2004 Hurricane Season Is Underway

[AlanUK]

This weekend saw the first Named storm of the 2004 Hurricane season with TS Alex forming off the coast of South Carolina.

Alex has, as of yesterday become a Hurricane (Cat 1) and looks to be strengthening further although given it's position and direction it is unlikely to become a Cat 2 as it is moving into cooler waters. If lanfall is to occur it looks most likely to be over the northern edge of NC near the Grand Banks.

For those currently heading off on holiday, or just about to. It is worth keeping an eye on the emergence of tropical depression 2 which has formed today in the Carribbean and is heading in a NW direction towards southern Florida. It's not yet a tropical storm and so has not been named (Bonnie). The weather prediction models show it swinging more northerly by the end of this week and missing the Eastern coast of Florida by a few hundred miles and so shouldn't pose any threat.

I will be back with updates on these storms later.

Alan.

 

[Miffy2003]

 

[KayleeUK]

Phew....thank goodness it missed Florida

 

[Minniespal]

Yikes !!!!

 

[AlanUK]

Tropical depression 2 looks like it might never become a Tropical Storm as it seems to be dissapating.

Alex passed by the NC coast yesterday, here is a report giving an indication of what it was like to be nearby...

*Associated Press/AP Online

BUXTON, N.C. - Hurricane Alex, stronger than expected but
sparing the North Carolina coast a direct hit, brought plenty of
wind, rain and flooding to the Outer Banks, cutting power to
thousands and flooding Hatteras Island's only link to the mainland.
Now the communities of North Carolina's barrier islands must
clean up after the storm brushed the coast Tuesday. Winds reached
100 mph, sending trash bins and other debris floating along a
flooded Highway 12.
"It blew a whole lot harder than what people
expected," said Ollie Jarvis, who owns Dillon's Corner, a
souvenir and tackle shop. "Last week we weren't even thinking
about it. It came up on us quick."
The storm's glancing blow was a blessing for some
communities still recovering from last year's devastating Hurricane
Isabel. That storm made landfall Sept. 18, 2003, damaging more than
53,000 homes.
Alex grew to hurricane strength, 74 mph, early Tuesday; by
midday the sustained wind around its eye had revved up to nearly 100
mph, with higher gusts, the National Hurricane Center said.
However, the eye just barely passed by Cape Hatteras,
leaving the east side of the hurricane - where the strongest wind
and heaviest rain are located - out at sea. By Wednesday morning,
Alex was about 280 miles northeast of Cape Hatteras with top wind
speeds of about 90 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
No injuries had been reported by Tuesday evening, Gov. Mike
Easley said in a statement. The National Guard was called in to help
along some parts of the coast and public ferry service between
Ocracoke and Hatteras was canceled. Damage assessment teams were
expected to begin work WednesdayonHatterasIsland.
Ocracoke Island was under a state of emergency Tuesday night
with a curfew in place until dawn, a sheriff's department
spokeswoman said.
Dorothy Toolan, a spokeswoman for Dare County, said the
worst flooding - in Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras - was only
temporary. "The majority of the water has receded and did so
fairly quickly," she said.
Even so, many people encountered problems, from tricky
travel conditions to flying debris that damaged property. Outside
the Comfort Inn in Buxton the hotel manager looked outside as ice
machines and trash containers floated down the road.
Behind the hotel, the wind had hurled a trampoline against a
telephone pole. The trampoline remained stuck against the pole hours
after the storm passed.
After returning from evacuating a woman from her flooding
house, Matt Caviness and Erin Lopez of the U.S. Coast Guard had to
abandon their truck on a flooded portion highway.
At the peak of power outages a total of 10,000 customers
were without electricity, including 6,800 customers on Hatteras
Island and all 2,100 customers on Ocracoke Island.
By evening, power had returned to many parts of the islands
and motel parking lots remained full, indicating that the storm had
chased off few tourists.
Leroy Gosser of Somerset, Ky., and his family didn't know
until they were close to the shore that Alex would disrupt their
vacation. He said his eldest child, 4-year-old John Paul, was a bit
nervous about the storm.
"He got a little scared," Gosser said, "A
couple of times, he'd say, 'Mommy, I want to go home.'"
---
Associated Press writer Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, N.C.,
contributed to this report.

 

[Scottish_Maleficent]

Remember being in Florida - our frist trip - October 1996 and we had hurricane warnings! I was ill with worry - but hey, it has it's bright side........ MK was alomst deserted!!

Cath

 

[WDWfan uk]

I have just got off the phone to our relatives in Florida (they are in the Palm Beach area) and they were just about to be hit by a storm - the sky had gone dark and lightning and thunder expected any second. Apparently this is the result of Alex, but they aren't expecting any more than a big thunderstorm as Alex has calmed down quite a lot!!

