There is a disturbance in the Force (farm and hurricane related)

[thatmoody]

For those of us who live in the tropics, and who are about to begin the yearly "hurricane watch" season, I just wanted to recommend a hurricane discussion site:
http://flhurricane.com/

Some (not all) of the posters are meteorologists, and if you sort through the chaff, you can learn a lot about hurricanes and weather...

[harveyhorses]

Oh cool!! Now I can be a serious weather geek.
So it begins. sort of.:)

[HuntJumpSC]

I'm a weather junkie, especially when it comes to hurricane season. I can stay glued to the Weather Channel for hours, watching Jim Cantore come out of hibernation and get his jollies. You know if he comes to your town it's time to leave! :winkgrin:

As a coastal SC'er who remembers Hugo all too well, I don't take any hurricane lightly. We have our supplies ready and waiting, and I make sure to batten down hatches at the farm wayyyy in advance. We've had alot of misses in the past few years, so it's only a matter of time before we get smacked. :uhoh:

[cyndi]

If you are in the Gulf Coast area, the Houston Chronicle's Eric Berger (aka the SciGuy) writes a very good blog about hurricanes/weather (as well as other stuff). He really is the 'voice of reason' amidst the general hysteria of the ratings-seeking local media. Lots of science-based info, live 'chats' during impending hurricanes, preparation tips, links to all kinds of resources, etc.

http://blogs.chron.com/sciguy/

[thatmoody]

Oooh, I read Eric Berger, too! I went through Frances and Jeanne (and a host of other hurricanes - I've lived in a coastal community in Florida since 1969). Right now I live on one of the barrier islands, and it's interesting. We lost about 75% of the shingles off our roof in Frances, and before Jeanne my husband was scouring the neighborhood for downed shingles to put back up on the roof. He had a huge bucket of tar and smeared the tar up there, then nailed up the patchwork of shingles. It looked horrid but we made it through with minimal leaks.

I'll tell you what I'm skeered of though - tornadoes. I understand hurricanes somewhat, but tornadoes? I'll leave the big ones to those of you who live out west.

[Frank B]

After Hurricane Hazel roared through my home town in '54, we've always kept a wary eye on 'em.

Here's the National Hurricane Center website (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/).

[fivehorses]

frances and Jeanne. those two wiped out my parents place in florida. very sad.

[thatmoody]

Oh, and of course there's always www.wunderground.com for those of you who love pretty graphics - I do! Their "cone of uncertainty" is particularly attractive.

And things are nice and quiet this week, thank goodness. We are in a new property with our barn co-op and don't have our barn up, so this is a VERY stressful hurricane season for us. I always had my horses out with just a run-in shed so I'm not quite so worried as some of the boarders, but we're building a rated concrete barn (our BO came through Andrew with horses, so she's tremendously paranoid) so they can't wait.

[harveyhorses]

I'm a weather junkie, especially when it comes to hurricane season. I can stay glued to the Weather Channel for hours, watching Jim Cantore come out of hibernation and get his jollies. You know if he comes to your town it's time to leave! :winkgrin:

As a coastal SC'er who remembers Hugo all too well, I don't take any hurricane lightly. We have our supplies ready and waiting, and I make sure to batten down hatches at the farm wayyyy in advance. We've had alot of misses in the past few years, so it's only a matter of time before we get smacked. :uhoh:

I love Jim Cantore, my DH used to wonder just WHAT he had done to the boss's daughter to deserve his job.:eek: We had Isabel, years ago Agnes and Camile. They both took our pond out.

[Frank B]

The problem with the weather channel is that all too often when we out here in fly-over country have a severe storm system bearing down on us, TWC is prattling on about some storm that occurred two decades ago, AlGore's "global warming", or other such nonsense.

Fortunately there's www.intellicast.com (http://www.intellicast.com), www.wunderground.com (http://www.wunderground.com), or the local NOAA radio station.