Christmas decorations are down...sort of

Yesterday being 12th Night and all I got down all the decorations, and they are either in the guest room or sitting on the garage floor. Now just time to check the lights and pack everything away. Our house seems so much bigger now than it did before! Now it's time to move on to Mardi Gras!

The weather has been crazy, warm and alternating downpours and sun. I hope we get some snow at some point soon!

Speaking of snow, we're off to Keystone next Friday (as if we didn't get enough fun already in Kentucky over Christmas and Murrells Inlet after New Year's!). Even though I don't officially get off on MLK Day, we're taking it anyway and skiing for three days up there.

Gustav strengthens, Fay still making rain, potential Hanna, Ike and Josephines?

Fay is now just west of Tuscaloosa and the University of Alabama. She has moved up from Meridian in the last 12 hours. Thomasville, Georgia has gotten 27.5" of rain from this storm, and Lake Lanier, Atlanta's water supply, has gotten 3.41" so far, but probably more with this morning's storms.

Gustav is now a strong Category 1 storm with winds of 90 mph and 981 mb. He is expected to keep strengthening, especially before he makes landfall in Haiti today. In 5 days he is expected to be just west of the tip of Cuba as at least a Category 3, or a major hurricane. Everywhere from the entire Mexican Yucatan peninsula to the southern coast of Miami Dade and the Keys is in the cone of uncertainty by Saturday night/Sunday morning. As of right now, New Orleans is the most likely target.

In addition, there are at least 3 other potential waves out there, two of which with a moderate potential to form, that could turn into Hanna, Ike and Josephine. It's the beginning of the height of hurricane season!

In Atlanta metro, a tornado warning was posted during the morning rush hour for the entire city limits. Nothing was spotted, although the storm was located right over our house in NW Atlanta. Yikes. Things have cleared up a bit, but more rain is on the way and we're under a Tornado Watch until 7 PM this evening.

11:45 AM UPDATE: Gustav is about the same, but the track is going farther westbound and is still heading for New Orleans (listen to WWL for more details). Fay has now moved towards Courtland in Lawrence County, west of Huntsville. We're not getting rain now, but should get more this afternoon.

TD-7 Forms, Post Olympic Depression Syndrome

First, the Beijing Olympics ended with a ceremony so over the top just like the opening ceremonies! London came in with a this video, then a double-decker bus, Beckham and Leona Lewis after a rousing rendition of God Save the Queen (the tune is the same as My Country Tis of Thee). Only 18 months until Vancouver, and Sochi is the 2014 Winter host. Chicago (who was awarded the 1904 games but had them taken away so Saint Louis could combine them with the World's Fair), Tokyo (who were supposed to hold the cancelled 1940 games and held the 1964 games), Rio (would be the first to be held in South America) and Madrid (Spain also held the very successful Barcelona games, partly because the former IOC president, Juan Antonio Samaranch, was from there).

Now unfortunately it's time for Post Olympic Depression Syndrome (PODS) to set in.

Tropical Depression Fay was sitting over Marion County, near Morgantown and the Louisiana border for most of the night, but is now up near Lake and Forest, in Scott County, still south of Jackson. The weather is fine there, but Atlanta is under a Flash Flood Watch from 4 PM this afternoon through tomorrow night. A Tornado Watch is posted just to the west of the city of Atlanta, and Tornado warnings have been popping up for eastern Alabama, including Cleburne County, which is in the Atlanta metro area and is where I-20 enters Alabama. Could be a wild day, with 5-8" of rain expected in Atlanta (hopefully right over my house and Lake Lanier!!!).

Also, Tropical Depression 7 formed south of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, prompting tropical storm watches and warnings for those countries. This storm has the chance to be over Miami-Dade or Key West by Saturday. We'll have to keep an eye on it. It probably will be "Gustav" by this afternoon, and could be nasty.

Well tonight is some yardwork and catching up on non-Olympic DVR that's been stored for 2 weeks!

2 PM UPDATE: Gustav has been christened and is already packing 60 mph winds. Hurricane Warnings have been posted for Hispaniola.

