Hurricane Frances

[lucy_love_]

thanks kaylee

we all know how easily i get confused

love

lucy

 

[Feralpeg]

Hey, guys! I live in Orlando and I will be spending the weekend at the AKL as well. Many residents of Orlando and other nearby areas are booking into Disney to ride out Frances. I felt that staying in a structure the size of AKL will be safer than staying in my home.

The local news is really bad. People around here are acting much different than they did with Charley. Everyone pretty much took Charley with a grain of salt. That isn't happening now. People are frightened. This storm is huge. It will cover most of Florida at one time. It is actually wider than Florida. They are still saying that Orlando will have 100 mph winds. We are supposed to get between 13 and 20 inches of rain. It is a slow moving storm. Charley came and went quickly. Frances will take several hours to move through. That will allow for more damage. I just heard that there is a slight change to the computer model. They will be telling about it soon. I will post as soon as I hear.

 

[AlanUK]

More bad news on Frances I am afraid.

The hurricane had been going through an eyewall replacement cycle yesterday which generally would cause a slight weakening in intensity. Since this has been completed now the wind speeds are up from 140mph to 145mph. The environment around the Bahamas is pretty much perfect for maintaining a strong cat 4 hurricane so it is very unlikely that Frances is going to weaken any before it makes landfall.

The computer models have been gradually moving Frances further west over the last couple of days and this has continued overnight with a couple of the models showing Frances moving across Florida into the Gulf and then into the southern states. The other models show Frances bouncing off the coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina beofre finally hitting land in North Carolina. Neither of these scenarios is good and would cause massive devestation.

A Hurricane Watch has now been issued for much of the Florida coast meaning that hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours, this is likely to be upgraded to a hurricane warning today.

There will be an update from the NHC at 10 am BST.

 

[Olaf]

This isn't good. Poor Florida.

http://www.local6.com/weather/3702184/detail.html

 

[londonpenguin]

If you go to AllYouCanRead.com and click the "Newspapers" tab, then click North America, USA and Florida, you can pull up newspapers in Florida. Of course, the hurricane is front-page news on all the papers, and you can keep up to date on closures, etc.

For example, the Orlando Sentinel is reporting that SeaWorld and Universal are closing around 3:00 on Friday and plan to remain closed on Saturday. Disney officials are meeting today about their game plan.

I hope this will help some of you. Good luck to anyone travelling this weekend, and especial good luck to Florida residents.

 

[londonpenguin]

Further to my last post, I just found this:

Walt Disney World theme and water parks will operate on an abbreviated schedule on Friday and officials announced they expect to be closed on Saturday. The resort stopped taking reservations earlier today. On Friday, Magic Kingdom will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Epcot from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., MGM Studios from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Animal Kingdom from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon will remain open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Downtown Disney will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pleasure Island will be closed Friday night and Cirque du Soleil will hold its 6 p.m. show only.

All Walt Disney World Resort hotels will remain open throughout the storm. Guests staying at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground will be relocated to other hotels on property.

All Disney cast members should report to work on Friday. Walt Disney World will be sending non-operations personnel home on Friday in phases. Guests who have questions should call (407) WDW- INFO or (407) 939-4636.

 

[AlanUK]

After days of the news getting worse and worse on this, at last there is some *slightly* better news.

It appears that Frances is starting to weaken, it was last night downgraded from a Cat 4 storm to a Cat 3 storm. It is still unclear at this time whether this is just a blip or whether it is the start of Frances 'falling apart'. This should start to become more evident during the day with the next couple of NHC advisories.

The official forcast track has also been shifted south slightly giving Orlando a better chance of missing the really powerful winds.

It's still going to be a rough ride at the weekend but long term damage may be reduced if these trends hold.

Alan.

 

[Tink78]

That's a bit better then, but still bad news for all who are over there.

Our honeymoon got postponed, and we are still trying to sort it out but it looks like we are going a week later, so I had to drag myself into work today, and for 3 days next week, when I was expecting to be travelling down to Gatwick today!

Oh well, we are happy to be in the UK nice and safe, and it means our honeymoon will last longer cuz we won't get back until 26th now, instead of 19th Sept.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all residents and people on vacation.
I hope that you all stay safe.

xx

 

[AlanUK]

Hurricane Frances is now down to a category 2 storm, albiet a strong Cat 2!

It has slowed considerably over the Bahamas and looks like it might not make landfall in Florida until late tonight.

There is a possibility of intensification once/if it starts to move a bit more quickly again and the upper level winds which are subduing it at the moment subside.

 

[Miffy2003]

Fingers crossed! Thank you for keeping us all updated Alan

 

[AlanUK]

Frances is now starting to move out into the Gulf of Mexico before it swings north and makes another landfall.

It has been downgraded to Troipcal Storm status but could re-intensify into a hurricane whilst it is out over the gulf.

Sadly some more people are in for a battering from this storm

Alan.

 

[KayleeUK]

Poor people.