This latest model run is bad news for Wilmington ( storm hanging off the coast) and Charlotte (rain total now up tp 6 to 10 inches with a much better chance of high winds). They are MANY beautiful old trees in a lot of Charlotte neighborhoods that will now be at risk.

I started doing some preliminary prep yesterday. Doing much more now. Also did an early morning run for gas for the generator. There ain't much out there.

Good luck to all in the path.

Having been thru Sandy, I say heed the warnings and get the hell out of there.

Godspeed

I heard that the tidal surge could be as high as 13'...get away while you can.

Most of the vulnerable old trees were wiped out here in '99....came up via Charlotte as I recall...whole neighborhoods of old growth. 6" of rain over a few daze caused flooding and 4 big trees to topple on my land, just a few weeks ago....payback for buying a new Stihl, I reckon ;). Stay safe guys....and Steph! It's gonna suck for everyone....just different combinations of suck :(

Computer simulations....GIGO ;)

Generator has been on the shelf for 2 years now. :( Got it running. :) Gathering batteries, flashlights and water jugs, just in case. One vehicle is diesel, so that may come in handy.

If you are among the many that are hitting the road, to get away from Florance. Have a look at the supprisingly good forecast in north Fl and the panhandle for the next week.
Consider getting completely clear of the storm and having an evacucation down this way.

That term was coined by my niece after many back to back evacuations from the Gulf Coast some years ago.

I have room for secure parking for extra vehicles, boats, RVs etc. at my place if you are heading this way. I'm near Panama City Beach.

Wishing the best for all in the way of this storm!

Cheers Richard

I agree. 40 miles inland and I had $40k of tree damage. Amazing none hit any of my cars.

In addition to Sandy, I was in the fl keys during Irma predictions. Glad we left, Irma track turned late, against predictions.

In WNC, close to Asheville; the big issue here is flooding--only so many places for water to go--planning trip to Dayton this fri to Dayton Concours d’Elegance at Carillon Park so maybe we'll miss it.

OK, so give me some info on my trip.
We are (supposed to...) fly into Charlotte on Monday, and drive to Asheville that afternoon. We'll be there for 2 days, then driving on to Knoxville. I assume everything will be free and clear by then, but it's that Monday afternoon drive between Charlotte and Asheville that concerns me. I don't mind rain, and we can deal with some minor street flooding, but i don't want to be stuck not being able to get there, or even worse, stuck in Charlotte because the rental car joint sent all of the cars out with evacuees.

So, Come Monday afternoon, what do you locals think it'll be like? Assuming, lets say, 6-8 inches of rain on Saturday. I see that a couple of you have talked about saturated ground, will we be looking at a lake around Spartanburg? Is there a high-ground route out of Charlotte to the NW?

Will we be involuntary volunteers helping to sandbag levees?

Saw an article yesterday that made me go ... huh.

it said that if it looks like you will have to evacuate, put a cup of water in your freezer and let it freeze.
After it's frozen put a quarter on top of the ice.

When you get back home you check it. if the quarter is still on top of the ice, you know the ice didn't melt and then re-freeze. IOW your frozen food is still good.

But if the quarter is on the bottom of the ice then you know the ice melted completely and refroze and the food in your fridge /freezer could be bad.

If you see that you have a cup of water with a quarter in the bottom in your freezer then .....

The models show that you are fairly good to go - my company is between Charlotte and Asheville so we are in tune.

If the trip is pleasure, and if this thing turns out to be as destructive along the coast as predicted, you may want to think about giving your room in Asheville to someone displaced. Call the hotel and see what the influx is.

I was headed to Morganton, NC next week and have waved off for that reason.

Also: gas. I use this site (and others) when stuff like this happens: https://tracker.gasbuddy.com/?q=charlotte%2C%20nc

Putting a couple of ice cubes in a bowl is a far better method. Or just look at the ice maker tray.

There are too many ways for the quarter to remain on top of partially melted ice which will float in a the (partial) cup of water for this to be remotely accurate.

That "facebook advice" also mentions possibly finding the quarter in the middle of the cup of ice. Good luck with that. It is virtually impossible to freeze a quarter in the middle of a block of ice without artificially suspending it there. SmileWavy

The air travel mess from disruptions at ATL alone will take days to sort out. Throw in other potential risks like flooding, power outages, damage to your booked hotel, I have to ask why? If it's not critical, postpone the trip. By this point most airlines will probably let you make changes without a fee in consideration of the hurricane. Paul also makes a good point about taking rooms from someone that may now be homeless.

Im still hopeful that I can blast down there early next week. As long as the roads are open, they are letting people back in, and there is diesel available somewhere within 600 miles of Avon, Im gonna give it a go.
I will help out any I can while I am there . I am going to unpack my generator tonight, and some general clean up tools. If nothing else, just help to clean up my buddies place . He is on the road today coming home, bet that is fun!

