Gustav, Hanna, Ike & Josephine, still...

Gustav - Gustav is still around as a depression, and has moved on this path and is now located in Johnson County, Arkansas, near Fort Douglas adn the Pope County line. 19" of rain has fallen over Larto Lake in southern Catahoula Parish in northeast Louisiana.

Hanna is up to 65 mph winds with a pressure of 989 mb. A Hurricane Watch has been posted for Carteret, Onslow, Pender, New Hanover & Brunswick Counties in North Carolina, including Cape Lookout, Cape Fear and Wilmington. In South Carolina it includes Horry, Georgetown and Charleston Counties, including Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Pawley's Island. A Tropical Storm Watch has been posted for Colleton, Beaufort and Jasper Counties in South Carolina and Chatham, Bryan, Liberty & McIntosh Counties in Georgia. This includes Savannah and Hilton Head.

The 3-day track has it hitting anywhere from Hilton Head to Portland, Maine. However, the most likely option is a NC/SC border hit as a minimal Hurricane in the early morning hours of Saturday. By Sunday morning, it will probably be on Long Island, New York.

As for Ike, it is a Category 4 storm, with 938 mb. In 5 days, it could be anwhere from Tampa south, down to the Keys, and up to Flagler Beach north of Cape Canaveral, but the mostly likely scenario has it reeking havoc in the Bahamas as a Category 4. Some talk that it may be another Andrew, but I think it will now turn north (and not head into the Gulf) and hit the Carolinas, although one model has it hitting New York as a major hurricane...yikes!

Josephine has 50 mph winds and 1000 mb of pressure. It's still in the middle of the Atlantic.

7 PM UPDATE:
Gustav: It is in Godfrey, Jersey County, Illinois, near Alton and the Missouri border. It moved this way, just past Saint Louis. It is to the point now where the storm is considered dissipated, but it is still bringing heavy rain to Chicago.

Hanna: Hanna is at 65 mph and 988 mb. It should make landfall as a strong tropical storm (or very weak Hurricane) early Saturday morning near Wilmington, North Carolina. However, it will affect the entire east coast, and it could make landfall anywhere between Charleston & Cape Hatteras. The storm will move up through the Hampton Roads area on Saturday afternoon, and by Sunday at lunchtime, should be near the Maine/Nova Scotia Border. The weather channel is in Wrightsville Beach near Wilmington and up at Cape Hatteras. Many schools are cancelled tomorrow, and many football games are being played tonight.

Tropical Storm Warnings have been posted for: SC: Jasper, Beaufort, Colleton, Charleston, Georgetown & Horry. NC: Pender, New Hanover, Brunswick, Carteret, Onslow, Hyde, Dare, Currituck, Tyrell, Camden, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Chowan, Bertie, Washington, Beaufort & Pamlico.

The Hurricane Watch has been extended to include southern Currituck (Corolla and below), Dare, Hyde, Beaufort & Pamlico.

A Tropical Storm Watch has now been posted for: VA: The Cities of Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Hampton, Poquoson, Newport News, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Alexandria, Falls Church, Manassas & Manassas Park, and the counties of York, Gloucester, Matthews, Middlesex, Lancaster, Northumberland, Westmoreland, King George, Stafford, Prince William, Fairfax, Arlington, Accomack, Chespeake, Isle of Wight, James City, Northampton & Surrey. DC: The entire District. MD: Prince Georges, Charles, St. Marys, Calvert, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford, Cecil, Kent, Queen Annes, Talbot, Dorchester, Somerset, Worcester, Wicomico, and the City of Baltimore. DE: The entire state (Sussex, Kent, New Castle). NJ: Salem, Cumberland, Cape May. This watch includes the Hampton Roads metro, the Washington, DC metro and the Baltimore Metro.

Ike: He's still a Cat 4 with 945 mb pressure. It could make landfall as a strong 3 or a "weak" 4, and unfortunately the most likely track is downtown Miami on Tuesday afternoon. However, the track includes the Gulf Coast from Cedar Key down to the Keys, and from Miami up to Flagler Beach. Here is a timeline for folks in south Florida to follow.

Josephine: She's still out to sea.

Finally, there is a potential Kyle out there, however he's not in any hurry to form up yet.

General Update

We had some strong storms move through the area yesteday, including one apparent tornado in Cherokee County, between Woodstock and Holly Springs. Central Fulton County was under a tornado warning at one point at the tail end of rush hour, but we did not get any damage, and in fact hardly got any rain at all from the storm. But GEEZ, this is like the 5th tornado this season (since February) to hit the Atlanta metro area...others have hit Carroll County, south Atlanta, downtown Atlanta and northwest Atlanta suburbs.

Speaking of rain, the governor got a bill passed saying that his rules superseded those of local municipalities. What that means for me is that now I can hand-water my yard for up to 25 minutes on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursday (because I have an odd address) as long as it is after midnight and before 10 AM. In addition, because I planted new landscaping and passed the online test, I can water with a sprinkler my newly planted lenten roses and hydrangeas. Now I just have to get my timer working again since I took out the batteries last September.

Big Brown won the Preakness Stakes easily, so he's looking very good for the Belmont (which I will be in Charlottesville for and therefore have to find a television set to view it). I was at Country Fair tailgating at the time, but we found a small bar behind a Chevron Station on Pryor Road (no it was not sketchy) so we got to drink a beer, use the bathroom, and watch the horse race. Good times. Country fair itself was okay. The tailgating was excellent however the concert was not that good...Pat Green sang only "corporate", not Texas, songs, and Travis Tritt seemed to sing only sad songs.

