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26 October, 2011

Hi Fives All Around!

Looks like we dodged another one. Hurricane Rina popped up virtually out of nowhere with such speed that she made it into the record books without hardly trying.

Dr. Jeff Masters, Co-Founder of Weather Underground (http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/76750.html), on his blog (http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1970), said that (and I've paraphrased a bit, "Rina became a hurricane just 21 hours after the first tropical depression advisory was issued for her. This is the second fastest since 1851 when records started to be kept. Hurricane Humberto (2007) holds the Atlantic record for fastest intensification from first advisory issued to hurricane strength-- less than 18 hours."

Preparedness-wise, we took down the other half of the awning over the pool deck, rolled up the pool cover and put it and its reel down in the breezeway and generally cleaned up lots of wood from the patio project. We also put deck chairs and such away.

Other than that, I've spent a great deal of time gazing at weather maps and hurricane models, etc.

Unless Rina takes a drastic left turn and whacks us, we've come through this one in fine shape.

So, the beer's cold, the next to last game of the World Series will be on tonight (St. Louis is going to win, so it has to go seven games). With luck, Rina will be the last big event for the current hurricane season, which ends November 30, although we'll still keep a weather-eye peeled through December 15, since we've had tropical storms after the end of November before.

Life is good.

4 comments:

JRinSC said...

Good news... glad you're an elusive target! At least you had a good excuse to clean up some... lol.

It will be 79 degrees here tomorrow and 57 for high the next day here in the piedmont region of SC. Winter be coming again, darn it!

Take care,

Julian

Dave Rider said...

Just for comparison purposes only...
Our current outside temp is 79. Forecast for today is 91, tomorrow - 93, and Saturday - back to 91.
Your results may vary. Differences in readings are not indicative of poor workmanship; rather, they show creativity to the discerning eye.
What is this 'winter' that you mention?

JRinSC said...

Yeah, I know: I let myself in for that one. LOL Winters are when the sun gets colder, or goes further away, or gives out of gas or something. Definitely not good! I'm waiting for the first frost to shut down my roses and azaleas. Winter here isn't so bad, just that summers are so good!

Glad that Rina followed track and left you alone! Looks like it is to weaken just before flying up the coast. Maybe your neighbors to the north won't get their clocks cleaned as badly as I expected.

Dave Rider said...

Hi Julian,

According to the latest models, Rina is "going to be trapped" in the Yucatan Channel or at least in the NW Caribbean as it begins to fall apart. The model tracks all show it basically spinning in place till it disappears. What that probably means to us is no sunshine for a few days.

Cheers,
Dave