Tropical Storm Ernesto- what a joke

[rammstein]

Let me begin by saying that I am glad it was a dud. No damage, nobody hurt, its good.

HOWEVER- the way the news covered it, with all of the hype, you would think armageddon was coming. This was my first storm, so I bought into it. By about halfway through yesterday, I would be watching reporters telling people it was dangerous outside and see pictures of seemingly dramatic rainfall. I would then look outside and see nothing. By the end of the day, I went to the beach and went swimming in the ocean. It was choppy. It was breezy, and sometimes the rain sprinkled.

I know that these storms are 'unpredictable', but if a storm is 20 miles away, and has 40 mph winds and moderate rain, its safe to say that it cannot become dangerous over 2 hours. But then again, that wouldn't be interesting news would it?

The good news is that I bought I sweet flashlight as a birthday present to myself. 6D batteries, MagLight, good for blinding and beating perps (or for safety, as I told my wife).

[dtw]

I'm in Fort Lauderdale right now, and must say the hype was ridiculous. The storm was a complete non-event. My roommate's snores woke me up at 3am this morning - the storm did not.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Talked to a friend of mine in Key West last night. He was going bar-hopping. Everything was open. Total non-event.

[pmajka]

Yeah, cant wait for gas prices to go up again.

[TerryBPP]

All the government agencies, schools, mail are closed till FRIDAY!!! Its barely drizzling outside and I'm sitting here at work. WTF!

The hype was insane over here. A news anchor said it was supposed to get up to a Cat 3 by land fall. Tropical storm to Cat 3 in 90 miles, lol.

[bryanthompson]

If the media hypes rain this much, how can we trust anything else they say? We can't. They're all wet. (pun intended)

[Jims5543]

Hurricane Andrew went from a tropical depression to a cat 5 in 48 hours.

Andrew started modestly as a tropical wave that emerged from the west coast of Africa on August 14. The wave spawned a tropical depression on August 16, which became Tropical Storm Andrew the next day.

Further development was slow, as the west-northwestward moving Andrew encountered an unfavorable upper-level trough. Indeed, the storm almost dissipated on August 20 due to vertical wind shear. By August 21, Andrew was midway between Bermuda and Puerto Rico and then began turning westward into a more favorable environment. Rapid strengthening occurred, with Andrew reaching hurricane strength (sustained winds greater than 74 mph) on the 22nd and Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale on the 23rd, peaking with 175 mph (280 km/h) winds and a minimum pressure of 922 mbar (hPa).[1] The storm was extremely small, however, with gale-force (35 mph, 55 km/h) winds extending outwards only 90 miles (150 km) from the center[2].

Andrew made landfall twice while moving through the Bahamas, crossing Eleuthera with 160 mph (260 km/h) winds and passing through the Berry Islands at Great Harbour Cay with sustained winds of 150 mph (240 km/h). The storm weakened after its second landfall, maintaining strong winds but with the pressure rising to 937 mbar. While crossing the Gulf Stream, however, Andrew quickly regained its strength, and briefly regained Category 5 status as it made landfall over south Florida on August 24 with 165 mph (265 km/h) winds and pressure of 922 mbar (hPa).[3]

I closed my office early on Tues so my employees could go home and take care of their homes. I closed today but realized it was going to be a non event last night. I didn't shutter up nor did I buy supplies.

The only thing I did do was finally get my propane backup generator all hooked up and ready to go on Monday when I was still thinking we would be getting at least a Cat 1.

When Wilma came last year, I was expecting something similar to this storm. I took precautions and shuttered up and bought suplies. I was gald I did.

Do not let the hype from the news fool you. Always be prepared its better than not being prepared.

At least we get to laugh after this one. It beats crying.

[AFJuvat]

I drained 3 inches of water out of my pool in anticipation of the storm.

Looks like I will have to add the water back tomorrow.

AFJ

[legion]

I was watching a windmap of the storm yesterday. The maximum sustained winds I saw on land were 27 mph (42 mph over water). I think a couple of well-aimed sneezes could have put the thing out.

I have family in Melbourne and Cocoa Beach...they all called me yesterday for my birthday. No one mentioned the storm.

[hytem]

Unfortunately, the media is hyping the weather these days. For ratings and advertising, I would guess. What else? Bad weather is like crime these days--if it bleeds or rains, it leads. Yahoo weather posts a 'critical weather' asterisk next to your city if the wind is over 15 mph or if it rains. Just plain silly.

