How you can help

The American Red Cross has designed web banners that you can put on your blog. Clicking on the banner above will take you to the donation page. Please be patient, it's taken me some time to get through to their main page. I take this as a really good sign that people are opening up their hearts to help out those hit by Katrina.

You know it's bad when....

You know Katrina is a bad storm when Jim Cantori gives his reports for the Weather Channel by *phone*.

The Weather Channel Blog

Katrina Slideshow
Katrina Slideshow 2

Officially, Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 Hurricane. As of right now, it is barely a Category 1 with winds of 75 mph. But the damage has been done; the pictures in the slideshow give you but a glimpse of the devastation.
*******
TD #13 appears to have fallen apart, and was downgraded to an area of low pressure. While it is still being watched, it is not expected to develop any more. One big sigh of relief here.

Eye of the Storm

According to an earlier hurricane hunter recon report, Katrina has a textbook perfect eye, and this infrared radar picture shows that:

I am in awe of the size of this storm. It takes up almost the entire Gulf of Mexico.

The hurricane has weakened just slightly (not that it makes a huge difference). The pressure has risen just a tiny bit, and the winds have gone down to 160 mph, but it is still a strong Category 5. Those on land are already feeling gusts of hurricane force winds (greater than 75 mph). And worse still, that this is all happening at night. The eye is supposed to make landfall around 8 a.m.

Still praying.

*********

Tropical Depression #13 has formed and is far out in the Atlantic. It is predicted to become a tropical storm (Lee) perhaps by Tuesday evening. One prediction is that it will just go out to sea (yes, please, we like that prediction). In any case, it won't be anywhere near the Florida coast by Saturday, when we leave on our trip.

What happens when you're out at sea on a ship and a hurricane threatens? You sail around it. My sister was on a cruise last year during one of the hurricanes that hit Florida. They wound up missing 2 of their ports (and another was substituted). Our cruiseline had been diverting to another port during Katrina's earlier days as it approached and crossed the tip of Florida.

Katrina a Catastrophic Cat 5

I am absolutely horrified to discover how Katrina strengthened overnight. It is now a deadly Category 5 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph, with gusts over 200 mph. I have goosebumps just typing that. It looks like it will affect New Orleans, LA; Mississippi; and Alabama, no matter where the eye actually makes landfall. This storm is HUGE. The idea of going through a storm of this magnitude..... :::::shudder:::::::

I'm going to echo the sentiments of the Central Florida Hurricane Center: IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM, GET OUT NOW.

To my friends in Alabama, be safe--I will be praying hard for you and everyone else affected by this storm.

To the rest of my readers not affected by this storm--please consider making a donation to the American Red Cross.

Q&A: First Edition

Reader Carlan asked in the comments:

"will be in your wonderful state sep 8 for 2 weeks what can we expect with the weather"

Weather.com has a great search feature--put in the zip code of where you'll be staying, and it will give you a 10 day forecast. There's also a Travel section with any delays the airports might be experiencing. I also depend on their website and tv station for tropical information, though admittedly, Katrina caught us all by surprise.

Florida is a pretty big state, but generally you can probably expect highs in the high 80's to mid-90's. Always bank on rain (so umbrellas and ponchos are handy). Unless there's a big storm, most rains are short-lived. So pack plenty of sunscreen! It's bright and very strong, and I see way too many people with that red lobster look. Sunglasses and hats are a must if you're going to be out long, and drink plenty of water--it's not uncommon right now for the heat index to be well over 100.

By September, the weather does improve, but aside from a rain-cooled evening, don't expect the lows to go below low to mid-70's. However, most places use the A/C liberally, so if you chill easily, bring a light jacket for indoors (restaurants, shows, etc). Also, if you're going to be outdoors at dusk/night, get some mosquito repellant (though I don't think I've ever had a problem at the Orlando theme parks).

Thanks for reading, Carlan, and enjoy your trip to the Sunshine State :)

Katrina Strengthens

According to the Weather Channel last night, Katrina took the best possible path over the southern tip of Florida to minimize weakening. Apparently, the Everglades, being warm and swampy, is the closest thing to the warm waters of the Atlantic or the Gulf.

