It is fascinating but I'd rather not be in it!
Oh ,she is about 45 miles from me, North of London.

So not many tornadoes or hurricanes? I would love her to visit me but not for that! Lol. You guys just get lots of rain right?

Now Katia is trying to get attention. Hurricane drama queens!

And Kings

They predicted a bad year for hurricanes, guess they were right!

We are being hit by drama queens

Well hopefully she'll stay away.

I think some gay people are referred to as queen's here! So not a good mixture! And I'm sure the phrase "drama queen "comes from drag acts, men performing as women,
Here in the south east we have about the right amount of rain most of the time, it's a good balance. up north they get a lot more and as you probably know Ireland gets a lot. that's why they refer to it as the emerald Isles, very green and it's the last bit of land in the west until you get to the usa.

With all of the hurricane disasters happening, I wonder if Bill and
Hilary will start the Clinton Foundation going to help the victims?
They did such a good job in Haiti.

Key west residents need to leave by tomorrow evening to avoid a traffic jam on seven mile bridge. That would be a tragedy. The mainland should be able to withstand this storm if they prepare now. They are no stranger to powerful storms.

Yeah, I think the scariest thing for evacuating the Keys is getting stuck on the bridges. Even if you are not in a collapse if its in front of you, you're stuck.

Bahamas. Florida may be next.
Hurricane Irma's winds are stronger than if you were to add up all of the winds of the prior eight storms Atlantic storms together at maximum intensity.

That's just one shattering measure of the storm's strength from meteorologist Phil Klotzbach, research scientist at Colorado State University's Department of Atmospheric Science. Irma's 185 mph winds make it the strongest storm on record in the Atlantic Ocean outside of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, according to Klotzbach's research, which he shared with The Daily Beast.

"Most of the other storms this season were pretty weak and short-lived. While Harvey was intense, it was intense for a short time period before making landfall," Klotzbach said.

Irma's wind speeds are tied with the second-strongest maximum winds of all time for an Atlantic hurricane, matching a 1935 storm in the Florida Keys and Hurricanes Gilbert (1988) and Wilma (2005). Only one hurricane, Allen in 1980, has recorded stronger winds, at 190 mph. Irma has broken Allen's record for sustained winds though.


The intense winds make Irma a Category 5 storm, the most severe on the hurricane scale. Hurricane Harvey, which flooded Houston and destroyed swaths of Texas, was a Category 4.Irma grew so powerful so quickly to due to a combination of very warm water, high levels of mid-level relative humidity, and vertical wind condition.

"A hurricane's primary fuel source is warm ocean water, so warmer water provides more fuel for the storm," Klotzbach said. "Anomalously high mid-level relative humidity provides the moisture necessary for thunderstorm formation, which are the building blocks of hurricanes."The tropical Atlantic, stretching from the west coast of Africa (where hurricanes form) to the Caribbean, has been warmer in recent years, but Klotzbach said it's "too early to say conclusively that it's climate-change related."

We left last night, a little off schedule but better late than never. I felt like Noah's Ark. We have 7 cats, one dog, and six fish.

My sister figured we'd get gas along the way, despite my telling her we needed to get it in the Keys due to so many stations running out. Sure enough we ran out of gas, but had just made it to our destination and were fortunate to find one that still had gas.

We're going up to Bradenton, but if things don't look good then we'll head to her boyfriend's family's home in Tennessee.

There are quite a few people in the Keys that plan on staying. Hopefully they will be able to get out if necessary.

It was really strange to see so many places and gas stations shut down, so quite a few are taking it serious.

I saw one forecast that shows it turning north and going up thru the center of Florida (can't recall the source, I think it was WeatherUnderground)
Whatever you end up doing be smart and be safe.

Thanks Tom, we will. And we have a full tank of gas now, lol.

As far as I know, most of them are saying the East Coast, but they don't know for sure yet. All of South Florida is under a hurricane watch and storm surge watch. They are saying the Keys have the potential of getting a 8 - 10 feet storm surge.

So even if it doesn't hit us directly, the storm surge can be catastrophic.

Edit... So far traffic has been okay. We're just outside of Tampa in I - 75, and there's been an accident. People are driving way to fast. Fortunately it was just a fender bender.

I just watched a bunch of videos on Accuweather
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/reports-barbuda-left-barely-habitable-after-irma-pummels-northern-caribbean-islands/70002661

The National Hurricane Center website has a lot of graphics.
That could be where I saw the path that has now changed to the East coast. It also shows forecasts for winds and storm surge.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

I'm glad you and yours is safe.

Thanks Tom, and thanks for the link, I will check it out shortly.

One of the videos said one island, can't remember the name, had 97% of all buildings completely demolished. And the island referenced was hilly and mountainous so the destruction was only partially storm surge.
There was also loss of life which is saddest of all.

I really feel for these people because they have another hurricane coming yet. Jose is expected to veer NE before it gets to Florida but that isn't going to help the islands that are already reeling from Irma.

I've known for a long time that nature will kill you if it gets a chance.

Oh, before I forget, Here is the national radar loop at intellicast

http://www.intellicast.com/National/Radar/Current.aspx?location=default&region=jef&animate=true

Irma Hurricane track from Intellicast



In case the image tag fails

http://images.intellicast.com/WxImages/CustomGraphic/HurTrack2.gif

Between Harvey and Irma and the fires in Montana and Cali...come hell or high water....we stand strong