wolfen1086

Ok I know this is kinda dumb, but I track Tropical Storms and Hurricanes in the Atlantic. I started after 95 when Hurricane Felix scared the Virginia Beach city council, and I have kept a written record of time, location, wind spreed, and movement, since then, it has come in pretty handy in years past, I've actually gotten good enough that I can tell withing 20 miles where its gonna hit the weather channel cant even do that.
Now here it is 2009 and I was thinking my book would be empty for this year, when all of a sudden POW, I'm tracking three of em now :)
Claudette is gonna hit Fla, Ana is a TD now, so Bill's the only one left thats a threat to us here in Va Beach, and I'm thinking right now being that its just off Bermuda, that its probably gonna curve more N and mis the Central east coast.

Oh and the only one I have been wrong about since I started was Hurricane Mitch

beefers1

Of course it's not dumb, but I think there're plenty of free programs online that'll do it for you and display the approximate path. And they're generally very accurate.

wolfen1086

I have about 3 free programs on my computer now, one that makes weather models predicting what will happen where, one that tracks hurricanes via sat-com, and one that gathers hurricane data from NOAA. kinda handy since if the big one hits where I live, it will make New Orleans and miss look like a breezy spring day. all it will take here to flood 80% of the Tidewater basin is a strong cat 3 or above directly hitting the mouth of the Chesapeake bay. then this area will look like a nuke went off.

ebackhus

What programs? I've always had an interest in weather but didn't really have tools to track it.

Jason

Arrrghhh. You said said the dreaded H word. You know it figures, it has been quite the past month, and then they start up now. As long as none hit this weekend near St Augustine I will be happy though. *crosses fingers*

As far as tracking them, if it makes you happy I say go for it.

wolfen1086

Go here

http://wareseeker.com/free-weather-prediction/

Take your pick, theres a bunch of free ones

wolfen1086

Heres the curent workup for you Jason

Claudette, TD, going North, no worries for you
Ana, dead in the water, just a pile of thunderstorms now, no worries for you
Bill, coming my way, no worries for you
Its starting to look like Bill might land aroud here somewhere, or go back out to sea.

wolfen1086

Also a good resource is the weather underground.

Jason

Awesome that is great news, thank you. Someone told me rain on your wedding day is good, but the wife will be pissed if it is a hurricane.

wolfen1086

LOL your welcome, I track every year, and each year I'll start a thread if yall want and we can all sit back and watch the old guy make a fool of himself glued to the computer like a 12 year old glued to a texting phone LMAO.

SABL

I can only imagine the excitement of having to batten down the hatches and head for high ground. Been up here in central Ohio all my life and doubt if I will ever be a snowbird. My father has a winter home in Bradenton, but I have never been there.... haven't been down south for over 12yrs. Back to the topic............ In all of my 57yrs I have only experienced the effect of a hurricane once. We're approaching the first anniversary of "Ike" (9-14-08) that passed through our neighborhood. We got the wind but were lucky we didn't get the rain....not a drop!! Damage was severe but could have been worse with rain. 4 days without electricity was something I have NEVER experienced. Most big-box home improvement centers had re-shipped almost all generators south and there were none to be found around here.... my son was lucky and borrowed one from work (construction). I think most repair components for the electric grid were already headed to Texas in anticipation of major power outages. I just burned lotsa candles and cooked on my grill....even heated water for my coffee on the burner and poured it through the filter basket every morning. The weather was perfect and heat/cooling not needed......we got lucky!! Even had a full moon at night, so outdoor lights weren't really needed. The most annoying part of the whole affair was listening to the neighbor's generators 24hrs a day..... the closest one was 100yds away but was still a nuisance.

I wish you guys and your neighbors all the best during the upcoming "H" season.

WereBo

Oddly, the UK has more tornadoes than the USA, up to 2,500 per year!

Fortunately, they're nowhere as severe and usually occur over open fields, so no-one notices them

K-B

I don't recall ever having a hurricane pass through this area (not in my lifetime, anyway). A few years before I was born, one passed through the area and did some serious damage (it washed away the rail line, which was never rebuilt).

But this is blizzard country and I love snowstorms! (Lake snow country)

wolfen1086

Theirs no excitement around here, just do the basic token tape on the windows, pick up everything outside, and then you have 2 choices, either hang on for the ride, or leave, personally if a cat 3 or better ever comes ashore in Va Beach, this place will make New Orleans look like nothing ever happened. the Chesapeake Bay will flood the entire Tidewater area at about 25 feet deep, ( or so the "experts" say). If it does that this area will be knows as Lake Virginia for a few months until the water can drain away, but at sea level thats not very fast.