But that's bad news for the rest of Florida.

After being temporarily downgraded to a tropical storm, Katrina is back up to Hurricane strength (Category 1), with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph with gusts of up to 120 mph. The pressure has dropped significantly since last night (and don't my sinuses know it!)

Current projections predict that she'll grow stronger, possibly into a strong Category 3, with winds of 125 mph (gusts stronger). And it looks like the poor Panhandle is going to get slammed *again*.

Depending on how close she comes to the west coast, I think we're going to see some rain, but not much really bad weather.

The Thunder Rolls

We're getting bands of showers today, another storm is threatening to rumble in. TS Katrina is moving a little faster than predicted last night, but still not expected to strengthen more than a minimal Category 1 Hurricane.

Just had to turn on the lights, it got really dark all of a sudden. The wind isn't too bad right now, I hear my windchimes playing out on the porch. Need to take them down--because (all together now) it's not THAT the wind is blowing, it's WHAT the wind is blowing LOL. I love Ron White.

Katrina and the Rains

Needless to say, we're not walking on sunshine around here.

Tropical Storm Katrina is predicted to become a hurricane around the time it makes landfall. Currently projected to come ashore somewhere around Hollywood, FL. And that's about all we're sure of. Apparently there are a bunch of weather systems out there which are making the prediction models....unpredictable. Some have it exiting into the Gulf, then turning up towards the panhandle, others have it skim up the west coast and then crossing back over Florida before exiting into the Atlantic.

Normally I wouldn't be quite so antsy, but that was before I had 3 leaks in my house. And really, I am quite sure that all will be well for us. But still! Enough already!

I will be QUITE ready for our cruise next weekend, thankyouverymuch.

Margaritas, anyone?

What the.....?

My daughter asked me something about a Tropical Storm tonight, and I was like huh? As I was in the middle of cleaning, I kindof forgot about it. Until now. And you could have knocked me over with a feather.

Guess who's coming to dinner?

Well. Better this week than next.

Looks like this blog is going to see a little action for the next few days.

The End?

The whole roof fiasco seems to have been settled, and not to our benefit : /

Are you ready for this? THE DAMN ROOFER LIED TO INSURANCE. Told them that we didn't ask about hurricane damage, simply that we asked for an estimate to fix the roof. Told them there was no hurricane damage. And then said roofer would NOT return my husband's phone calls, and now we know why.

Insurance was kind enough to come out again, my husband got up on the roof too. Any shingles that previously were lifting have now resealed themselves. They found 3 torn shingles. The latest leak is being attributed to a lack of roofing gunk where our porch meets the main roof. We got a small check from insurance, enough to fix the shingles and regunk the porch seam, and possibly fix the ceilings in the 2 rooms (well, the leak spots anyway). Yeah, hurricane deductibles are *lovely* things. NOT.

So there, dear readers, is the end of the 2004 Hurricane Saga: The Roof Edition.

8 & 9: The Weather's Fine!

Tropical Storm #8, Harvey, is no threat to us, or anybody else in the US. Whew.

Tropical Depression #9, well, that remains to be seen. It may strengthen to a Tropical Storm by Wednesday, at which point it will be named Irene.

The bad news--NOAA has revised the predictions for the 2005 Hurricane season. Including the storms we've already seen, they predict 18-21 named storms. The average is ten. TEN. And they predict that 9-11 of those will be hurricanes (average: 6), with 5-7 becoming major hurricanes with maximum sustained winds of at least 111 mph (average is 2-3 major hurricanes).

2005 Hurricane Season so far:
7 Tropical storms (11-14 to go based on predictions)
2 Major hurricanes (3-5 to go).

********
Turns out the roofer didn't write down exactly what was wrong with our roof on the previous estimate :::smacking forehead::::: So we are waiting to hear from them to find out when they are coming out for another estimate on the roof, and when the insurance adjuster is going to come out to meet them. All hope is not lost. Yet.