Wishing yall the best in what could be a trying weekend.
I don't like this alphabet bias that the weather people are practicing. No q,x,y or z? Wherefore? What;s wrong with Quentin, Queeny or Quasimodo (Quasimodo, I think, would be especially appropriate). Xavier, Xantippe, yes, but there's also Xena. A true hurricane is a true 'warrior princess.' Yolanda comes to mind. Would Yankee be too region-specific and, therefore, seen as pejorative? Zoe is a fine name. So is Zebulon. Sheesh!! How often would they get that far into the alphabet anyway?
Meanwhile, please stay safe and dry and secure, all you Floridians.
They need at least 6 names per letter, the names rotate every 6 years, plus they need extras for in case of having to retire a name.
Stay safe folks, thinking about you all.
All humor aside for a moment. Johnboy gets his trackings from, I believe: nhc.noaa.gov (I look at the 3 day option, once there)
This thing is scary. The projected path is to kiss Mexico and then head East, back to Florida on Saturday pm. A strange path. The water in the Gulf of Mexico is something like 85 degrees, so it will pick up wind strength and a lot of moisture that will come down as rain.
The authorities have started to evacuate the Florida Keys, but, johnboy doesn't know, there seems to be a lot of hurricane fatigue.
Maybe, after Katrina and Rita, some folks feel that there cant be another one. Or perhaps some folks feel that the government is probably over-reacting. Look at the map. Look at the map. Wilma will hit somewhere, and she is big and strong.
Wilma's still a 5, per weather.com, headed for southern Mexico right now, skirting Cuba and probably will turn towards southern Florida. Pack up the grapefruits, folks, this one looks scary.
That's interesting... six names per letter. Thanks, Jespah. What an odd bit of trivia.
Here's more on the storm, again from the
Independent Online:
Quote:Most meteorologists say the storm is likely to weaken slightly when a strong front from the north-west pushes it to the east. But even if it hits the US as a category 3 or 4 hurricane, with maximum winds of 130mph and 155mph respectively, it could cause substantial damage.
"This storm will become even larger," Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center in Miami said yesterday. "We are expecting a very high storm surge - possibly 15 to 20 feet, especially on the Keys.
"You could compare this to Katrina and Rita. I don't see how the Florida Keys can avoid a major impact."
Cuba has already issued a hurricane watch for the western end of the island from Matanzas to Pinar del Rio, warning of a potentially "catastrophic" storm. Mexico has put almost all its Caribbean coast on alert, including the resort of Cancun.
The one consolation is that by the time it hits southern Florida, Wilma will be moving quickly, reducing the risk of storm flooding. This causes the bulk of the deaths and destruction in a hurricane's wake.
Wilma is the 12th hurricane of the Atlantic season, meaning that 2005 will tie 1969 as the worst since records began in 1851. It is also the season's 21st named storm, equalling the 1933 record, and exhausting this year's alphabetical list of names. Any further storms will be designated by letters of the Greek alphabet, starting with Alpha. Officially, the Atlantic hurricane season does not end until 31 November.
I did find loads of names for x, y, and z at
http://www.babynamesworld.com/ so that inability to find six names per letter seems a little lame.
Good luck, all of you a2kers in Wilma's path.
Then there're Xenophon and Xenocrates. Zeus, Zelda, Zeke, Zachary and Zachariah. And wasn't the ex-premier of China Deng Xiaoping (Xiaoping I think being the first name--which presumably means something in Mandarin, tho I don't know what. Seems pretty Eurocentric to me, not to allow that).
And why not Tropical Storm Yoda? So what if he's not human? Very speciesist not to throw that in the pool.
Did the shopping thing today. No bottled water to be found. Got the sterno and the coleman lantern ready. Patio furniture is all in. Crossin my fingers.
This must be all so trying, the days of apprehension.
Earthquakes, of which I have been through many, have both the virtue and fault (ack) of being rather immediate.
MOTHER EARTH!! the real world super power. Now if we could just get it to land on Bush's ranch.
Username, welcome to a2k. Specieist indeed. They should be ashamed!!
Amigo, hee, hee, hee.
Yep, Amigo's got it right.
So, how're the preparations for Wilma going?
I haven't done anything, I'm afraid
Letty wrote:I haven't done anything, I'm afraid
Well, dammit, DO something!
Letty wrote:I haven't done anything, I'm afraid
Why so blasé? Letty... isn't there something you should be doing? I always used to vacuum when they said a storm was coming... vacuum and make a big pot of soup.
I guess Katrina has given me the cross-country jitters. Please be safe! I'm sure you know what you're doing but........ arggggggggggh.
Quote:As of 5 p.m. Thursday, its top sustained winds were about 150 mph, just short of a category 5 storm.
"Believe me, this is still a very, very powerful hurricane," said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "Don't minimize this just because it's no longer a category 5."
I agree, Merry Andrew. In a similar situation I would close up the house, securing it as best as I could, and I would go on "vacation" for a few days, maybe up into south Georgia at some Holiday Inn along the interstate with electricity and some privacy. I could not survive in a shelter for very long.
I reckon some of the reluctance is in leaving what is home; what is familiar and needs to be watched over. Or it could be purely economic, what I call "the luxury of choice." Many folks in Katrina and Rita could not escape because they had no means to leave.
I am going to end my response at that; no mention of Miss Letty and what she should do, but have any of yall ever spent anytime in a shelter?
I would paint my naked body orange and stand on my roof, throwing glazed doughnuts at the cops while drinking from a gallon jug of vodka.
I do that anyways, but I'd do it during a hurricane, too.
Bob can you get a picture? it's worth a thousand words LOL
Ms. Letty has her own situation and makes her own choices with a certain, er, fatalism, methinks. I won't second guess you, m'dear, am wishing you very well.