Having said that, this could have been a worse storm. Much worse. You just don't know and can't predict. I thought it would peter out over Cuba--and it did. If it had come out in the center of the Gulf, it might have picked up again. So maybe it's better to err on the safe side? I would say so. With these storms, maybe scaring everybody is a good thing--it gets the pols off their tails, for one.

[targa911S]

Oh no!!! It's heading to pennsylvania!!!

[techweenie]

Originally posted by hytem
Unfortunately, the media is hyping the weather these days.

Damned media! Why don't they cover the good things hurricanes do?

[pbs911]

Ernesto was going to be my first Florida hurricane. In a way, with morbid curiosity, I was looking forward to experiencing. I did all the things you are supposed to do. . . gas, food, water, batteries, blah, blah blah.

The hype over Ernesto was way overdone IMO. No wonder people are unprepared. Enough the "sky is falling" reports and no one will take heed to any further warnings when they are really needed.

[dafischer]

Originally posted by targa911S
Oh no!!! It's heading to pennsylvania!!!

Now there's irony!

[targa911S]

Originally posted by dafischer
Now there's irony!

No lie! I moved from FL to get away from the canes, now they are following me!

[rammstein]

Just to clarify, I didn't think there was any unwarranted concern until after Ernesto left Cuba. At that point, it had only a few short hours to regain strength. It just wasn't possible at that point for it to turn into much, and the news should have backed down. The whole 'crying wolf' concept really is dangerous. Luckily for me, I like to read the data from the NWS and make my own decisions (which, like Legion points out, stated that the FASTEST recorded speeds at the time they were warning about the storm crashing ashore was about 25mph).

And I too had a morbid curiosity, although I am glad as hell nothing happened, because it would cost me dearly. Something about wrecked properties makes people leery to discuss commercial real estate

[Porsche-O-Phile]

This one's a dud.

For the record, look at Wilma from last year - it went from a tropical storm to a very dangerous Cat 4 in about 24 hours. Crazy-fast intensification. Yes, it can happen. That was pretty unusual though - conditions were absolutely ideal - no shear, warm sea surface temps, etc.

The conditions for this storm are far less favorable, so intensification is less likely. There's some good discussion on intensity forecasting on NOAA's web page. Yes, it's still an inexact science and weird things can still happen, but it'd be EXTREMELY unlikely for Ernie to have amounted to much. The hype was typical media sensationalism.

Although caution is good, the outcome here is painfully predictable - people will cry "wolf" every time there's a comma-shaped pattern of clouds over the Carribbean for the next year or two, then people's dull memories will fade and we'll be right back where we were with Katrina, "oh, it's only forecast to be a Cat 2. . . I think we'll stay here. It won't be that bad". That mentality.

10-15 years from now another big one will hit a populated area and you'll have grandstanding politicians pointing fingers at one another and sensationalist journalists asking "how did this happen?". . . at least until the next big story comes along. Then the cycle will repeat.

People are stupid. They simply don't learn from their past. What's that line about "those who do not study history are condemned to repeat it"? It'll apply to major property damage and loss of life in an urban area from a hurricane. Mark my words.

[Joe Ricard]

Originally posted by targa911S
No lie! I moved from FL to get away from the canes, now they are following me!

Proof positive that you suck.

Sorry. It is a known fact That Mississippi sucks less often than Florida but does suck bigger when given the chance.

What's the economy like in Wyoming

[strupgolf]

Get this tax rip off. 78 members of the Rescue 1 team from Indianapolis went off to help in Florida on sunday. They also went to NY on 9-12 to help. Oh boy, just think about it. They went to help people ride out a bad rain shower. So we as taxpayers have to pay all the overtime, expenses,etc. for this to happen. Never mind the forcasters said it was going to be a non-issue. Somebody has to man the firestations when they are gone, so more money for overtime for somebody else. 3 chartered buses, support trucks, cars, etc. All this is another example of the silliness of the Homeland Security Act. The leader said they were going down to "help out the american people"; give me a fri******ing break..

[gaijindabe]

In other news that does not make the news:

SAOMAI DEVASTATES CHINA
Saomai, the most powerful storm to hit China for more than 50 years, has destroyed thousands of homes and forced the evacuation of at least 1.7 million people. As the storm’s death toll continues to rise, the Chinese official news agency has estimated the loss to be more than Yuan11bn ($1.4bn). The majority of those affected by typhoon Saomai will be uninsured.