Fay on the Nature Coast, headed to New Orleans

Fay has been moving at a decent clip finally. As of 8 PM yesterday she was back out in the Gulf, west of Keaton Beach and south of the Taylor/Jefferson county line. By 11, she had moved due south of Saint Marks and Wakulla County. At the 2 AM she was in the Saint George Sound after crossing Dog Island, and shortly after made landfall just southwest of Carabelle in Franklin County. At 5, she had almost crossed Franklin County. At 8, she had crossed the time zone line and was near Port Saint Joe in Gulf County.

At 5 PM yesterday, all warnings for the Atlantic Coast were discontinued. At 11 PM, Warnings for Hernando, Citrus and Levy Counties were discontinued in the big bend area. In addition, the Watch for western Okaloosa, Santa Rosa & Escambia Counties in Florida and Mobile and Baldwin Counties in Alabama switched to a Warning. Also, a new Watch was posted for Jackson, Harrison & Hancock Counties in Mississippi, and Saint Tammany, Saint Bernard & eastern Plaquemines Parishes for Louisiana. At 5 AM this morning, the warning was extended to cover the Mississippi coastal counties above, and a Watch was extended to include Lake Ponchartrain and metro New Orleans, including the Parishes of Jefferson, western Plaquemines, Orleans, Saint Charles, Saint John the Baptist, Livingston and Tangipahoa.

As evidenced by the watches and warnings, Fay is expected to scrape the coast and maintain tropical storm status. Scary however, is the fact that after 48 hours, the models conflict in where she will go, and she may actually do a loop over New Orleans, which would bring unwelcome rain and possibly some flooding. We can only wait and see.

In Atlanta we are getting gusty winds but no rain at all. Meanwhile Macon, who does not really need the rain that bad, is getting socked!

It'll be a long day of watching the Olympics today as tomorrow is the Closings!

NOON UPDATE: Fay is currently in the East Bay south of Callaway and east of Tyndall Air Force Base in the Panama City area. Winds are near 45 mph, pressure is at 998 mb, and although some fluctuations could occur, it's not expected to get a lot stronger or weaker.

2 PM UPDATE: Fay is now over Walton County, near Bruce.

Fay inland over Florida...could make 2 more landfalls in Florida???

Fay is currently inland, near Felda in Hendry County. Her path has been like this since 5 AM when she made landfall just south of Marco Island.

All Hurricane Watches and Warnings have been cancelled. Torpical Storm Warnings have also been cancelled on the west coast from the Sarasota/Manatee line at Longboat Key northward. The east coast watches and warnings are the same. A Tropical Storm Warning also remains in effect for the Florida Bay and the Keys from Ocean Reef to Seven Mile Bridge (basically the middle and upper Keys).

Pressure is at 988 mb (the lowest she's ever been), and winds stand at 60 mph, which are the same as when she made landfall. Tropical Storm Winds have affected all of Florida at some point (and now) from Lake O southward.

The current path has Fay exiting somewhere around Daytona into the Atlantic on Wednesday afternoon, restrengthening, and then making a third landfall in Florida around Jacksonville sometime on Thursday afternoon. Fay would then continue along the Georgia/Florida line and possibly reemerge into the Gulf. However, it's possible Fay could reemerge into the Gulf as early as midnight tonight out by Tampa and head up to Saint George's Island, or Fay could exit into the Atlantic by Fort Pierce and then hit Charleston sometime Friday. We'll have to wait and see! In any event, the prospect of Fay rain for Atlanta looks not promising at all!

The other area of interest has not yet formed, but appears headed towards Miami-Dade...we'll keep an eye on that.

This is getting distracting trying to keep up with hurricanes and the Olympics!

11:30 AM UPDATE: Fay is now near Port La Belle in northern Hendry County, about to head to Moore Haven in Glades County near Lake O. Winds are still at 60 mph and pressure has actually dropped to 986! Spotters said they noticed an eyewall trying to form even though the stom was over land. Current forecast has it coming out into the Atlantic, and could possibly get even as strong as a Cat 2 before it makes landfall on the First Coast.

2 PM UPDATE: Fay has not weakened, and in fact has maintained 986 mb and the winds have gone UP to 65 mph! Fay is about to go over the very warm waters of Lake O, and that at minimum could prevent weakening, but also could help even strengthen the storm further so that she is almost already a hurricane by the time she gets to the really warm Atlantic. The tornado warnings have moved up to the space coast and tornadoes have done some damage.

