Hurricane "Ian" may be heading for us here in Florida

[ShokWaveRider]

I am coming to get you; they even spelt the name correctly. My namesake Hurricane Ian is heading our way.

Still too early to tell exactly where it will go, but it usually goes exactly between where the US and EU models suggest.

We are on the NE coast and will probably get the back end of it. That is typical for us when a storm comes up the Gulf. We probably will not have to evacuate but we will get a lot of rain.

Take care if you are in the cone or path. It is good to keep an eye on it. My personal prediction (Purely speculation) is that it will drift West slowly over the next few days. I have been watching it for a while.

 

[Badger]

I am coming to get you; they even spelt the name correctly. My namesake Hurricane Ian is heading our way.

Still too early to tell exactly where it will go, but it usually goes exactly between where the US and EU models suggest.

We are on the NE coast and will probably get the back end of it. That is typical for us when a storm comes up the Gulf. We probably will not have to evacuate but we will get a lot of rain.

Take care if you are in the cone or path. It is good to keep an eye on it. My personal prediction (Purely speculation) is that it will drift West slowly over the next few days. I have been watching it for a while.

We are also on the coast in NE Fl about 100 yds from the ocean. I sure hope your prediction comes true. So far we have been lucky for the past 50+yrs in this location and not suffered major damage to the house. Getting out of here is a problem if you don't leave a few days in advance. South is the wrong direction to go and I-10 and I-95 will be grid lock. The next couple of days will be securing/removing everything in the yard. Good luck!

Cheers!

 

[Car-Guy]

We are also on the coast in NE Fl about 100 yds from the ocean. I sure hope your prediction comes true. So far we have been lucky for the past 50+yrs in this location and not suffered major damage to the house. Getting out of here is a problem if you don't leave a few days in advance. South is the wrong direction to go and I-10 and I-95 will be grid lock. The next couple of days will be securing/removing everything in the yard. Good luck!

Cheers!

Hope you don't drive an EV. If so, best leave even earlier. Good luck in anycase.

 

[MichaelB]

Hope you don't drive an EV. If so, best leave even earlier. Good luck in anycase.

Well, yes and no. Right now the lines to get gasoline are very long, supply is running low, and gasoline deliveries are suspended. It’ll be much easier to fully charge the EV and get out of town.

Of course, the destination has to have charging facilities or one might find it difficult to return home. If one opts to stay home and electricity is lost for a couple of days, things could get difficult.

 

[Car-Guy]

Well, yes and no. Right now the lines to get gasoline are very long, supply is running low, and gasoline deliveries are suspended. It’ll be much easier to fully charge the EV and get out of town.

Of course, the destination has to have charging facilities or one might find it difficult to return home. If one opts to stay home and electricity is lost for a couple of days, things could get difficult.

Yep, I'd be more concerned getting back home in an EV after the storm, especially if a lot of power was out or charging stations were damaged. Of course that would be bad for gas stations too but you could carry extra gas.

 

[Car-Guy]

Right now the lines to get gasoline are very long, supply is running low, and gasoline deliveries are suspended.

Why in the world would they suspend gas deliveries?

 

[W2R]

It will be a few days before Ian moves into the Gulf of Mexico so that models can give us a more stable prediction of where it's going.

After our disastrous evacuation last year for Hurricane Ida (another 3-letter "I" storm!), yesterday's westward wobble definitely got my attention. But really we will know more in a couple of days, and we're not presently in the cone, so I put any concerns for New Orleans on hold. I bought about $50 of non-perishable food on Friday, and topped off the gas tank of my car this morning. Now I plan to just chill for a while.

I hope that our Floridians are prepared or preparing. Sadly, it looks like this is likely to be Florida's storm.

 

[cbo111]

Looks like those of us in the Tampa/Bradenton area are well inside the cone. We installed 140 mph hurricane windows last year at a cost of nearly $15K. I now think that money was well spent. We are several miles inland so will plan to shelter in place.

 

[Car-Guy]

^^^^^
I've been thru a couple of 120 to 130 mph storms on the SE side of Houston about 35 miles form the Gulf...(I don't recall the exact numbers anymore) Really scary stuff "at night" but not so much during the day. Amazingly we only lost 30 or 40 ft of wood fencing each time. No flood or home damage... I wish you as much luck.

 

[socca]

Looks like those of us in the Tampa/Bradenton area are well inside the cone. ...

Back in 2018 when Hurricane Michael marched past Tampa Bay on the way to the Florida Panhandle, there wasn't much, if any, local damage as I recall. It would be handy if (future) Hurricane Ian stays far offshore as well.

 

[socca]

Here are some links for some weather-watchers out there:

• National Hurricane Center

• Earth Wind

• Mike’s Weather Page

• GEOS Caribbean

• GEOS Gulf of Mexico

• Florida Radar

Might be an "interesting" week ahead.

 

[Car-Guy]

^^^^^
I didn't have a couple of these. Cool, Thanks

 

[simple girl]

We are in the "cone" here in Sarasota. It looks like it is maybe going to go west of us a bit. MAYBE. I learned from IRMA that things can change last minute. Prepare all you want...but sometimes...you realize late in the game that you should evacuate, through no fault of your own.

Thankfully, since Irma, our friends have installed hurricane shutters that should withstand a severe hurricane...we'll go hang out with them if need be. Or, evacuate if need be. Gas tank is full.

