzards.
I believe in taking precautions but not hysteria.
Juturna and Mom need to go to time out for thinking bad bad thoughts about other regions. Be careful what you all wish for.
@Steve Thomas
Steve,
when should the Mayor issue the alert that nursing homes and hospitals along the coast areas should evacuate? It is a big endeavor, and they cannot wait until they know where the storm is going to hit.
@Pat, but where do they go? I can understand issuing an evac if one is in a particularly vulnerable area. I just don’t understand where they need to go. That might take days or even weeks to go to other facilities. I guess I thought the blanket order might have been foolish. But I didnt hear it so I will reserve judgement.
@Moon-howler
Somehow, the word “evacuate” has a soothing influence. Once a place is evacuated, the evacuatees will be safe, supposedly. The Capitol people were evacuated (acutally they panicked and did the exact opposite of what they shoulda done). As you say about nursing home patients: evacuate to where?
I agree with Steve T. that this might be one of those events all the weather people on TV JUST LOVE. They get to be on the air all he time.
Just in case, though, I did buy one of those gallon jugs of water and some Ragu sauce to go with my excellent stash of pasta. Of course, I can’t cook the pasta w/o power, but the bread in my freezer will thaw, and that’ll do just as well. I think —
Steve — In Okinawa they may have shrugged and gone about their business. But you try one of those big typhoons in a 900-class LST in the middle of the Philippine Sea, and I guarantee you will never forget it — especially when you discover that those gigantic waves have cracked your steel main deck from port to starboard and all your electronic gear, as well as the main compass and the radar, has failed so you don’t know where you are or where you are going or even what may be in front of you.
@Wolverine
You forgot to put “Mmmmmmm-mmm! Good times…..good times…..”
Still trying to figure out why crackpot Qaddafi keeping a personal scrapbook of photos of Condi Rice is somehow a bad reflection on Condi Rice.
The “creep/war criminal meter”? Tsk, tsk — such hate.
The key is to be prepared for all hazards. You can be so focused on one event, you don’t realize the aftermath can be worse (example, San Francisco earthquake followed by fires). I don’t second-guess people emptying store shelves. Better to be stocked than trying to find supplies when there’s downed electric wires. And unless you work in emergency management, you don’t see the big picture that goes on behind the scenes. We take safety people for granted. When nothing happens, its because they did their jobs. Right now my husband’s out moving freight trains around to keep crews & equipment safe and clients happy. Even if it is Cat. 1, at least put the trash cans in, make sure your gutters are cleaned out, and check on your elderly or disabled neighbor.
Remember Qaddaffi’s daughter that was killed by Reagan’s air strikes? Yeah….me neither.
Apparently, she got all better.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0826/breaking15.html
This is my shocked face.
Cargo, you sound like my nephew with the “Good times”…LOL! He was on the USS Ponce back in 2003 when the fleet left Norfolk because of a hurricaine, and then spent the time being chased around the North Atlantic by it. He told me then the best part of it all was watching the Marines leaning over the side and “heave…ohhhh”.
Moon, NYC has one of the best emergency evac plans for the aged & disabled around. Evac occurs by zones, moving from the lowest points to 10 blocks or more in-land, depending on expected flooding. NYC has a very organized Citizen Emergency Response Team System. Also, NYC uses every vehicle possible in the planned evac, right down to school buses (since those are City Schools) which if the folks are ambulatroy, they climb on them. Where they go depends on the level of care needed during the emergency….but can evacuate as far up as the Military Academy at West Point if needed.
Car loaded with explosives drives through two security checkpoints and rams into the UN building in the diplomatic quarter of the Nigerian federal capital of Abuja. Eighteen people dead thus far, and the hospitals struggling with the wounded. Attack is claimed by Boko Haram, the terrorist organization seeking to make Nigeria an Islamic state under Shar’ia, probably now operating in concert with Al-Qaeda of the Mahgreb. Looks to me like another “war” may be in the making when federal troops start sweeping through the northern states of the Federation looking for the perps.
Hey – is the Farmers Market open today? I need to get some of Chef Eloy’s guacamole, and Mrs. Guapo wants some Cenan’s croissants.
Steve is right – worst that will happen around here is some power outages. The media and politicians always like to stir up fear. Sometimes it’s justified but often it’s only to boost ratings and get free publicity. Always take the media and politicians with a big grain of salt.
It’s still good to be prepared. We’ve got an outdoor burner (like for crab boils) and plenty of gas, water, a generator and enough gasoline to run it for a few days, and food. A few years ago when we had the basement finished, we had the electric wired to run a few rooms on the generator, including the refrigerator, freezer and sump pump. And an old Luddite like me has plenty of books, including for the kids, and won’t miss TV.
Clearly some of you who seem to think this will be nothing, have not seen what flooding can do some areas of county. This is not the same as Agnes, but those of us that were here, this is a very real concern. I would urge you take a look at the pictures Moon put up from the Journal Messenger 6/23/72. We get Rio de WestGate with a rain that last more than 20 minutes in any given rain. I for one am very concerned about flooding. There’s not a thing wrong with being prepared for what mother nature delivers.
BTW-Put me in time out too. What’s New England? Is there something north of the Mason Dixon line? 🙂
It’s getting awfully full in there, Chris. 😈
We are running out of room.
NTK, you sound like you are ready to rock n roll over there. If I lose power, I have enough laptops of various ages to keep me going for a while.
Like Chris, I worry about flooding and downed trees on the house.
I’ve had 4 trees downed by winds in the last 7 years in my yard alone. The trees around me are in the areas that Rio de WestGate runs. We worry, because we were HERE in 1972. I doubt there’s another person on this blog that was in PW at the time. Wait, Andy was here then. Ray B is another distinct possibility.