Here are the stations to follow the storm with:
Palm Beach/Gold Coast: NBC: wptv.com, CBS: news12now.com, ABC: wpbf.com
Orlando/Space Coast: NBC: wesh.com, CBS: local6.com, ABC: wftv.com
Jacksonville/First Coast: NBC/ABC: firstcoastnews.com, CBS: cbs47.com

7 PM Update: Fay is STILL at 65 mph and STILL at 986 mb. This is wild, and I think it's totally confounding weather forcasters! In any event, it's expected to emerge into the Atlantic tonight around midnight and then strengthen to a Category 1 or Category 2.

It's location is currently in extreme northeastern Okeechobee, near the Fort Drum Service Plaza at Mile 184 of Florida's Turnpike. It's very near Osceola County but expected to exit Florida (for now) around the Indian River/Brevard line near Sebastian or Melbourne.

The Watches/Warnings have also been updated. The Tropical Storm WARNING is now just in effect for Martin, Saint Lucie, Indian River, Brevard, and Volusia Counties. A Tropical Storm WATCH is in effect for the Georgia Coastal Empire counties of McIntosh, Liberty, Bryan and Chatham, including Savannah. Most importantly however, a Hurricane Watch is now in effect south of the Altamaha Sound at Darien for Glynn and Camden Counties, including Sea Island and Saint Simons Island, and for Nassau, Duval, Saint Johns and Flager Counties on the First Coast, including Jacksonville. The official track has it heading down the Florida/Georgia line after it makes landfall around Thursday afternoon, but it's a very good possibility it might enter into the Gulf and cause more trouble! Wow.

10 PM (AND FINAL FOR TODAY) UPDATE: Fay has now entered Indian River County, and is about due south of Vero Beach. More to come tomorrow.

Fay update for 8/18

Fay has just finished crossing Cuba and is a 60 mph tropical storm with pressure of 1002 mB. It is expected to keep strengthening, but not rapidly, and although the forecast track changes just about every update, right now most likely it will make landfall in Port Charlotte (landfall location of Charley), although it could be anywhere from the Everglades at midnight tonight all the way to St. George's Island on Wednesday afternoon. Everyone on Florida's west coast to St. George's should be on guard, and everyone on the Atlantic from Jupiter Inlet up to Cape Lookout, North Carolina should be on guard.

Tropical Storm Warnings currently are in effect for Lee, Collier & Monroe Counties on the West, and Palm Beach, Broward & Miami-Dade Counties on the right.

Tropical Storm Watches on the east have been extended up to Sebastian Inlet, so this area now includes Indian River, Saint Lucie and Martin Counties on the Treasure Coast.

in Georgia, Tropical Event Statments have been posted all the way to Turner and Worth Counties, which is only 160 miles from my house. Atlanta REALLY needs the rain from this, but I'm afraid it might head between Augusta and Columbia, which would most likely keep us high and dry.

Some evacuations are currently in place, including those in trailers in Sarasota County and the Keys, visitors to the Keys (hence why there are no tolls on the Florida's Turnpike Extension up to the regular Florida's Turnpike), and those in Collier County west of Tamiami Trail (US 41), which includes my grandparent's house.

UPDATE: Although the storm hasn't changed in intensity or pressure, a new Hurricane Warning has been posted for mainland Monroe, Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Sarasota & Manatee Counties. The Tropical Storm Warning is to the right of that, including Miami-Dade, Broward & Palm Beach, but also now extended to Indian River, Saint Lucie, Martin and southern Brevard Counties. The Watch has been extended all the way to the Georgia line, which includes northern Brevard, Volusia, Flager, Saint Johns, Duval and Nassau Counties. This means it will affect almost the entire Florida peninsula at one point or another. The storm track is looking more and more like it might miss Atlanta completely, and it may even reemerge in the Atlantic and then threaten the Carolinas.

The latest track has it hitting somewhere between Cape Sable in the Everglades this afternoon all the way to Saint Marks by Wednesday morning, and if it emerges in the Atlantic, that would happen between Port Saint Lucie Tuesday afternoon up to Charleston Thursday morning. Information is a bit limited because the National Hurricane Center website has crashed.

Links to follow include NBC 2 in SW Florida, NBC 6 in Miami/the Keys, and TBO in the Tampa Bay area.

