2009 Atlantic hurricane season

[gatorback]

I'm not sure we should even suggest placing bets.  Next thing you know, they'll closing us down.  What odds are you talkin?

[Keith-N-Jax]

This is the year Jacksonville takes a cat 3 on the chin. Who wants to place bets now?

Why would you say something like this,,lets bet for no Hurricanes. Though no one has any control.

[gatorback]

A long time central texas resident told me that the weather this year points to a mega storm hitting around Houston and heading straight toward the Brazos Valley. That's between Austin and Dallas. Smack dab in the to the middle of Texas he predicts for this year.

[civil42806]

A long time central texas resident told me that the weather this year points to a mega storm hitting around Houston and heading straight toward the Brazos Valley. That's between Austin and Dallas. Smack dab in the to the middle of Texas he predicts for this year.

Your friend should inform the National weather service about his predictive ability then

[gatorback]

Teddy, a much older texan I know, predicted Ike last year.  He said the warm winter would not be good for hurricane season.  But, I'll pass the word on to Charles. Ha.

[heights unknown]

What worries me is that this year is starting out like 2005, the late winter and spring were extremely dry up through July, and then all of a sudden we had these atrocious and vicious tropical storms and hurricanes.  Hope I'm wrong.

Heights Unknown

[Jason]

The pending fire season may be more of a concern than hurricanes this year.  The area suffered a cold winter that killed of a dried out a lot of vegetation.  Couple that with low rainfall amounts and we may be seeing another fire season similar to '98.

[gatorback]

You got that one right Jason.  But, with the season fast approaching, what is Jacksonville doing to prepare?

[gatorback]

Hurricane names retired: Ike, Gustav and Paloma

With hurricane season starting a month from today, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the retirement of three Atlantic storm names, never to be used again. Not surprisingly, Ike is off the list, along with Gustav and Paloma.

Ike from NOAA Hurricane Gustav hit western Cuba as a category four hurricane and made landfall near Morgan City, Louisiana on Labor Day, September 1, 2008. NOAA reports Gustav caused $4 billion damage and killed 112 people.

Hurricane Ike made landfall in Galveston on September 13, 2008 with category two winds and category four storm surge.  Ike killed 80 people in the Caribbean and another 20 in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.  Damage is estimated at $19 billion, according to NOAA.

Hurricane Paloma was the second strongest November hurricane to develop in the Atlantic basin, becoming a category four storm while over the Caribbean. Paloma destroyed 1400 homes in Cuba and caused $300 million damage in the U.S.

Six lists of names are used in rotation to name tropical weather systems. Last year's list will be used again in 2014. Names are retired only if the hurricanes are significant. The names Gonzalo, Isaias and Paulette will replace the three retired today.

[David]

Why would you say something like this, lets bet for no Hurricanes. Though no one has any control

That's exactly why I would something like that... because it doesn't matter. You might as well have a little fun with it.

Watch this: I bet I’ll stumble across a million dollars in two seconds!

............nothing. It didn't happen.

I would say Jacksonville is past due for a direct hit from a major storm, but the fact is we just don't take many direct hits in this part of Florida.  Personally I’m just fascinated by hurricanes, we've had so many close calls in North Florida..... so many calls to get ready and evacuate and then when nothing would happen, it just left me with this antsy feeling.

That eternal preparation for storms that rarely came is why I started chasing these things in 2004. We're lucky and cursed in a sense that we get to witness a force of nature that's rare in most parts of the world.

[Jason]

You know, I stumbled across an interesting peice of history at the Government House in St. Augustine.  A pamphlet I picked up mentioned the exhibition of the "Huricane Lady" statue that dates back to the early 1800's.  It came to St. Augustine by way of a Spanish ship that survived a violent storm off the coast.  The short of the story is that ever since the statue had landed in St Augustine, there have been no major direct hits to the city by hurricanes.  Rather interesting.

Here is some info I found at St. Augustine.com

http://www.staugustine.com/stories/060103/new_1575567.shtml

some more info here...

http://spirit-digest.com/Prayers/hurricanelady.htm


Next time we're threatened I know who I'm gonna go see! 

[reednavy]

I'm still trying to figure why the retired Paloma, she didn't kill that many and didn't cause that much damage in $ terms.

Wtf kind of name is Isaias?! Hell, Gonzalo is weird as well.

[gatorback]

Right! I smiled on April 30, 2009 when the storm come to Houston. I got that little sparkle in my eye  that's been missing since Nov. 2008. A grin on my face when my friend Ladye told me they clocked 75+ mile an hour winds in Seabrook(on Galveston Bay).  She said we had our own little "mini-hurricane." 

What's a mini-hurricane?

"This was worse than Tropical Storm Allison"



Almost a foot of rain fell in West Houston overnight. This was the fourth heavy rain event to swamp our area in the last two weeks!

Once again, the storms developed and stalled allowing torrential rain to fall for several hours. 6-11" of rain fell over a large part of West Houston, from the West Loop and West Belt, to Katy, Cypress, Tomball, Spring and neighborhoods in-between.

Click here to see a slide show of viewer photos from today's storm.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/gallery?section=news&id=6783813&photo=1

The map below shows the estimated rainfall from Doppler radar over the last two days.

Rainfall_04282009

During our continuous live coverage Tuesday morning, some folks living in West Houston said the rain was heavier in this storm than it was during Tropical Storm Allison. And indeed it was.... in that area where only 3-6" of rain fell during the storm in 2001.

Some additional heavy thundershowers could develop overnight and early Wednesday. Although we are keeping a slight chance of rain in our forecast through the end of the week, the overall weather pattern should shift most of the widespread heavy rain northward, away from Houston. There's nothing to dry us out. So if showers do develop they could be heavy.

[jandar]

The short of the story is that ever since the statue had landed in St Augustine, there have been no major direct hits to the city by hurricanes. 

Dora dropped from a Cat3 (major level) to Cat 2 minutes before landfall in St Augustine.
Matter of fact, NOAA estimated she had 125MPH winds at St Augustine. 115MPH winds were measured inland between Jacksonville and St Augustine. The eye came inland 6 miles north of St Augustine, a direct hit.

Might be just a silly superstition.

Read the full report.
http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/hurricanes/Qc9452d673h81964.pdf

[Jason]

Yeah, I'm aware of Dora.  Still, superstition or not, I think that the section of coastline between Flagler Beach and St. Simons Island is one of the least impacted coastlines along the Atlantic Ocean.  Also, a cat 2 is not considered a "major" storm.  So maybe she is doing some good? 


The story is interesting nonetheless.