The Hurricane Thread | Hurricane Rafael

Invest 98 has grown up a bit, will be called Ian, I believe. Looks as though my hometown just might get the direct hit from a major hurricane it’s been dodging for decades. With any decent storm surge, there will be horrific flooding of the beaches & heavily grown up areas of Downtown St. Petersburg & places like Davis Island & along Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa…

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/205548.shtml?tswind120#contents

Went to publix this morning on Hillsbourgh and it was dead. We went to the one in south Tampa tonight and it was almost empty. I thought it would be busy but she wanted yoghurt. Ended up at coldstone after. Only thing cleaned out was water. The staff there said they had a busy spell and needed to call in extra staff. Maybe I just got lucky on my timing.
My generator wouldnt start, think it’s the battery so order another one and pick up after judo tomorrow. Could get interesting by Wednesday.
 
Well, shit.

You prepared okay, got the generator / battery?

Where in Tampa do you live?
Seminole Heights just north of HHS. No risk of flooding just the wind. Whats mad is the idiots doing storm drain work have a load of cones junk and debris lying around.
Generator needed work so I dropped it off on Sat and pick it up on Tuesday. Apart from that, ready as I can be. What area are you in?
 
Seminole Heights just north of HHS. No risk of flooding just the wind. Whats mad is the idiots doing storm drain work have a load of cones junk and debris lying around.
Generator needed work so I dropped it off on Sat and pick it up on Tuesday. Apart from that, ready as I can be. What area are you in?
I am now in Savannah, but I used to live just south of Feather Sound across Ulmerton in NE St. Pete. I remember during Irma seeing that a Cat 2 could cause flooding due to storm surge in my area & am seeing the same thing on the flood plain map, especially if the track of the storm holds.

I miss Seminole Heights, had quite a few friends live there when I was working in Tampa. Restaurant / bar scene was quite solid, especially the Rooster & the Till.
 
I am now in Savannah, but I used to live just south of Feather Sound across Ulmerton in NE St. Pete. I remember during Irma seeing that a Cat 2 could cause flooding due to storm surge in my area & am seeing the same thing on the flood plain map, especially if the track of the storm holds.

I miss Seminole Heights, had quite a few friends live there when I was working in Tampa. Restaurant / bar scene was quite solid, especially the Rooster & the Till.
Never been to Rooster but them and Ichcoro both were given Michelon bib gourmand awards.

During Irma I had to eat at Nickos a few times! Red Star closed and reopened as some dumb wine bar! Both got me through 5 days of fluctuationg voltage on my power line.
 
Never been to Rooster but them and Ichcoro both were given Michelon bib gourmand awards.

During Irma I had to eat at Nickos a few times! Red Star closed and reopened as some dumb wine bar! Both got me through 5 days of fluctuationg voltage on my power line.
'Dumb' wine bar? Shut your mouth! I liked Red Star though.

Didn't know Michelin started awarding bibs in Tampa. I've had the privilege of managing a couple of the restaurants on the list.

e - just saw that Michelin awarded stars to Miami & Orlando restaurants but no Tampa. That's seriously flawed.
 
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Damn, I was heartened a bit when I saw the model veer to the west, but it looks as though the Tampa Bay region is going to take a direct or almost direct hit.
 
Damn, I was heartened a bit when I saw the model veer to the west, but it looks as though the Tampa Bay region is going to take a direct or almost direct hit.

It's really hard to know right now what's happening, GFS has it off the coast, EURO started to pull west but I really don't put much faith in the predictions at the moment until it passes Cuba. I suspect the bigger issue is that it is projected to slow significantly over or just outside Tampa as a Cat 1 but dumping a ton of water along with the surge, this is likely to be the much bigger issue. The official track from NHC is still just offshore, but then again it was showing panhandle yesterday morning while euro was showing Tampa.

Whatever happens we're in for some nasty weather. Need to check on the generator fellow this morning to make sure he really is going to have it ready for tomorrow if not I guess I just need to get a new one. We have a big fish tank that can't go without power.
 
It's really hard to know right now what's happening, GFS has it off the coast, EURO started to pull west but I really don't put much faith in the predictions at the moment until it passes Cuba. I suspect the bigger issue is that it is projected to slow significantly over or just outside Tampa as a Cat 1 but dumping a ton of water along with the surge, this is likely to be the much bigger issue. The official track from NHC is still just offshore, but then again it was showing panhandle yesterday morning while euro was showing Tampa.

Whatever happens we're in for some nasty weather. Need to check on the generator fellow this morning to make sure he really is going to have it ready for tomorrow if not I guess I just need to get a new one. We have a big fish tank that can't go without power.
We lucked out with Irma in that the eye went east of Tampa Bay, doesn't look as such this time unfortunately.
 
Rural places in Nova Scotia have been badly hit. A lot of my friends and colleagues who stay in Cape Breton and New Glasgow are expecting power to be out for weeks.

This has been worse than the 2019 storm.
 
A lot of my friends and colleagues who stay in Cape Breton and New Glasgow are expecting power to be out for weeks.
Definitely not good with temperatures starting to drop as we head into Fall. I imagine they go down a lot more & a lot faster than what we have here in October.
 