5 PM UPDATE: The Tropical Storm Warnings have been extended all the way up from Anna Maria Island to Tarpon Springs (basically Tampa Bay metro), and have been extended up to Flager Beach, meaning northern Brevard & Volusia are now under a Warning (basically Daytona). The Hurricane Watch has been cancelled for the Keys, and for the south coast of Miami-Dade (although there have been tornado watches through the day, and a possible one is now near Homestead, site of the Andrew landfall in 1992).

The Storm is currently stalled between Key West and the Dry Tortugas after making landfall just after 3 PM on Key West proper.

The newest storm track keeps shifting to the East and she may not have time to reach Hurricane status before making landfall near Marco Island (near midnight) most probably (although it looks certain to at least be a very strong Tropical Storm). Landfall could be as far east as the Collier/Monroe line all the way to the Franklin/Wakulla line in the Big Bend.

The track after it crosses the peninsula is anyone's guess, and most are saying it can go anywhere from making a landfall at the Georgia/South Carolina border near Savannah to crossing back over the Florida peninsula and hitting New Orleans. Who knows!?

NBC 2 out of Fort Myers is streaming live if you're interested.

Also, there is another something that could be Gustav forming in the Atlantic. Although it's very unreliable, the early model runs have it pointed towards Miami.

9 PM UPDATE: The storm is currently just north of Key West and just west of the southern coast of mainland Florida. Landfall is still expected this evening as a strong TS/weak Cat 1, probably in Charlotte County. The path now takes it out to the Atlantic around Jacksonville, but back on land somewhere on the southern coast of Georgia. Atlanta should then (hopefully) get Fay as a depression on Saturday afternoon/Sunday which would greatly help our drought, assuming the winds aren't too bad.

No TD-6 or Fay just yet

The hurricane hunters went to investigate a system located generally over the Virgin Islands, and although they found winds well within tropical depression range, they did not yet find a closed circulation. However, conditions are only going to get better for this thing to develop and so it's worth keeping an eye on.

Although track forecasts are notoriously unpredictable before a closed circulation develops, early indications find that it could affect anyone from Virginia Beach all the way to South Padre, but especially the Bahamas and Florida, depending on how straight the track is. One track has it hitting the Florida/Alabama line, which would be ideal to relieve some of the north Georgia drought (which is slowly getting worse again)!

I would not be surprised if we found TD-6, or even Fay, to develop by 8 PM or 11 PM (when they release advisories).

Names coming up...Fay, Gustav, Hanna

Olympics update: I am totally obsessed with the Olympics which makes it even more difficult as it's online and on TV 24 hrs/day. Apparently everyone else is obsessed as well considering that NBC's ratings have equaled all other networks combined. This is probably in large part due to the fact that, except for the period between noon and 8 PM EDT, most events are shown live due to some negotiations with the Organizing Committee to have marquee events take place in the morning to compensate for the 12 hour time difference.

The US is currently in 2nd place in the medal count after China cleaned up yesterday in all things taking place at the Water Cube.

Hurricanes, Drought & the Olympics

Edouard finally dissipated near Benjamin, Texas in Knox County, loosely near Wichita Falls. The last statement was put out last night at 11 PM EDT.

There is another system trying to brew over the Bahamas, but conditions are not favorable and it does not look like this will be our next system.

The new drought maps are out and the drought in both Georgia and Texas is about the same. Georgia really does need a landfalling system somewhere along the Florida panhandle!!!

Finally, it's less than 23 hours now until the Opening Ceremonies begins. I wonder how the Today show will work tomorrow if Matt is doing the Opening Ceremonies (which will be on tape delay) while Meredith is live on the Today show?? I guess we shall see.

Dolly wrap up, all else quiet

Dolly is done, and the last advisory was written about her as she was at the Oklahoma/Texas/New Mexico border in Union County, NM. After passing across the border north of Laredo, she ventured south of the Big Bend, and then ventured north, causing flooding in Ruidoso and ending up in NE NM. San Manuel, Hidalgo County, Texas (Valley area) was the big winner with 12" of rain.

All else is quiet on the tropical front, except that there is a storm about to crash into China. I don't think this will affect next week's Olympics yet (I can't believe I can say "next week"!).

This weekend was spent at Lake Hartwell doing a lot of nothing. Although it was a bit overcast it was actually nice because it was not so hot and we still got sun and water time. The lake was LOW though...scary.