Heading to Tallahassee tomorrow. My wife's engineer brother has a home there that he's renovating...says come on over, he'll hose the place out for us. We'll be staying in a hotel!

Good points. But the more I think about it the sillier it gets. it's obvious that the people who are facing evacuation have much more to worry about that what's in the freezer.
I've never BTDT thankfully so it seems kind of foreign.

Thank you for the kind words. Sitting in Beaufort Co now, waiting . Not sure if we are staying here or not. Storm is taking a southward turn. Water is already high here, but no evac orders.

Check out Proof Brewing Company. It is in the art district, really nice brewery with a nice outdoor area to hang out in.

When we evacuated for Hurricane Francis in 2004, I went to Key West for a few days, I tried my best to have fun and relax, please try to do the same.

Relax and unwind. When you get back it is a real mess with lots of work.

Thanks for the tip. We will check it out. We evacuated for Matthew and then for Irma. Irma was a non issue here but Matthew devastated HHI. We went to Macon, GA for that one and spent a week watching the weather channel. It was stressful. This is not going to be that bad I pray)! Below is a picture I took a couple of hours ago looking from the sound (next to our house) out to the ocean. Looks pretty nice right now!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1536792193.jpg

Fantastic view!! I was due west of the storm for most of today and can say it was influencing our weather here, it did not rain like it does every afternoon. It seems to have pulled or pushed out afternoon T-storms away.

The waves should be arriving here tomorrow, gonna have dinner on the beach and check them out.

When I went to Key West in 2004, I promised my wife to not harp over the storm. Honestly, there is nothing more you can do but wait until you can come back.

Try to relax as best as possible and get distracted as much as possible.

Couple more tips for you try this place for breakfast is was really good.

https://maplestreetbiscuits.com/


Go tour the Historic Capital Building, across the street is a cool Tavern get the grilled wings, best I have had.

https://andrewsdowntown.com/


Go to the Tallahassee Auto Museum, some really cool cars and a lot of other things in there too. Private collection, the guy collected everything.

http://tacm.com/

Unless something RADICALLY changes in the next 48 hours, this will likely be a non-event for HHI. My place there was supposed to get a new roof this week, but got delayed due to the on/off evacuation. Materials were delayed. Roofer said he is ready to go. I am thinking about heading down there if the power doesn't come back in my neighborhood up here within 2 days.

Protip from the news:
Take a cup of frozen water and leave a penny on top in the freezer.

If penny is halfway down, power was restored sometime afterwards. Some food might be still good.
If penny is at bottom, power was lost for a long time.

We are on the fence now about bugging out with the possible turn towards Charleston.

Go north, Florence!

I would strongly suggest that you freeze a cup of water, then set a coin on it at your desk.

See how long the coin is "halfway down".

I have not done this myself, but keep in mind water is a chemical oddball in that its solid form FLOATS on its liquid form.

So the solid water could melt to liquid water, sink below the solid water, and the coin would float on a bed of solid water over the liquid water.

Better yet, freeze as many containers of water in your freezer as you can physically fit.

If the power is off and the freezer is kept closed, the frozen ice packs will keep it very cold for a few days.

Definitely looking better for everyone in the storms path.
Cat 2

Use not completely-filled zip-loc baggies so you can stuff 'em in every which way.*





*An added bonus is you might come back to a freezer full of ice-locked food that you can't get out.

Great news, a strong 2 and with it beginning to interact with land it should stay a 2 and weaken.


It is still going to move really slow, that sucks.

I'm very surprised how accurate this storm was predicted, as in location.
Very happy they got the strength coming on shore wrong.
Hope it doesn't linger to long

Glad to see it has been downgraded to a 2. Hope it doesn't dump the rain they were predicting.

I am actually amazed they did not bump the wind speed up 1 MPH and call it a Cat 3 storm.

They refused to downgrade Hurricane Irene in 2011 that hit NY, making NYers think that Sandy was just going to be more of the same a year later. I tried warning friends in NY that Irene was not a Hurricane and it was irresponsible to say it was, what happened to people with Sandy surprised them because of that.

if anything the news people have downgraded the meaning of words like 'catastrophic' 'deadly' and such.

It was a relief late yesterday to see the focused storm center start to defuse and sprawl out some. This coincided with the reduction of wind speed and the downgrade to cat 2

It's still serious, but there is a big difference between 140+ mph. And 110- mph. In terms of the damage expected.

Let's hope that the dire estimates for the storm surge are over blown a bit.

The weather services sure have become a drama factory.

Hoping the best for those in Carolinas.

Cheers Richard

100% agree!!!
I wanted to reach through the tv and strangle the forecasters every time they used those terms
Give us the important info without all the drama..PLEASE

It is far better in terms of lost life to predict a stronger storm than it is to say its a non issue.

Totally agree. That was a big lesson learned with Hurricane Sandy. People completely underestimated it. People refused to evac.

.