If my power goes out, I’ll be over to use one of the “fleet”. Get them all charged up. If the electric goes out, those cordless phones will not work. I’m sure glad the only phone in my house is an old style slimline that hangs on the wall with a 2′ cord.
I was here then although not in my present house. I think George Harris was here. Big Dog, when did you arrive on the scene?
M-H, moved to NOVA in early 1972 and lived in a “French basement” unit at
the then new Meadows of Newgate in Centreville. Remember that when Agnes
hit that year the rain was so heavy that the drain near our front door couldn’t
handle the flow and we thought it was going to seep inside and damage the floor.
My wife phoned the Centreville Fire Dept. to see if they could help — after a long
wait we finally got their dispatch and the quick reply was “Lady we have lives to save,
no time for carpets – click”. Then we turned on TV and saw what was happening.
May have been some, but I don’t remember any major early warnings.
No CNN etc..
As to public officials and public safety, think they can all sleep with Monday
morning QB’s saying they over reacted — the second guessers don’t have
the responsibility. Rather be wrong with too much 10 times than not
enough once.
I remember the Meadows of Newgate but cant place where they are. What is a french basement or do I even want to know? I thought you were probably around. Chris forgets about the ‘vintage wine’ of this blog.
I lived in Irongate. How embarrassing to admit. It was actually nice in 1972. Middle class even. It was safe during Agnes. You are right, there was no TV alert. I was home and my husband came home and scared the living crap out of me. I hadn’t seen him come in. He couldn’t get across Cub Run. Later on I drove around and saw all the carnage.
I would actually like a glass of wine right now.
@Wolverine
Wolverine – I was not being critical of Condi Rice, I was saying she had a regrettable week in the headlines by getting publicly trashed by one huge a-ole and then finding out another one of equal odiousness apparently had a long-standing crush on her. I suppose it could have been worse … at least it wasn’t Darth that was keeping pictures of her in his quarters.
I agree. I felt sorry for her when I read that. Besides the ewww factor of who he is….there is always the stalking element of it. Its sort of like Quasimodo loves you. EWWWWWWW
Then there is Dick Cheney sliming around, throwing her under the bus. I have always had a lot of respect for her and her accomplishments. That doesn’t mean I always agree with her politically. People need to remember that she, like most of us, had a boss and it is wise to keep to the party line.
Chris has a good point. We do get flooding and downed trees around here, and people should watch out. My house is on a higher lot so flooding has never been a problem. Never try to drive through standing water. Even if you escape somewhat OK, you’ll still likely get stuck, get filmed, and be featured on the moron clips the TV channels and blogs enjoy presenting.
I worry about flooding as well. Wasn’t here in ’72, but my husband was and he has some vague recollections of the flooding that occurred. Latest forecast is calling for 4-6 inches overnight (though forecasts vary from channel to channel) and that is enough rain to bog down my backyard. My property is lower than the neighbors beside and next to me so their rain runoff flows directly into my backyard, makes a left, flows under my fence and into the storm drain at the street. During Isabell I literally had a huge creek flowing through my back yard. I just hope the storm drain doesn’t clog or I’ll be swimming in my backyard.
And the humongous tree in neighbors yard scares me. If it falls I pray that it takes a route that does not invlove landing on my or my neighbors’ homes. Pieces of it break off during a regular thunderstorm, so I’m rather paranoid about the tree.
@DB, I am so screwed if the giant oaks next door decide to go.
Are you on the corner?
I’m surrounded by 20 oaks twice the height of the house in WestGate. Like I said they all sit the area that becomes Rio de WG.
Yes, I’m on the corner. How did you know?
You said so a long time ago and I remembered. @DB
Of course, we didn’t say the corner of what. Could be the corner of 12th and Vine for all anyone else knows. It might have been in private eamil. Can’t remember.
Which of the streets in westgate become the rio? I used to live on Victoria and we had a canal that went by our backyard and it could become super full after just a simple thunderstorm.
What was that canal for? You lived on the left hand side of Victoria going up the hill?
Between Damascus and Lafayette along the fence line in the middle of the blocks. Right by the traffic light. I have a friend that lives on Victoria that always floods. She has flooding all the time. Plus, that little branch get really rage.
Can we predict when the first canoe or kyak is in the lower fields at BenLomond? We don’t need a hurricane for that to happen.
Tomorrow at 8 am? re first kyak at Ben Lomond.
Aw, MH I was just joking to the ‘goes elsewhere’. Elsewhere is always someone’s place.
@Juturna, I knew you all were kidding and I was kidding too. Gotta do something to whittle away hurricane hours.
Aw, MH I was just joking to the ‘goes elsewhere’. Elsewhere is always someone’s place.
Hurricane Agnes 1972:
– Remember I-66 being closed by high water near the visitor center.
– Also the Westgate/ Ben Lomond areas being flooded – let to some major drainage
projects in the followings years. Senator Colgan (was a PWC Sup.) played a large
role in getting those built.
– Area around the Rt. 28 bridge at the PWC-Fairfax line was also under water.
– M-H, there was not nearly the 24-7 news/warnings about Agnes that there
are over Irene and that was part of the problem.
– Hard to realize it has been almost fourty years since Agnes.
@Big Dog,
Time flies when we are having fun, I guess. And the Flatbranch project still is being worked on. I mean geez. Supposedly Agnes was the ‘flood of the century.’ This is the project of the century.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877805,00.html
“The Violent,Deadly Swath of Agnes”
Well I hope my relatives on LI and right outside of NYC do okay tomorrow.
I hope we will be able to say that we here in PWC dodged the bullet.