Dolly still deep in the heart of Texas

As of 7 PM CDT, Dolly has moved to the northwest corner of Jim Hogg County, where it intersects with Zapata County and Webb County (Laredo). Winds are down to 50 mph, which makes it still a pretty decent Tropical Storm, despite the fact it's been over land for at least 18 hours (very long lived for a tropical system over land!).

Damage is in the form of roofs blown off and structural damage on South Padre, and flooding mainly in Harlingen and points near that area. The system is supposed to keep dropping lots of rain, up to 20" in spots, which is somewhat unfortunate because that area of Texas does not need rain, while spots a 100 or so miles up desparately needs rain!

There is another area to watch in the Atlantic, although it is in no eminent danger of forming.

We are still in a drought even though we got some rain. Speaking of droughts, I'm going to up to Lake Hartwell this weekend, and Asheville next weekend, both places which are in "Exceptional"/D4 droughts. It should still be fun though!

UPDATE: Dolly has traversed from east of Laredo to North of Laredo (north of the Camino Columbia Road and about 1/2 way between Laredo & the Maverick County line), and is still barely a tropical storm. Tornadoes are breaking out in San Antonio and Bexar County however, but it is too early to determine damage extents.

Okay, so maybe Cristobal will have to wait

While last night it looked like the blob in the Atlantic could turn into Cristobal at any moment, today is has degenerated, and the NHC has lowered the likelihood of that happening to "orange" or 20-50% likely. Although that is a little scary because Katrina took a long time to get organized and obviously once she did, all hell broke loose (although I'm not saying this will be the next Katrina). As an aside, it is very interesting to look at the evolution of Katrina if you click on the Weather Underground link to the left and then go to the archives and find August 2005...it started out as a TOTALLY different storm than it ended up.

24 days until the Olympics. According to nbcolympics.com, there will almost literally be programming on 24 hours/day on multiple channels, including 11 Alive/NBC HD, Universal HD and USAHD. I cannot wait, but I can't promise I'll be too productive during that time...haha.

Lastly the rain we got on Sunday was the highest single-day rainfall since 2006! It helped the lakes not drop, although it didn't really help them rise any appreciable amount.

Bertha near Bermuda and almost a Cat 1 Hurricane; Cristobal on the way

Bertha is 65 miles away from Bermuda is is almost a Category 1 hurricane. The track has it strengthening a bit and slowly pulling away from that island. Bermuda may or may not feel the hurricane force winds, and because of that a Tropical Storm Warning and a Hurricane Watch are currently issued.

More pressing is the fact that a tropical low has formed with at least mid-level convection much farther south and west of where Bertha formed. This is most likely going to be Cristobal by tonight or tomorrow (fyi dolly is the next after that). This could be serious, as it most certainly will hit the Carribean, the Gulf Coast or the Atlantic coast. We shall have to wait and see once official updates are issued about this potential storm.

On a positive note, we got 2" of rain yesterday, which is a record for the date, and far surpasses what we've gotten over the last couple months. It would help even more if this storm were to hit in the right part of the coast and give us some rain!

Bertha and rain

Bertha has been going between a major and a minor hurricane the last couple of days, and it has been a hurricane for about 3 days now (for those counting, the record is 7 days of being a hurricane in July, which is Emily I believe). Although no one knows for sure, it is likely now Bermuda will feel SOME impact from the storm, although probably not a direct hit. Also, this storm may hit the Canadian maritime provinces as a tropical storm.

In Atlanta, it has actually rained at our house twice in a week, which is a really great thing. The last couple of days it has rained all around our neighborhood, but not at our house, which is very frustrating. The yard is looking better though. I'm still scared that they will take away our 25 minutes/day of watering however, especially since my exemption for new plantings, which lasted 10 weeks, ends on Sunday.

Bertha Good News/Bad News

Bertha has suddenly become a Category 3, or major, hurricane. That is the bad news. The good news is that because it is now so strong, it is more easily steered by fronts and things. There is such a front pushing off the Atlantic coast which will take Bertha north, then east, and most likely it will even miss Bermuda. There is still a small chance it will not recurve however, so interests in South Carolina north are advised to keep their guards up.

This weekend I did nothing but drink and exercise, sometimes at the same time...playing tennis, running a 10K (Peachtree!), two cookouts and a trip to Bella's Pizzeria in Smyrna make for a tiring weekend! Plus I got to play (finally) Guitar Hero for the very first time.

