Hurricane Isabel Opinion(s)

Well it looks like we could be in for the first big storm of the year. It's going to be close either way. I was having dinner with WNCT-TV 9 meteorologist, Phillip Williams last night (we worked together for five years) and we got to discussing Isabel. His computer models are still pretty varied in where Isabel may turn up. But he was saying that one computer's model that has historically been pretty accurate for him suggests that Isabel could move over the Outer Banks, get bumped by an incoming pressure system that'll move it back out into the ocean, where it then may move on up the coast hit closer to the New England area. If she were to hit the Outer Banks, those of us in Eastern NC would actually be on the weak side of the storm and we may be looking at some rain and gusts, but nothing horrible. This is also assuming the storm weakens some before it gets here, which is a good possibility. Anyway, I thought I'd share. This is by no means an official forecast and it may be closer to Tuesday before anything official can be made, but this was just his opinion based on his history with his weather computers and which ones have historically been more accurate. Now that I've posted this, I've probably jinxed us and we're lined up for a direct hit.

 

Yeah, most people that I know think we will get hit, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully it will lose strength before it hits us because when it was a Category 5, it was very scary.

 

It isn't looking good though. I live on the Coast, in Morehead City. Right now as I'm looking at the Weather Channel, the Storm's Projected Path as of now looks to them like it'll hit Carteret County Directly.

But hopefully things will change between now and Thursday, I pray that they do.

In the meantime on the Havelock Forum I've come up with some Hurricane Humor using some SW Lines. Check them out and enjoy!

Yours Truly,

UD

* uses the Force*
" Isabel will turn, Isabel will turn, Isabel will turn."

 

You gotta hate those Hurricanes, oh and Isabel as well. I thought ECU looked pretty good today considering they were playing the #2 team in the country.

 

I just turned on the Weather Channel and the eye of Isabel is at least 50 miles across!!! That is the biggest eye that I have ever seen or heard of a hurricane having.

 

One of the models also has Isabel taking the same path as Floyd. Even if that were to happen, the flooding should not be as bad as Floyd though the rivers would obviously swell up some.

As for the Miami Hurricanes, I think they were kind to the Pirates. The irony of ECU is that growing up, I was an ECU fan since I lived in this area. But after going to UNC and then moving back, I get nothing but scorn from ECU fans, so I am pretty indifferent to ECU now. When UNC comes to Greenville next month, it's going to be two pretty bad teams on the field. My hope is that their equality in crappiness will result in a halfway decent game.

 

According to WRAL.com (I think) the weather on the East Coast this week should prevent Isabel from turning, which means it may likely hit us by Thurs. morning. Hopefully it won't be as bad as Fran, and hopefully it'll lose some strength before it hits.

 

Wow! The Weather Channel was saying that once Isabel makes it northern turn and begins picking up speed, it could be pushing waves of 40 feet in the upper-left quadrant. Right now the storm isn't moving fast enough to keep up with the waves it is pushing, so they're not as large. But once the speed of the storm catches up with the speed of the waves it is pushing, they will get pretty high. There are parts of the Outer Banks that get washed away in 10-20 foot surf. I can't imagine what 40 foot waves will do to certain sections of the Outer Banks.

 

Well, some of the Outer Banks might be missing if that happens.

That would kinda suck.

 

Ok well if it does come it does, there is nothing I can do about it, or can anyone do about it. All we can do is pray that it doesn't hit us and it turns somewhere else.

I live 2 miles from the Intercoastal Waterway and 5 miles from the Beach. And my parents aren't going to evacuate, but I am.

Now all I need is a place to stay.

-UD

 

Exactly - there's nothing we can do to stop it, just prepare for it. After Floyd, this storm does not concern me much. So we get some strong winds and rain, it's not like we all haven't been through this at least once. It should be comparable to Fran, Hugo, or Floyd (hopefully without the flooding) - just a night of high winds and then a couple of days of rain. My main concern is always the tornadoes that can pop up when the storm hits shore. Other than that, just be prepared and ride it out.

 

Well, my family has been through one too many Gulf hurricanes. So we figure, if you can't beat it... just run north (ignoring all reports that it'll be up there next). So, if you see Isabel, tell her to stay out of Calvert County, Maryland

In the meantime... I'll be making sure there's nothing on the floor before we leave tomorrow... eeek.

 

Well it looks like we're having a hurricane party. One of my old suitemates from college and his family are coming in from Vegas to stay with us this week. Then I have another old suitemate driving in from Chapel Hill on Thursday to stay. Can't stop it, so might as well enjoy it. It probably won't be as much fun as when we stayed at Emerald Isle for Dennis, but it should be a good time. Of course now I feel like I should have a 50-gallon drum of water just in case, instead of the case of Honey Brown I picked up.

 

Here's a little info from the Weather Channel for my NC friends:

The advance battle streamers from Hurricane Isabel--high, thin cirrus clouds--are feathering out over eastern North Carolina and Tidewater Virginia now. The hurricane continues on its relentless course toward North Carolina this afternoon with landfall anticipated sometime around midday tomorrow, probably between Cape Hatteras and Morehead City. Still, a landfall as far south as Wilmington or as far north as Chesapeake Bay can't be ruled out (see Hurricane Advisories graphic). As of 11 a.m. EDT, hurricane watches were changed to tropical storm warnings south of Cape Fear, N. C., to South Santee River, S. C., and north of Chincoteague, Va., to Sandy Hook, N. J. Tropical storm warnings are also now in effect for the Cheasapeake Bay north of Smith Point, including the tidal Potomac.

Isabel has been looking a bit healthier the past few hours as a more definitive eye than has been apparent for the past day or so has appeared. Whether this presages strengthening or not is open to question. At any rate, the hurricane is not weakening. Wind and rain are expected to pick up dramatically tonight over eastern North Carolina and Tidewater Virginia as Isabel begins its assault.


Take care of yourselves, folks.

 

Ha! Walmart marked all their clearance kites down to a quarter, so we've been outside flying kites with the kids today. I have friends here from Vegas, one of which has never been through a hurricane. I think she's getting pretty excited. Being from Vegas, she gets excited when it's just a little rain. I can't wait to see her expression tomorrow.

 

Well, she came, she went, and life goes on. It was pretty much what I expected here. On the plus side, we only lost power for ~2-3 hours on Thursday during the afternoon. It was back up before it got dark. The wind really picked up in the later evening as the eyewall passed through the northeast part of Pitt County. Fortunately, it seemed that she started breaking down fairly rapidly, so when the eyewall got past us, the backside of the storm never really seemed to slam us as would be expected. Overall I think the Greenville area really caught a break. My sister who lives in Chocowinity, had at least fifteen large trees down in her yard last we heard. We haven't been able to reach them by phone yet, so I'm going to ride down there shortly.

 

In Raleigh we got a lot of wind and rain, and my apt. complex lost power about 4 or 5 times. It wasn't too bad, I did get off of work about 3 hours early. We're lucky that Isabel got a little weaker before she hit. I have a picture of her on my desktop as a perfect category 5 hurricane, and it's pretty scary. The picture is awesome, but it's scary to think what could have been if she hit us like that.

 

The eye went right over our house.... very eerie.