MoW Absence

[cavebear]

A hurricane is about to arrive here in Washington DC. I don't have to evacuate the area or anything like that, but starting in about 14 -16 hours I will be deluged with rain, hit by 50-60 mph winds (sustained, with gusts to 75), flooded (I am at the bottom of a flood plain) and we are told to expect 6-8" of rain in a 12-hour period), and there may be lightning and tornadoes associated with the hurricane.

The short story is that I do not know whether I will be on-line after about 0800 GMT (Noon US EDT) Thursday. The situation may last about 24-30 hours, assuming that the electricity doesn't fail from storm damage.

We are advised that this may be the strongest hurricane to hit our area since 1968 (and that one was very bad; I remember it). Fortunately, the predicted wind direction suggests that any large trees that are uprooted will fall away from the house.

Still, I have to fill bags with dirt and pack them around the basement door or the rain will just seep in, and I have to move my boat and trailer to shelter areas. Naturally, there are all sorts of things sitting around the yard that could become dangerous in 70 mph winds, so early tomorrow, I need to anchor or tie them down and collect smaller stuff that would blow away.

Don't worry about me, I am used to this stuff, but I may be both busy and out-of-touch for a couple of days.

Minister of War Cavebear

[Ben Kenobi]

/me adds 'hurricane' to the list of acceptable absences.

Don't worry about me, I am used to this stuff,

Be careful, cavebear.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Wimp

That said, here's hoping you don't get hit too hard, cavebear (but feel free to use up all of Isabel's rain before it goes north to us )

[atawa]

Quite a nasty picture you paint there, hope everything is still in one piece after the storm

[CannonFodder]

I remember being hit by hurricane Opal a few years back. It took us an entire year to repair our house and get everything back in order (multiple trees fell, many of them on our house). Those spawned tornadoes are the worst. Hopefully Isabel won't be too bad for you guys.

[cavebear]

A lull in the storm - Hurrican Isabel seems to have tracked a bit more NW than originally predicted, so I am only on the edge of it. Also, it has sped up, moving along at 8 mph when over the ocean yesterday to 24 mph at landfall. That causes it to pass through faster and less rainfall occurs.

Introduction to Hurricanes - Hurricanes in the northern hemisphere rotate counterclockwise. When they strike the east coast of a landmass (as they do here) that means that the moisture-laden winds are on the north and east sides of the eye (the center). The south and west winds are coming across land, and are much drier.

Hurricanes lose wind speed rapidly on land. The hurricane exists from rising winds (causing low pressure) at the center, pulling in air from the outside. This is caused by water heat and increased by the flat surface of the ocean.

On land, the situation changes. Cooler ground temperatures weaken the cyclonic structure of the hurricane, and irregular ground topography (including trees and buildings) resist free air movement. The mechanisms that develop and sustain a hurricane over water fail over land.

Hurricane Isabel had sustained winds of about 140 mph (I don't recall the exact speed) over ocean. As the leading eadges of it began to hit land, those dropped to 110 mpg. When the eye hit land itself, it dropped to 90 mph. As it is travelling about 50 miles over land, the windspeed near the eye is still about 70 mph with gusts to 90.

Being on the northeast side of the center, I had gusts to about 40 mph, but it is supposed to be at its worst 3-8 hours from now. And while we got more rain on the east side than the west side, it seems only about 4 inches in 7 hours. Again, that might get somewhat worse later.

But I escaped the worst of it by about 40 miles (but a hurricane is about 200 miles wide) so we here were still well within its circumference. I'm lucky, about a half million people have lost electricity. I have fallen branches and debris all over my yard, but it could have been a lot worse for me. Because of the wind direction, everything that fell went *away* from the house!

Back tomorrow by about GMT 1500. The wind is picking up again and I just had a power flicker.

[MrWhereItsAt]

Sounds like you're getting away scotfree cavebear - 40mph? That is tiny. Look forward to the next update from Weatherman cavebear.

[cavebear]

We had gusts up to 61 mph sometime after midnight. I have numerous branches on my backyard, and I can hear chainsaws being used around the neighborhood.

But I really did get off easy. Just 15 miles to my west, the streets are flooded and around Washington, 70% of the population is without electricity (MY electrical supplier - a local cooperative- buried its lines decades ago).

So, it appears I am back, unscathed.

[MrWhereItsAt]

61mph... I think that's around 100kph.... We have that farily often here, and we never see a hurricane (tropical cyclone).

Not even the forces of nature can stop our Military Commander.

[shade]

I'm glad you got through it unharmed.

Shade

[cavebear]

So am I.

Having escaped unharmed and without any inconvience (other than lots of tree branches to remove from the yard), I am amazed at how many people very nearby are without electricity and/or potable tapwater even 2 days afterwards!

A shift of 20 miles closer to me, and I could be boiling water to drink, collecting pond water to flush the toilet, watching refrigerated food spoiling, and trying to read my computer screen by candle-light . Even worse, I might have to drink warm beer!

It was a close thing, and I am a very relieved cavebear!

[Ben Kenobi]

Even worse, I might have to drink warm beer!

Warm American beer.

The horror!

[atawa]

At least its got some taste then