We actually got about .78" of rain this weekend, which is more than double our total for the month of June. The plants I'm sure are very happy but I'm not sure it helped the lake situation any more (btw, Lanier is at its lowest level since it was originally filled in the 50's). I'm guessing harder water restrictions may again be in our future as early as this month. In any event, it won't help my yard which already looks bad!

Off to Maine tomorrow

Tomorrow we're traveling 1200 miles up the east coast....this would be a 20 hour drive through most of the east coast major cities, but fortunately we're flying, connecting through Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky up there and coming back through New York's John F. Kennedy, which I've never been to before. The weather is supposed to be beautiful, however it might be cold for Atlanta standards, and I think I'll bring my polar fleece vest. Saturday it's supposed to be in the 70's, with 50's at night and 60's on Sunday...it doesn't even hardly get down into the 60's here at night!

There is no tropical development to speak of, even in the long-range forecast. This is not unusual for June though. Things don't heat up until late July and August.

I think I am FINALLY recovered from my trip to Charlottesville. It was one of those conferences where we partied hard, went to meetings all day Saturday, partied hard again, then waited at the bar when our flight was 3 hours delayed because we had nothing better to do and because we had all of our bags with us.

The drought is beginning to worsen again. In Mid-may they allowed us to starting hand-watering 3 times per week at 25 minutes per day. This has helped some but not much, and my yard is starting to show the dry patches where it is stressed. Officially at the airport we've received .24" of rain this MONTH, as opposed to Jacksonville which got 4" yesterday AFTERNOON. We're offically in D2 drought stage which doesn't seem that bad, but D3 is as close as Gwinnett County and getting closer, and D4 is as close as the Upstate of South Carolina and getting closer (the D4 stage didn't even exist until a few weeks ago in the South after we had some good rains).

Wimbledon is on this weekend and next. A week from Sunday is when I get to eat strawberries and homemade Devonshire cream...yum. I missed the 1st few days thinking it started next week. Oh well.

Also next Friday, being July 4, is Peachtree Road Race day! Hopefully it won't be TOO warm. Typically it's around 71 or 72 at race time, and it looks like that will hold true this year too. It's not like we're going to get any rain (haha). I hope that they have the mist-ers hooked up to the fire hydrants, however when we had the last drought in the early 2000's, those were turned off. Also this year because of the drought the course won't make it's traditional finish on 10th Street in Piedmont Park, but instead will take 10th to Piedmont and finish at Ponce de Leon, then they'll hoard us over to the Civic Center (which is named after someone I cannot pronounce!). Fortunately this means we can park one car at my sister's apartment near Lenox Mall and one at my office downtown and avoid the smelly people on MARTA!

Update

So in the last month:

1) I went to, and UVa lost at its game with Virginia Tech (who went on to Beat BC and win the Gator Bowl). However I had a great time, Scott Stadium was rocking, and there was a lot of orange to go around (Hoo orange, not Hokie orange, although there was a lot of that too).

2) Although that meant I did not go to Jacksonville for the ACC Championship game, I will be going for the Gator Bowl when UVa plays Texas Tech at 1 PM EST on January 1, 2007.

3) We not only have 1, but 2 dogs right now, since we're keeping my wife's parents' dog...that's fun, but chaotic, and we take him back to Virginia with us on December 22 for good.

4) The drought is still as bad as ever, but because everyone has been conserving so much, the lake is actually filling back up slowly. However we've gotten only about 1" of rain since mid-October and we really could use some. Despite this my winter rye has mostly come up and my yard doesn't look half bad. We're still in the worst category of drought, along with most of upstate SC, NC, AL and some of Tennessee.

5) Subtropical Storm Olga formed today out of the blue (and past the "end" of Hurricane Season) but is expected to dissipate after it creates a little havoc in Puerto Rico and Hispanola.

6) A big winter storm is leaving ice all over the middle part of the country from Texas to Illinois. However here it is 73 and sunny...strange with all the Christmas lights out...feels like south Florida or something.

7) As for the BCS, Geaux Tigers, Dawgs, Illini and Hokies...I can't decide who I like in the Fiesta (OU & WVU).

Noel leaving us, VT v. GT tonight

As of this morning, there were Tropical Storm Warnings issued for Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, but these have been allowed to expire (along with the Watch for those counties plus Palm Beach). Noel made landfall in Nassau today as a strong Tropical Storm, and may intensify just a tad before transforming into an extratropical storm, but in all likelihood will not reach hurricane status.

