Hurricane Watch 2008

[Keith]

There is a system that appears to be organizing in the Caribbean that might have the potential to find its way to the Texas coast.

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical.../at200804.html

Seems quite possible it will become a tropical storm soon, in which case Invest 94 will be renamed T.S. Cristobal.

Looks like computer models have the storm moving over the Yucatan then aiming somewhere near Brownsville. Here's hoping it doesn't interfere with our plans to attend the Texans open training camp practices.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Keith

Seems quite possible it will become a tropical storm soon, in which case Invest 94 will be renamed T.S. Cristobal.

Check that, a storm off the Carolinas was just upgraded and assigned the Cristobal name. The next available name for the Atlantic storm season is Dolly.

[KJ3]

man, some rain to cool off the blasting furnace has been wonderful.

i haven't heard thunder in so long that i thought somebody was popping off a shotty 2 nights ago. silly me....

[Keith]

Looks like we're getting some rain from Edouard tomorrow. Don't be the idiot who runs his lawn sprinkler in a rainstorm.

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical.../at200805.html

[Mike]

Funny that any severe weather and Tim Heller comes in for the Sunday night forcast. I bet he is sporting some serious wood with a new storm off the coast. That guy gets happy over the bad weather.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by Keith

Don't be the idiot who runs his lawn sprinkler in a rainstorm.

What about the idiot who's leaving for the beach?

[HPF Bob]

Originally Posted by Mike

That guy gets happy over the bad weather.

I root for hurricanes in the summertime. I'm far enough inland where I don't worry about the damages that happen along the coast. All I'd worry about are some flooding and potential tornados.

So, I cheered for Dolly and anticipate a friendly greeting for Edouard around these parts too. I'd rather have 80-degrees and showers instead of 100-degrees and bone dry.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

I root for hurricanes in the summertime. I'm far enough inland where I don't worry about the damages that happen along the coast. All I'd worry about are some flooding and potential tornados.

I don't share your enthusiasm living about 20 miles from shore. Hey, I could move so that is the price I pay for not wanting to live in a subdivision.

[KJ3]

how strong would a hurricane have to be to reach downtown houston? don't they drop wind speeds quickly once breaking land? it would have to be something massive coming in at the right angle but i see people freaking out now because of a tropical storm. worst thing that's going to happen from edouard is some flooding, which don't get me wrong is terrible but it's nothing compared to actually being caught in a hurricane.

[HPF Bob]

I have family that live all along the gulf coast. As a general rule of thumb, it takes a Catagory 3 or greater hurricane to cause them to evacuate their homes. At that point, a well-constructed home can receive significant structural damage and the likelihood of sustained power outages can occur.

Obviously, if you live in flood-prone areas or in cheap housing, you'd want to be alert to lesser storms.

Houston will never get the sort of damage seen in New Orleans because Houston is not below sea level and is about 50 miles inland. But a direct hit from a Cat 5 would inflict major damage and hardship that would take years to recover from.

[KJ3]

i've got an aunt/uncle in galveston who called us all crazy for even getting worried. if the first line of defense isn't sweating it, i'm certainly not going to but i still see people hording food, all the blinky highway signs saying fill up gas tanks and such and every news channel beeping in "up-to-the-minute" scrolls......for a tropical storm. it's like we went from not giving a crap about a hurricane of any power less than alicia to this ultra-scared group of sillynannies. did edouard even make it to the coast before downgrading to tropical storm?

speaking of alicia, category 5's and how much it would take for a hurricane to make it to houston.....wasn't alicia close to that? i was born right around the same time so i only hear how bad it was....

one more thing-i don't know about you guys, but i think i'm absolutely disgusted with the "naming" of hurricanes. especially names like...dolly...eduoard...even katrina sounds kind of wussy for such an awesome spectacle of nature. i'm sure there is a reason, and other than just counting 1, 2, 3 like anything else that comes in multiples i don't have a better suggestion, but c'mon....hurricane dolly sounds like a female pro wrestler or a crazy drink more than a 50 mile wide hella-storm.

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by KJ3

speaking of alicia, category 5's and how much it would take for a hurricane to make it to houston.....wasn't alicia close to that? i was born right around the same time so i only hear how bad it was....