We are supposed to fly out of TPA on Thursday afternoon for a family reunion in PA. Hoping we don't have to cancel that. It's out of our hands! So, we will just wait and see what Ian has in store for us and respond accordingly.

 

[disneysteve]

In a stroke of lousy timing, we are scheduled to fly from NJ to Orlando on Thursday evening to attend a 2-day convention and fundraising event on Friday and Saturday. I don't have high hopes that our flight will happen as scheduled.


Stay safe everyone.

 

[CincyDave]

Currently vacationing in the Pensacola area. Watching this one closely.

 

[Scuba]

I hope this storm does not cause major damage for anyone. Hurricanes are scary. I’ve been through Betsy, Camille, Frederick, and Allen and helped clean up after Katrina and Irma/Maria.

 

[wrigley]

I am coming to get you; they even spelt the name correctly. My namesake Hurricane Ian is heading our way.

Still too early to tell exactly where it will go, but it usually goes exactly between where the US and EU models suggest.

We are on the NE coast and will probably get the back end of it. That is typical for us when a storm comes up the Gulf. We probably will not have to evacuate but we will get a lot of rain.

Take care if you are in the cone or path. It is good to keep an eye on it. My personal prediction (Purely speculation) is that it will drift West slowly over the next few days. I have been watching it for a while.

Jacksonville here. About 3 miles from the ocean! Everyone in Ian's path please be safe.

Mike

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

All the models don't look good for us on the West Coast. A major hurricane just offshore could be interesting. I'm high and will be dry if my windows and roof hold; going to be an interesting week. Will be making lots of ice, charging everything, and maybe cooking some freezer stuff today. Tomorrow will max out the A/C to chill the house as much as possible to buy myself some coasting time of comfort before/if the power goes out. I'm really not worried even though this is looking to be the worst one in a while.


Stay safe my Florida friends.

 

[Dtail]

Yup getting interesting here in Tampa. The EURO model has it hitting the Tampa Bay area. We live about 40 miles from the ocean, so not worried about storm surge, but the wind gusts could easily be over 100 mph.
Most of the longtime Tampa residents are not worried coz of the history of hurricanes hitting the area, but the turn into the bay could just happen this time with the front steering it to the east.

 

[Lewis Clark]

We arrived home on Florida's west coast Saturday evening and spent Sunday on hurricane preps. The 5 am forecast this morning (Monday) has the track a bit closer to the coast.

My wife stayed home for Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and had the eye go right over our neighborhood. Took two weeks to get our utilities back.

We're less than 5 miles from the coast and two miles from Tampa Bay, and in a flood zone. Planning to evacuate unless the forecast track moves far to the west.

 

[socca]

The shelter-in-place vs. evacuate decision is tricky. What's more dangerous: a major hurricane or Florida drivers? Pick your poison.

If Ian looks like a direct hit on my house I might be tempted to evacuate. My house can be repaired/replaced; my body not so easily. For the brush-by scenario I might be tempted to shelter-in-place. I have excellent support facilities at my house; not so much if I'm out in my car someplace.

 

[Time2]

I hate to wish a hurricane on anyone else, but in the Panama City area we had Michael in 2008 causing billions of dollars of damage

($18B in Florida) and the loss of millions of trees. There are still effects from Michael 4 years later. I'm hoping it avoids us.
Part of the problem with leaving is, return is often delayed by the police blocking the major roads back in. You want to get back to mitigate any damage to your property. We had $90k of damage to our home, but were lucky we could stay in it, many others were not so lucky. We lost 3 houses in my 97 home subdivision.

 

[Car-Guy]

The shelter-in-place vs. evacuate decision is tricky. What's more dangerous: a major hurricane or Florida drivers? Pick your poison.

If Ian looks like a direct hit on my house I might be tempted to evacuate. My house can be repaired/replaced; my body not so easily. For the brush-by scenario I might be tempted to shelter-in-place. I have excellent support facilities at my house; not so much if I'm out in my car someplace.

We "tried" to evacuate twice from Houston area storms. Once unsuccessfully since the traffic backup was so bad we turned around after hours and hours and hours of just sitting on the freeway and going almost no where. (like 3 to 5 miles) The next time we left a day earlier than most so we made it. Like so many things, timing is important. Good luck.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Hopefully our 140mph rated roof with be OK. It is things flying around and whacking it that I worry about. The palms were trimmed in July, so hopefully all good there, we will be cleaning up the yard today.

We will shelter in place, just south of Jacksonville, Florida, how about YOU?

I am still trying to use my Karma to steer it away from us.

 

[Alan]

Stay or leave is always a tricky call. We did attempt to evacuate from The Woodlands, just north of Houston in 2005 from hurricane Rita, planning to stay with our daughter in Austin. I had to stay at work to do an orderly shutdown of the servers but it was still a good 2 or 3 days before landfall that we were given the go ahead to leave. 4 or 5 hours in traffic, 10 miles traveled, we turned around and drove back.

With hurricane Gaston in 2016 in Baton Rouge we decided to ride it out and while we had no damage (although people killed in the very next subdivision by a falling tree on their house) there was no power for a lot of days after. The chemical plants where my wife and I were working were shutdown with no prospect of starting back up for at least 10 days so after 2 days of no power we evacuated to stay with our son in Houston. No traffic problems at all, but it was 60 miles before we spotted lights and pulled off to a Waffle House to enjoy a lovely breakfast.