In a few minutes I'm going to head to the Virginia Tech/Georgia Tech game at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Although Virginia is tied for the lead in the ACC Coastal Division (with Virginia Tech), a VT loss would really help us and give us a cushion so that we could lose to either Miami or Wake Forest and if we were to beach Virginia Tech (at home in Charlottesville), we'd still win the division. Yikes. My stomach is in knots already. Then on Saturday at Noon on Lincoln Financial (Channel 10 in Atlanta), we play a newly ranked Wake Forest team (the defending ACC champs).

Finally, Halloween last night was a blast. Drank a bunch of wine and handed out $50 worth of candy...at times there were lines forming at our door and others. People seem to know to come to our neighborhood for trick-or-treating, and because of that I think the neighbors really get into decorating for Halloween...I mean it looks like Christmas except with orange lights and blow-up Frankensteins instead of snowmen.

Finally the new drought monitor came out, and for Georgia it was virtually unchanged (we're still in the worst drought). Apparently the governor came to some agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers that would slow the flow of water out of Lake Lanier (read here. We shall see. The Virginia/North Carolina drought however looks much better after they got a LOT of rain last week (when we got about an inch).

Major update

1) Last time I checked in, I was about to head to the MTSU/UVa game in Murfreesboro...that was a barn-burner but it all worked out as UVa came away victorious with a last-second field goal. Then we won again against UConn and even more surprisingly at Maryland. Then we blew a late lead against NCSU, and as it stands now, we are 7-2, going into a game against Wake who is newly ranked and surging. We shall see...but you know what I'll be doing at noon Saturday EDT.

2) Speaking of EDT, we finally (and unfortunately) go back to Eastern Standard Time this week. This is the end of the new & improved Standard Time.

3) Atlanta still has no water. We have been under a "no outdoor watering" ban since the end of September. Now the various jurisdictions are slowly chipping away at the exemptions. I still wash my car (illegally), but I figure I'm using water from a bucket I keep in the shower and using a lot less water than the commercial car washes (which are not illegal). As it stands, supposedly our clean drinking water supply will run out sometime around 1/9/08. Some people in the metro area are already stockpiling water. It'll be very interesting (and scary) to see how this turns out.

4) Even though there is no guarantee it will grow, this weekend I aerated and then planted the winter rye. I would love to water it right now, but it's not in the cards, so I'm hoping it comes up on its own, esp. after being trampled on by kids during the Halloween madness.

5) Finally, Tropical Storm Noel could brush past extreme southeastern Florida on Wednesday or Thursday. It doesn't look it'll do more than cause beach erosion, however, it would be a minor miracle if it kept jogging left and went up through Georgia. Doesn't look like that's in the cards though. However it will almost definitely ruin Miami-Dade and Broward Halloween Trick-or-Treat plans, and Tropical Storm Watches may be posted at any time today.

Drought worsening...trip to Nashville soon!

First the good news...I'm about to leave for Nashville, where we have a party tonight with fellow UVa alums, and then we're headed down to Murfreesboro tomorrow during the day where we'll tailgate and then hopefully watch the Wahoos beat up on Middle Tennessee State.

Also, the drought is ever worsening. It looks like Athens-Clarke and some surrounding counties may not have drinking water after about December 21, based upon the current reservoir levels, the amount of rain, the forecasts, and current water usage. They have more strict programs in place than we do, not allowing car washes or some nurseries to operate. UGa may be forced to close in mid-November if there is no rain, as there will be no running water on campus. Now this is getting scary and Katrina-like.

As for hurricane season, there are many areas of interest but nothing seems looming.

NEWSFLASH: All watering banned in North Georgia

As of yesterday, northern Georgia is in a Level 4 drought, meaning NO watering, except for minor exceptions like golf course greens & 30 days to water landscaping installed by a professional. Yikes. All of the area in Georgia north of this line is affected.

I guess its sneaking around with a watering can for me...my poor yard! Now the question becomes can I overseed this winter since I won't be able to water the seeds in. We shall see.

In Hurricaneland, Melissa formed, but there is nothing else out there, and at this point Karen does not appear to be a threat. However she still bears monitoring.

Finally, GO HOOS! BEAT PITT!