We're off to Richmond/Deltaville/Williamsburg/Charlottesville this weekend for 2 weddings and a day on the Chesapeake Bay/Rappahannock River with my folks. The weather is supposed to be beautiful!

Finally nothing in the tropics to report yet, however the season starts 1 week from Sunday.

TD-14 forms, next name is Melissa (then Noel and Olga)

TD-14 formed as of 11 AM in the Atlantic...it's still a ways off from land and because if formed fairly far to the north, it's almost certainly not a threat to land. It is expected to reach Tropical Storm strength, at least for a while, and therefore would be named Melissa most likely, unless another storm quickly forms.

On the other hand, Tropical Storm Karen, while barely hanging on, looks like it might recurve out due west, which would put it on a collison course with northern Florida or Georgia. If this atmospheric sequence of events occurs, the conditions would be ripe to turn Karen into a hurricane (or back into a hurricane, since it may have already reached that status). Although that would be a bad thing for the coast, that would be great for Atlanta (assuming it would make it here), as we DESPERATELY need the rain.

Speaking of Atlanta and rain, there are almost daily articles now in the AJC talking about our lakes, including Allatoona and Lanier, drying up which is bad since that is where our drinking water comes from. That combined with La Nina which would give us a dry winter, plus any dryness next spring, and we could have a catastrophe. Yikes. Already many lakehome owners on Lanier can no longer put their docks in the water.

I'm off to Alexandria in a few hours, then partying it up in DuPont Circle and Old Town. Also, GO HOOS! Peat Pitt.

Miss a day (well 5) miss a lot

Okay, since I last left off, Subtropical Depression 10 turned into a Tropical Depression, then made landfall near Fort Walton Beach, Florida before it had time to intensify into Jerry. Jerry did form, but as a Subtropical Storm and went north in the Atlantic. There is now Tropical Storm Karen, but that is likely to turn north soon and not threaten any land. Next we have Tropical Depression 13, which most likely will be upgraded at the next advisory (at 11 EDT/10 CDT) to Lorenzo. Finally, there are about three storms that could eventually be Melissa, Noel &/or Olga (is it just me, or is Noel more of a girl's name than a guy's name? Anyway...).

No rain in Atlanta yet, but there is a 30% chance of showers for tomorrow! Yeah!

I spent early Sunday morning in the ER...dehydration and food poisoning. Never have I been SO sick in my life. Wow. Fortunately I'm just about back to normal now.

Finally, we go to Alexandria/Mount Vernon, Virginia this weekend. That should be fun and exciting. Hopefully I can squeeze in some college football while we're there!

AFTERNOON UPDATE:
Karen: The weather patterns that were originally going to swing her out to sea aren't looking so strong now, and it appears Karen may be a threat to the U.S. after all. If this were to occur, it would be late next week. Intensity is anyone's guess.

TD-13: Although it looks impressive on satellite, this has not intensified yet, but still appears that it will become Lorenzo (or maybe Melissa? see below) and plow into Mexico after midnight on Friday night/Saturday morning.

Disturbance near Florida: This is looking healthy, and may become TD-14 and/or Lorenzo/Melissa before too long. It may be very close to Cape Hatteras as a Category 1 hurricane Friday night, &/or it may move up to Cape Cod. It will most likely be classified tomorrow.

Watching the tropics

A little system just to the east of northern Florida is spiraling together and is supposed to move across the Florida peninsula then hit somewhere between Brownsville, Texas and New Orleans, as a strong tropical storm or a weak hurricane. Judging from Humberto, I'm thinking it's the stronger end of that scale. It could hit NOLA as early as Friday night. The hurricane hunters are going to investigate tomorrow.

Also, due to some apparently miscommunication at the ticket office, I got 4 tickets to UVa/VT over Thanksgiving weekend! I'm very excited, even if it will mean going with my Hokie parents and my Hokie-sympathizer sister.

Finally, I'm very excited about the South Carolina v. LSU matchup this weekend, but I don't know who to root for! Also, Gameday is at Tuscaloosa for Georgia v. Alabama.

Beginning of football season!!!

Geaux Tigers...I'm off in a few hours to watch LSU hopefully beat Mississippi State. How exciting. I think I'll get to test out my XM Radio in terms of college football listening as well if I'm a little late.

Also, the entire state of Wyoming is apparently gearing up for a ACC battle with us...who would have thought Virginia coming to town would cause such excitement! Hopefully not too much excitement as we really need to win, despite the oxygen depravation by being in one of the highest, if not the highest college stadium in the country.

Finally, nothing yet, but it seems like there will be a Felix at least by tomorrow afternoon. We shall soon see. There are about 5 areas of interest, but none has made the jump to TD yet

New car & the Queen comes to Richmond!

So I got a new car yesterday! The Acura RDX is what I got. It's about the size of a large CRV, but WAY cooler, with lots of buttons and features that weren't even a thought when my old car, a 1998 QX4, came out. At that time, having automatic air conditioning was a big deal...now I have passenger & driver's side air conditioning! It has 20 miles on it now, up from 3 yesterday, and I can't even put my personalized tag on it yet until I get the paperwork to do so!

Also, the Queen (Elizabeth II) is current in Richmond visiting in preparation for a trip to Williamsburg/Jamestown for the country's 400th anniversary. Virginia is very excited, as evidenced by its license plates, which say Jamestown 400th Anniversary.

Finally, Derby Day is Saturday. Tomorrow is Oaks day, which historically is Louisville's Day at the Races, but now is simply a party almost as big as Derby itself. Now Louisvillans a lot of times go on Derby Thursday to see the races, which is only a $2 charge and is no specific "Day". My horse this year: Any Given Saturday...I like the football reference.