OT: Thinking of those who live on the West Coast of Florida

[PatsWSB47]

It's an absurd little pseudoscience. A couple of years ago I would have said that I've never seen a field besmirch itself the way meteorology has. However, over the past couple of years, with medicine exposing itself as a complete fraud and pseudoscience, we have a new contender.

Tin foil is on sale at Walmart if you're running low

 

[borg]

After my first 2 hurricanes,one of which involved no power for almost 2 weeks, I learned about the grid. Same here as it is where you are- "vital" things get power first ,followed by business areas along main drags. So now I'm close to both and always get power back quickly

In 2004, 110 mph eye wall went over my house....power out for 3 days...except just a few streets in the area including mine (4 hours). Being on the same grid as a hospital, fire dept, and 3 schools is a plus, not to mention having a neighbor who heads an FPL crew.
That eyewall experience was the most fantastic/scariest experience I've ever encountered.
House gets absolutely blasted from the south.
Eyewall passes over
Dead calm for an hour
Then, house gets blasted from north.
I made the mistake of leaving a 6 inch gap in my hurricane shutters over my sliding glass doors (where two sliders meet), so I could see out.
Spent an hour pushing against door frame hoping wind wasn't going cave in the metal frame.
Never will leave gaps again.

Can't imagine what the Bahamians had to endure when that 180 mph Cat 5 just stopped for 24 hours over Grand Bahama a couple years ago.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

 

[BB8XSBW]

Tin foil is on sale at Walmart if you're running low

No need, my friend. My family doctor's office is giving it away for free. In the shape of hats, too.

 

[Jim Beankie]

For all of the New Yorkers who moved down here - this is going to be bad. Really bad. Apocalyptic levels of destruction. You have never seen anything like this. You should move back to New York immediately to escape the oncoming carnage.

Been thinking about getting a retirement home somewhere in FL for the last couple of years, and every year when I see events like this its, "I'll go with the devil I know." A lot of helpful info, though, in this thread (esp about the grid). Thx.

 

[PatsWSB47]

No need, my friend. My family doctor's office is giving it away for free. In the shape of hats, too.

Well if you are his patient then that makes sense. The placebo effect has actual therapeutic benefits for those that believe in the tin foil hat treatment. For your own safety you should leave the hat on.

 

[BB8XSBW]

Well if you are his patient then that makes sense. The placebo effect has actual therapeutic benefits for those that believe in the tin foil hat treatment. For your own safety you should leave the hat on.

Look, I know it may seem like I'm sh!tting on doctors, but I still believe they serve a valuable role. For example, anytime I need to go take a sh!t these days, I will visit my doctor and tell him to perform a number of tests on me, and then I will have him write down the results. This makes for some tremendous toilet paper.

 

[BTTA]

You’ll lose power where you are for sure. Too many old oaks and overhead lines. I’m a project manager for your utility. If you feel comfortable PMing me your address, I’ll check your zip and see if you’re on the same circuit as a fire station, police station, or hospital. Hopefully you’re on the same circuit as Ascension. If so, you’ll be back up and running quickly. We will restore power to vital infrastructure first (hospitals, law enforcement, first responders, shelters, and government even though you could argue that they’re “vital”).

Law enforcement, first responders, and in many cases, hospitals and shelters are government.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Do we have posters in the Sarasota area? That's looking to be the worst, in terms of eye wall winds.

 

[Kontradiction]

Law enforcement, first responders, and in many cases, hospitals and shelters are government.

Should clarify that I mean government buildings. I.E., city hall, the DMV, jails, etc.

 

[Ian]

I left late in the afternoon yesterday to drive to St. Petersburg, which is 3+ hours each way after my son's college waited until the last minute to decide to shut down the campus completely - and the dorms - telling the kids they had to be out by 9am this morning. We were initially going to let him stay before the storm decided to make the turn as he's in a new concrete facility with built-in hurricane shutters and the cafeteria is in the same building. But now that it's going to make more of an impact, they decided to tell the kids they had to get out. I didn't get back until after 1am and I'm definitely dragging today.

