h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Since this is such a big hurricane I'm wondering how many hootooers have been/are preparing to be hit.

Alec Trician and I live in south Florida, are both battened in and starting to see the first of the squalls. Anyone else in the projected path?

Well, my manager was due to fly out there today. I would guess that she's still at the airport, though.


Geggs

I'd guess they won't let her fly in til Mon. or Tues. unless the storm totally falls apart. Hope she doesn't sit there that long!

I am not ,but my brother is close to W Palm Beach.

Post if you canI hope you stay safe.

er ...this thing is huge, http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/DATA/RT/float2-ir4-loop.html

right now (19.45) there is a beautiful sunset, and a nice breeze.
but all this will change soon, it looks like frances stalled for a while and is making a left-turn towards us.

alec.

On our news they say it is easily 3 times the size of the last one.

I'm amazed at how big this thing is! Today is the first time in years that I've had the urge to watch tv, just so I could see where the rain bands are in advance. Can't see them coming at night and it can be a little disconcerting to wake up to a blast of wind and rain.

Broward county already has 30,000 people without electricity due to downed power lines. The beaches are closed; to drive onto the barrier island you must have proof of residency. Also, there's a curfew from 10pm-6am on the barrier island.

Since I've just recently made myself some space in my overflowing apartment I think I'll look into purchasing a little gas-powered generator that'll run the fridge or a few lights in the near future.

They say it has been downgraded to a #2
Still 105 mile hr winds though.

So far so good! It's been raining pretty steadily throughout the night, but not serious enough to awaken me. The frogs are making more noise than the hurricane at the moment. I had to knock on my bedroom wall to shut them up so I could get some sleep, finally gave up and got out of bed.

Fort Lauderdale, 10.20 Saturday
latest radar picture from Melbourne,FL.

http://radar.weather.gov/radar/latest/DS.p20-r/si.kmlb.shtml

steady rain at the moment, gusty winds, but some serious stuff on the way.

TV is showing yachts breaking loose from their moorings in West Palm Beach.

alec.

Ft.L, 12.40
The wind is now starting to howl and the rain is pouring steadily.

Broward Sherrifs Deputies are fanning out along the beach, trying to arrest a determined surfer called Jason. As soon as he comes out of the water he will be arrested and charged with...trespassing on the pier at Pompano.
TV news is desperately trying to backtrack now, as they were encouraging him at first, even interviewed him live where he said he was going to jump back into the surf now, as the police were approaching.

The guy just wanted to surf, but having been seen on TV, his behaviour is seen as 'encouraging others' to do the same.

alec.

I wondered about the surfer they kept showing.
Do you think he could encourage others at this point?


Frogs Mother of God
Wow they must know its coming!
Interesting tidbit.
Glad you were able to sleep last night.

missed a word- sleep *some last night!

'crazy jason' the surfer is now reported to be missing.

Either he's managed to sneak off without getting arrested, or he's rolling around in the surf somewhere...

alec.

Geesh hope he is ok

Ft.L. 16.05pm

Weather worsening whenever a band of storms rolls through. Frances appears to have stalled just to the North of Grand Bahama.

Still no word about Jason the surferother than that he is still missing.

We are having occasional power cuts, but it comes back on in less than a minute.
FPL have now stopped sending out crews to do repairs, as the winds are above 30mph. If anything breaks now, it will stay broke till after the storm.
What with Frances moving so slowly, that could be sometime on Monday.

alec.

Hi all
The frogs finally gave it a rest so I've snoozed the last couple hours. I noticed the birds flying around earlier between the rain bands, so I *still* think it'll not get too dire right around here.

Hope the surfer is ok, though I get irritated with people who are determined to be that stupid. It's one thing to run around and put yourself at risk during these storms, but I notice that a huge number of the accidents and casualties that happen during these things occurs to people who insist on running around outside because "it's not *that* bad". Then they get hit by a falling tree or a flying piece of debris and emergency services need to come out and emperil themselves to help the boneheads out. They have enough to do as it is!

My neighbor decided to go out in search of something to eat several hours ago, about 20 minutes before it got really gusty. He's not returned yet. It took him about 10 minutes to get his car to start, but he was sure that a McDonalds would be open, just for him. *sigh* I hope he's ok, but it's hard not to feel that that kinda stupid deserves what it gets.

The lights are flickering a bit and my ears just noticed a little change in pressure a moment ago. Fortunately I've a UPS to keep the 'puter steady.

Alec, if y'all lose electricity don't hesitate to call. Seems as if that's a street-by-street thing and I've my camp stove, anyway. I generally go into and making mode when it's over for people who don't have power. *That* would be a unique mini-meetup.

Don't want to cut your communication down any so I'll be quiet now but I'll keep checking

Agreed on silly behaviors of people

Everything still ok here, although friends in the SWs have lost power due to downed power lines.

Thanks for the offer MoG, we'll give you a call, allow me to reciprocate the offer in case you lose power too.

We also have a large who hides in the bath if she hears thunder, and five who don't understand why they can't go outside and play in the wind.

The only real damage we've sustained is that the 'beware of the dog' sign has become detached...bit of a joke.

The worst, however is yet to come, according to St.Brian of Norcross.
Frances has practically stalled, and is slamming into Juno Beach, just North of West Palm Beach. As it moves inland, it should weaken.

alec.