Least this one hasn't come for us yet again in Louisiana, we have had more our fair share! We got a cool front coming in so this has helped most it towards Florida which is unfortunate for them
 
I'm hoping this will stay off the coast but damaging winds and a surge are quite likely. I'm sort of on a higher plain in the South Tampa area but shall see - first floor apartment living is a bit worrisome at the moment. Also, local meteorologist mentioned a tornado watch likely tomorrow morning through the storm passing.

MacDill AFB weather sent out the below coastal surge map, worth a look for any residents. You can adjust the surge lever on the left-hand side.
https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/#/layer/...atellite/none/0.8/2050/interHigh/midAccretion
 
I'm hoping this will stay off the coast but damaging winds and a surge are quite likely. I'm sort of on a higher plain in the South Tampa area but shall see - first floor apartment living is a bit worrisome at the moment.

MacDill AFB weather sent out the below coastal surge map, worth a look for any residents. You can adjust the surge lever on the left-hand side.
https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/#/layer/...atellite/none/0.8/2050/interHigh/midAccretion
Didn't realize you were back in Tampa. What road do you live off of? How high up is MacDill AFB?
 
Didn't realize you were back in Tampa. What road do you live off of? How high up is MacDill AFB?

I returned the last day of July. I'm off S. Himes - Dale Mabry/Selmon is like 50-feet west of the apartment complex.

Not sure about MacDill but that map has the base coastal lines flooding with a 3-4 foot surge, anything above that and it threatens the flight line and most if not all of the buildings. I figure they'll be evacuating aircraft in the next 24-48 hours if the storm continues tracking this way; they may already be evacuating.
 
I returned the last day of July. I'm off S. Himes - Dale Mabry/Selmon is like 50-feet west of the apartment complex.

Not sure about MacDill but that map has the base coastal lines flooding with a 3-4 foot surge, anything above that and it threatens the flight line and most if not all of the buildings. I figure they'll be evacuating aircraft in the next 24-48 hours if the storm continues tracking this way; they may already be evacuating.
I used to be the finance officer of the civil air patrol squadron that was based on Macdill.
There is. nice British place just up the road from you called The English Cook that I often visit.

The surge along with the extended duration if it hangs around could be pretty bad. I didn't chance my generator not getting fixed by tomorrow, went to Lowes and got another one.
 
@NotworkSte I'm not familiar with The English Cook, might be that place on Gandy next to a (no longer there) Kojak's ribs spot. I see a decent crowd there each time I pass by in the morning/lunch time but looks very small. There's a pub I go to on MacDill Ave called Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
 
I returned the last day of July. I'm off S. Himes - Dale Mabry/Selmon is like 50-feet west of the apartment complex.

Not sure about MacDill but that map has the base coastal lines flooding with a 3-4 foot surge, anything above that and it threatens the flight line and most if not all of the buildings. I figure they'll be evacuating aircraft in the next 24-48 hours if the storm continues tracking this way; they may already be evacuating.
That map is great. You should be fine. Where I used to live near Feather Sound will be underwater at 5 feet. I think it's going to be more than 5 feet storm surge though.
 
@NotworkSte I'm not familiar with The English Cook, might be that place on Gandy next to a (no longer there) Kojak's ribs spot. I see a decent crowd there each time I pass by in the morning/lunch time but looks very small. There's a pub I go to on MacDill Ave called Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
Is Mad Dogs a United pub?
 
That map is great. You should be fine. Where I used to live near Feather Sound will be underwater at 5 feet. I think it's going to be more than 5 feet storm surge though.

Yikes. Those places frightened me when looking at houses to buy (along with the asinine prices the last two years). I nearly rented across Gandy on the St Pete side of the bay but saw how close those apartments were to flooding and was like nope.
 
Absolutely bizarre & dangerous, almost criminal, that Pinellas County (St. Petersburg, Clearwater) is waiting til tomorrow to order an evacuation. Pinellas County is where 99% of the beaches are, where 90% of the houses on man-made spits are, & the majority of the major egress avenues are bridges across the bay. Even Hillsborough County (Tampa) is mandatory evac'ing today...

 
@NotworkSte I'm not familiar with The English Cook, might be that place on Gandy next to a (no longer there) Kojak's ribs spot. I see a decent crowd there each time I pass by in the morning/lunch time but looks very small. There's a pub I go to on MacDill Ave called Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
It isn't far from where Kojaks was. It's close to Gandy and Westshore near a vet.
 
Yikes. Those places frightened me when looking at houses to buy (along with the asinine prices the last two years). I nearly rented across Gandy on the St Pete side of the bay but saw how close those apartments were to flooding and was like nope.
It was south of Ulmerton in the Carillon district. I was expecting to see water in my place during Irma, but the bay area dodged a huge bullet that time.

Good call on not positioning yourself among the mangroves & low lying area around the STP side of Gandy.
 
Models have swapped. As expected euro trended slightly west, gfs went east, has it making landfall right across clearwater/pinellas. Strange time. euro is (generally) the more accurate, but not always.
 
Models have swapped. As expected euro trended slightly west, gfs went east, has it making landfall right across clearwater/pinellas. Strange time. euro is (generally) the more accurate, but not always.
Damn. And it’s slated to slow down a bit before making land which just means more water pushed into Tampa Bay. Horrible.