After renting a condo since 2011, S & DIL just bought first home in WPB in July. Hope it will weather the storm well, but that isn’t my biggest worry. DIL is 8+ months pregnant with my first grandchild, due 9/28. S says they had to work at it, but they have water, food, & batteries if things quiet down. He said water was a hard find yesterday, but they got 12 gallons. They also have a hotel reservation in Orlando if they need it. I guess we just wait & see. Fingers crossed that Irma loses interest and slows down to a less severe event than current predictions.
Cat 5 is 157+ mph winds. But plus what? Irma is reading 185.
Miami-Dade code says a garage door must withstand winds of 150 mph. That’s cat 4. So those doors will withstand powerful hurricanes. But not cat 5, necessarily.
Another poster asked ‘when do we have a conversation about rebuilding in hurricane prone areas?’
Does that same principal apply to people who chose to live on a fault line or in tornado alley?
I do believe houses could and should be built stronger.
^Not hurricane prone areas in general, but areas that get destroyed/flooded/rebuilt multiple times, like those on oceanfronts or in flood zones.
^like all of coastal FL, GA, SC, LA, AL, MS, TX?
If you’re building right on the water’s edge and have rebuilt multiple times using government insurance, then yes.
Here’s a link to the data buoy on Barbuda:
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=BARA9
Latest data has gusts to 40 kts. Should get more exciting there in a few hours. Unfortunately, no more buoys in the path until the USVI.
Here’s the TAF (Terminal Area Forecast) for the St Martin airport:
FM060300 01025G35KT P6SM -SHRA VCSH SCT015 BKN060 OVC080
FM060500 33055G75KT 6SM -SHRA SCT025 BKN050
FM060700 300140G160KT 6SM -SHRA BKN015 OVC030 <=== yow!
FM061100 26090G120KT 6SM -SHRA BKN015 OVC030
FM061700 20055G75KT 6SM -SHRA SCT025 BKN050
Note the FM060700 line. They’re forecasting winds of 161 mph gusting to 184 mph (the wind speed numbers in the TAF are knots) between 0700 to 1100 UTC. It will mostly be later in that period.
I’ve read though several hundred TAF’s in my life, droppedit, but never saw a “Yow!” in the forecast yet. 
That’s awful.
I put the “yow” in there to highlight the line, sorry … although I imagine that’s what the people associated with it were thinking.
Oh I know, I was kidding. I should have put a 
instead.
Long ago my H had to let people know they could not rebuiltd…it was a series of houses that had flooded multiple times, owners received federal aid and the Feds notified the locality where he worked no more. There is a difference in my mind with homes that have flooded multiple times and the once in a lifetime disasters. But I can also understand why there could be lifetime limits on claims on homes built in a flood plain.
@2VU0609
How far away from the hospital is the pregnant woman? My friend gave birth during a “mild” hurricane and she said the maternity ward was hopping. I gave birth in a blizzard. My not very scientific poll says extreme low pressure systems can make things exciting!
Talked to my daughter in Florida and the air tickets went beyond affordable (most sold out anyway) and her school still isn’t closed and none of the students have any idea what to do. She can go with friends to Orlando, but really doesn’t want to because last time it was so boring.
Disney has cancelled cruises out of Cape Canaveral for this weekend. The ships will unload passengers on Thursday and I assume head back out empty until next week.
Stay safe everyone!!!
I’ve heard about a connection between labor onset and barometric pressure but sounds like the jury may still be out:
https://www.livescience.com/22821-hurricanes-women-start-labor.html
Some of my relatives are in Puerto Rico due to a job posting. They are staying in place. I hope they will be all right–they are putting up various forms of storm protection, but they were not in Puerto Rico when the last major hurricane hit there, 19 years ago, according to the locals.
Will be thinking of anyone in this storm’s path.
My favorite island seems like it is likely to get a direct hit tonight…Anguilla. 
We have been in the part of Tampa people would evacuate TO for five years. Nearby elementary school is a shelter for all evacuation levels. We live in none of the gradated risk areas for hurricanes or floods. Replaced windows with (not Miami Dade) hurricane rated windows and doors- old leaky ones. So much quieter and energy efficient. Have reread the Hillsborough County hurricane guidelines. They include evacuating 10’s, not 100’s of miles. Talked to a friend near us who has been in Florida for decades, including close to the bay/gulf. She always stocks up on bottled water every June. We have our supplies and enough bleach for water if we run out. I think we’ll stay instead of making a trip to the Midwest (just went there end May). Invited friends who live near the water and if there is a power outage so be it. The county guidelines are published every June and are quite comprehensive.
State of emergency for all of Florida- allows for local governments getting ready. State laws about prices for food/water/hotels- no price gouging allowed and a phone number to call.
Watched the 11 pm news- our ABC station has an excellent meteorologist who explains so much. Publix is the (excellent) local grocery store chain- they are running their water bottling plant as supplies have run out. Some areas have flooded with heavy rains and old storm sewers. St Pete rechecked their stuff- had problems this summer with heavy rains. The Tampa area team of around 25 firefighters who went to Houston to help with search and rescue arrived home after being gone 10 days. Back to work in 48 hours- locally. Highlands County (next county over) put out a call for those with equipment to be on a list. More proactive here in view of recent Texas problems.
The month we moved there was tropical storm Debbie- H was reminded of Indian monsoons. We heard how years ago people evacuated into the path of a hurricane that veered inland. Neighbors are from Puerto Rico and still have a family home there- they have a generator and are due back from their most recent trip there just in time for Tampa’s weather hit. We’ll see. If we lose power I’ll count on good neighbors to let us use their grills to heat stuff (canned soup/beans).
Won’t know until Sunday which track Irma will follow- east or west. The whole Florida peninsula is likely to get something, just the severity of the hit to be determined locally. Unlike Texas this will be much quicker and wind, not rain, the greatest factor. Soil here is really sandy so it won’t take that long for it to go away. Flat- it seems as though highways are the higher ground, unlike Houston.
The scale only goes up to 5 so this currently is a really high 5, with any luck for us it will be diminished by going over some islands’ mountains.
Key West has mandatory evacuations for Wednesday. Our Tampa Bay region- will hear in the next day or two if/when school districts close.
Last summer the weather hit cancelled our Monday trash/recycling pickup the week after a holiday. Looks like it will happen again, darn (guess we will do the Thursday trash again). The little things in life… I’m impatient, dislike waiting so long to know if the path will be here or east. At least there is a lot more time to prepare than the “go to the basement-NOW” mindset up north for tornados (and no basement). Hopefully there won’t be tornadoes generated…
Hurricanes are a reality in this state. So many in various parts over so many years. A lot of experience. Too bad Verizon ditched the Weather Channel a few years ago and Frontier took over with the useless AccuWeather channel contract still in force. But local coverage will be extensive.