 

[203Pat]

I left late in the afternoon yesterday to drive to St. Petersburg, which is 3+ hours each way after my son's college waited until the last minute to decide to shut down the campus completely - and the dorms - telling the kids they had to be out by 9am this morning. We were initially going to let him stay before the storm decided to make the turn as he's in a new concrete facility with built-in hurricane shutters and the cafeteria is in the same building. But now that it's going to make more of an impact, they decided to tell the kids they had to get out. I didn't get back until after 1am and I'm definitely dragging today.

Sounds like Florida. Way until the very last minute to make the call. Glad you got your kid out before this thing hits.

 

[ashley]

I left late in the afternoon yesterday to drive to St. Petersburg, which is 3+ hours each way after my son's college waited until the last minute to decide to shut down the campus completely - and the dorms - telling the kids they had to be out by 9am this morning. We were initially going to let him stay before the storm decided to make the turn as he's in a new concrete facility with built-in hurricane shutters and the cafeteria is in the same building. But now that it's going to make more of an impact, they decided to tell the kids they had to get out. I didn't get back until after 1am and I'm definitely dragging today.

Be safe Ian, hope you and your son are safe. This looks like this is going to be a real dangerous storm!!

 

[BTTA]

Sounds like Florida. Way until the very last minute to make the call. Glad you got your kid out before this thing hits.

To be fair about the difficulty of these decisions, there's even more frustration about evacuations that turn out not to have been necessary. The window between "too soon" and "last minute" is very small.

The permission people give themselves to heave hostility at others who are just trying to do their jobs has exploded in the last decade. Then (the same) people are critical because the best and the brightest don't want to be in government roles, creating a negative reinforcing loop for the quality of civil service.

 

[BTTA]

You havent seen the worst yet.

That's true, but not for the reasons you think. Give the first on this list 15 minutes of your time to see why: Frankly by Nate Hagens | The Great Simplification

 

[BB8XSBW]

That's true, but not for the reasons you think. Give the first on this list 15 minutes of your time to see why: Frankly by Nate Hagens | The Great Simplification

Thanks for this. That really hit home with me. I fully embrace the idea that we should unite to preserve the various forms of life on this planet. At least the life that can be turned into tasty food and will eventually take the journey through my digestive system. Couldn't care less about the rest.

 

[DaBruinz]

Praying for everyone in FL who is likely to get hit by Ian.

BTW, @Ian what do you have against FL? Why you being so mean to them?

 

[Ian]

Be safe Ian, hope you and your son are safe. This looks like this is going to be a real dangerous storm!!

Should hopefully just be wind/rain by the time it gets to where we are. But part of that is going to be because it'll lose steam after making landfall on that side and I'm definitely hoping it at least weakens a little before that ... We've got a bunch of people on here who live near Tampa so that's where the majority of my concern is right now.

 

[203Pat]

To be fair about the difficulty of these decisions, there's even more frustration about evacuations that turn out not to have been necessary. The window between "too soon" and "last minute" is very small.

The permission people give themselves to heave hostility at others who are just trying to do their jobs has exploded in the last decade. Then (the same) people are critical because the best and the brightest don't want to be in government roles, creating a negative reinforcing loop for the quality of civil service.

My wife has a friend down there who works in a restaurant in Tampa and they don't plan on closing till after they close on Wednesday and she lives in a mandatory evacuation zone and they told her she has to work. That means her, her husband, their 7 year old, and their two dogs needs to hit the road at around midnight Thursday just hours before the storm is supposed to hit. By that point she could be sitting in traffic as this thing is baring down on them with all the other people who left too late. Most of these decisions are about one thing and one thing only, money. Safety takes a back seat if it is going to cost a business/government money.

 

[Kontradiction]

Anyone here in Port Charlotte? Looks like that town is going to get smoked.