Recent Articles
A Little Break
Currently there is quiet in the tropics. It is nice to have a break after the last rush of storms. Millions of people either evacuated or prepared to evacuate which causes a lot of stress. Looking at the damage that Hurricane Ike did to so may people is a vivid reminder of how quickly everything can change. In a day, everything in life can be different. The peak of hurricane season is September 10th. We still have two and a half months before this season is over. I like it when I go to one of the hurricane tracking sites and I get this message:
No active storms. I like the sound of that. Of course the infrared satellite picture always makes it look like something is going on:
But, the National Hurricane Center says that the big red area is just a lot of rain and has a very low probability of flaring up in to anything else. One of the handy tools on this site for day to day use can be found on the right hand side of the site called NHC Atlantic Outlook. It is an RSS feed from the National Hurricane Center that gives you a quick graphic of the possibility of storm formation. We always like low probabilities. During this break in the season, don;t let your guard down. Check your hurricane supplies and your evacuation plans. One of the best things to be when a storm is approaching is ready.
Hurricane Ike Tracking Towards Texas
We are currently getting a lot of visitors to Hurricane Tracking Sites from Texas as Hurricane Ike approaches. This site originates in the Florida Keys. We often find ourselves in the “Cone of Uncertainty” so we understand what it feels like. Last Friday, we were in the middle of the cone with a projected category 4 storm. This is what the Friday 8 PM track from Ham Weather looked like.
By the time Monday came around, the storm had jogged well to the South and we ended up with Tropical Storm winds for a couple of days. My advice is to prepare for the worst and pray for the best. The storm could jog, fall apart, stall, or weaken. It could also have a significant negative impact like it has accross the Caribbean.
Living on a tiny Island, and having been through Cat 1 and 2 storms, having driven through the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in Miami and Homestead (A category 4-5 storm that we evacuated the Keys for) the realization of what a Category 4 could do had caused us to pack up everything we considered valuable and we were ready to evacuate. Then the storm weakened and went South. We were spared this time, but many people are dealing with the impact of the storm.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you in the “Cone of Uncertainty”. Take the advice of your local Emergency Management Professionals. We have listed some of the best hurricane tracking sites on the Internet on this site to keep you up to date with the latest information. New updates come every six hours from the National Hurricane Center at 5:00 am, 11:00 am, 5:00 pm, and 11:00 pm. Once hurricane warnings are issued, the updates come every three hours. Most of the hurricane tracking sites we have listed update very quickly. Stay informed and make good decisions. If you have any questions, use the Contact page and we will try and answer them for you. Also feel free to add any comments about what you are going through.
Hurricane Tracking Sites – Part 1
We are starting Hurricane Tracking Sites to serve people who are dealing with oncoming hurricanes. There are a quite a few really good hurricane tracking sites online, and this site will consolidate all the best available hurricane tracking sites in one convenient location. We will also include articles on hurricane preparedness, dealing with evacuations, and dealing with the aftermath of a storm.
We will also attempt to establish a community of people from all over the Caribbean, the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of America, Mexico, Belize and other countries that are routinely impacted by hurricanes. We look forward to your comments and stories for this site.
The underlying idea for this site developed as I was sitting in the “Cone of Uncertainty” for hurricane Ike. At one point, my home was right in the middle of a projected track of a category 4 storm. I have been through Cat 1 and Cat 2 hurricanes, and numerous Tropical Storms, but have never faced a Cat 4 storm before. Fortunately for us and unfortunately for Cuba, Ike took a path that was 120 miles South of me.
Sitting in the cone of uncertainty, I searched beyond the couple of hurricane tracking sites I had been using, and found some very helpful sites for hurricane tracking online. I will be featuring these sites here in the days ahead.