Alicia was a cat 3 when it struck Galveston. I was in College Station that night, and the next morning while driving down Hwy 6 in CS, a US Postal mailbox went tumbling by me on the street, not a little home box, but the big mettle ones in front of Post Offices. That when I decided to get back in doors.

Downtown Houston had lost a lot of glass from the buildings, most houses had lost electric due to the downed limbs and trees. Our ranch in Hempstead had a large amount of damage due to downed trees, no buildings where hurt but 2 miles of fence had to be restrung.

A Cat 5 hitting here has me nervous, but not panicked. Last night at the grocery store people where panicking. It was funny.

[Mike]

My crib is 8 years old, and according to the windstorm engineer it should withstand 150 mph winds. I'd stay for a cat 3, but not a 4 or 5. I have all my wood cut for the 24 windows and 100 plylocks to secure it in place.

I think my next purchase will be for a generator, or have one hooked into the natural gas line to run the house in case of a long outage.

[HPF Bob]

I lived in Texas City during Hurricane Alicia. I went across the street and spent the night at Danforth Hospital, thinking it was the safest spot to be. It was safe for me but not for my brand new car which had two windows kicked in by flying gravel.

My sister in Alabama had the eye of Hurricane Ivan (a Cat 4) pass right over her house, toppling her chimney and poking a few holes in the roof.

As to the names of the storms, the pilots who flew into storms began naming them after their wives and girlfriends and the practice stuck. Then the feminists demanded that the hurricanes have male names too so we have alternating hurricanes and himmacanes (and this year a johnmacane too).

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston) even expressed displeasure that not enough hurricanes had black-sounding names. I, for one, would love to see a Hurricane LaShaniqua someday - in the interest of equality, of course.

In my experience, the girl hurricanes like to dawdle offshore like they can't make up their minds where to make landfall while the boy hurricanes just stampede right on through like a carjacker running through a spike strip. If you don't think hurricanes have personalities, consider that one of the first male-named hurricanes was Hurricane David. And where did David go? Miami Beach! So obviously, David was our country's first Jewish hurricane!

Frankly, I'm glad hurricanes were given female names. It's wonderful imagery to see headlines like "Dolly Gives Texas A Blow".

[Keith]

Gustav might be one to check out here in the next day or so. This could be a strong one heading into the Gulf.

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical.../at200807.html

It's almost a Cat 1 now as it moves around Haiti, Cuba.

[KJ3]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

(and this year a johnmacane too).

not many remarks off a message board actually make me laugh. this is one of those!!!

black people want hurricanes now? we already gave up february... it would be funny (to me anyway) to see names of hurricanes reflecting ethnical stereotypes...not just blacks but get 'em all in. hurricane goldstein, hurricane mohammed, hurricane billy bob, hurricane jackie chan....

[Arky]

I was in an apartment in Clear Lake during Alicia. Don't ask me how, but we never lost power. Very lucky. I watched the local weather guys on TV the whole time. Alicia came right up the Gulf Freeway from Galveston. Roofers had a field day with repairs in the aftermath. Lots of peeled up shingles.

I'm up here in New Caney now, so I stayed for Rita. Lost power for 38 hours - hot & muggy with no AC. Couldn't find a loaf of bread for a week. I now have a little Honda generator to run necessities like a fan and my computer. Looking back, Rita was a bit of an overreaction from city officials (the mass exodus) but it probably opened some eyes about the whole evacuation process... Hopefully, they learned something...

Gustav doesn't look good.....

[HPF Bob]

During Alicia, my home lost electricity but not telephone. My friends lost telephone but not electricity. We struck a deal where they could come over and use our phone as much as they wanted if we could bring some sleeping bags and sleep over at their place until we got our power back on. That lasted 3-4 days if I recall.

[KJ3]

looks like they expect gustav to be a cat 3 out over the gulf, settling as a cat 2 when it's makes it to land on the west side of louisiana.

my sister goes to tulane, they evacuated until wednesday. pretty crazy first week of going back to school.

[Nconroe]

this is one active hurricane season. sure hope Ike stays away.