 

[gilld]

Florida is usually more than set up to cope with severe weather. We were in Orlando in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew devastated Fort Lauderdale. Although we were 200 miles away when it hit the coast, we had horrendous winds with sunbeds being literally blown into the air and crashing into the pool etc. The parks, however remained open. We were also there in 1995 when a severe tropical storm passed overhead. That was very scary indeed and we couldn't leave our room to walk to the food court because we couldn't stay upright in the winds. This time they closed the parks for a morning. Neither times did we see much damage. The locals deal with this type of weather all the time and buildings are constructed to withstand all but the worst of winds.
Don't worry about it and if a hurricane strikes, be respectful of it and stay safe. They don't last too long.

 

[JimB.]

Also take note, that even though we are IN hurricane season, it does not peak until mid-sept through mid october.

Also, if you are planning a WDW vacation, Orlando is in the middle of the state. Even though every hurricane threat must be taken seriously, we would have to have a real snot-knocking storm hit to have any more than a day's worth of wind & rain in the area.

I won't say Andrew was a "once in a lifetime" storm, but storms that powerful ARE rare, and MOST hurricanes do not even make landfall, and even LESS hit Florida.

My part of the state has not had a "direct" hit in over 40 years, with the incidence becoming slightly higher the farther south one goes.

Be aware, but don't let it dominate or ruin your thoughts and plans.

 

[florry]

Oh my goodness !!!!!!!!!!

I go in a couple of weeks !!!!!!!!

I'm terrified of flying as it is so the thought of a hurricane blowing around while i'm 30,000 feet up fills me with terror !!!


Please someone tell me its gone

 

[Paul and Shirley]

Florry,

at least you have a couple of weeks to worry

Is there any point in worrying though? Those that have been on these boards for a long time will agree there isn't much that will stop us going.

Think positive If you look at the next 10 day weather reports it is storms every day - realiy though is they last an hour or so.

Keep

 

[WDWfan uk]

Florry - there isn't any way the planes would fly into hurricane weather! They are able to forecast the pattern quite far ahead and they will assume the worse case scenario.

You will be safe!

As I said, Alex had dissipated into a storm - not any worse than our bad storms - and it was all over in a few hours

 

[florry]

Thanks friends !

I feel happier now.. I'm the worlds worst flyer ! up until 2 years ago I said I would never fly again after a bad experience on returning from the Canaries 10 years ago.

However, I plucked up the courage to take our children to Florida and flew again last year.

This will still be a challenge for me again but I will do it and deep down, I know it will be ok.

Thanks for all your support !







not long now !

 

[currycook]

The tropical depression did what most do to us in Florida, when the are in the atlantic for some reason they pull all the moisture from the Gulf into Florida. We have had rain for 5 days straight. So if you see a Tropical depression in the atlantic its good news becuase it will miss Florida but know if you are visiting Florida it still may mean lots and lots of rain if you are visitin the Orlando area.

 

[AlanUK]

We now have tropical depression 3 over the carribbean which is forcast to be heading towards the gulf of mexico over the next week or so.

we will see over the next day or so if it dissipates or forms the next Tropical Storm.

Alan.

 

[florry]

Oh currycook and alanuk this sounds interesting...

So we are coming to see the mouse a week on friday. Do you know what the forcast is for next week ? maybe you could let us know

We all want lots of




and very little


Bye

 

[AlanUK]

The forcast for this weekend and early next week could be very interesting as we now have Tropical Storm Bonnie in the Gulf of Mexico which is scheduled to make landfall on Thu/Fri and is being predicted to hit Hurricane strength by then by a couple of the forcast models. If she maintains her current course then it looks likely that Bonnie is going to have an impact on northern Florida.

Longer Term Tropical depression 3 has now become Tropical Storm Charley and is currently in the carribbean on a path for Cuba. The models also have this reaching hurricane strength in 2/3 days time.

As you are not going until a week on friday Florry it is likely that both of these storms will have cleared the area.

Alan.

 

[AlanUK]

The latest update on these is that Bonnie has hit northern florida as a Tropical Storm having never reached hurricane strength, although a Tropical Storm is still something to be worried about. Now she is overland Bonne should start to weaken and blow herself out in a day or so.

Charley has strengthened into a Hurricane and is currently west of Jamaica and South of Cuba. The forcast models have it passing over Western Cuba and then making landfall on the Gulf Coast of Florida in the Tampa area on Fri/Sat.

Good luck to everyone in the area.

Alan.

 

[florry]

Thanks alan uk

I'll leave the brolley here !

I must say that we are very unlucky with the weather when we go on holiday. It does'nt matter where we go we always seam to get naf weather !!! LOL

We went to Corfu in May and had snow !!!



It doesn't stop us having a good time whatever it is !!

Thanks for the weather report -- any update will be appreciated.

 

[AlanUK]

There are now two more tropical depressions on the go.

Tropical Depression 4 has already become Tropical Storm Dannielle, but is out in the mid atlantic and all the models have it swinging north in a few days and missing Bermuda to the east.

Tropical depression 5 looks ominously similar in it's initial position to Charley. It's not yet reached tropical storm force, although it is predicted to do so. The models have it travelling west/Northwest for the next few days straght at Jamaica and Cuba. This one is worth keeping a close eye on.

Alan.