Monday - August 29, 2005

Light Blogging Today

Sorry folks, but there will be light blogging today. I was up late last night checking on friends along the Gulf Coast. E-mails quit coming in around 2:00pm yesterday then started up again late last night as everyone found hotels in Memphis, Shreveport, Meridian and Birmingham. I overslept this morning and had to rush to make a 9:00am optometrist appointment. My eyes are still dilated and weirded out. I’m at work but I have several meetings this afternoon. Perhaps Frank can jump in if he has time.

In case you missed it, the “Storm Of The Century” jigged right and passed just to the East of New Orleans, sparing that city the worst. There are several holes in the SuperDome and 3-4 feet flooding. Gulfport and Biloxi got the brunt ot the winds and storm surge. All my firends and former co-workers at Tulane University, the US Navy’s Port Authority, the US Navy’s Space Warfare Information Systems (Lakefront) and the NASA Stennis Space Center were evacuated out Saturday and Sunday. The authoritys did an outstanding job of making sure everything was done in an orderly fashion.

My guess is that Waveland, Bay St. Louis and Long Beach got the worst and are probably flooded out and totally destroyed. Stephen Ambrose (author of “Band Of Brothers”, “Saving Private Ryan") used to live in Bay St. Louis about a mile from where I used to live down there. I’m proud to say I have his autograph on a few books in my library.

Here is a special message to all my friends down there who are hiding out in hotels far inland: today’s weather in St. Louis is bright sunny skies, temps in the upper 70’s, 10% humidity and a fair breeze. The weather is here, wish you were beautiful. 

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/29/2005 at 12:35 PM   
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I’m Glad I Left

I woke up this morning and decided I made the right decision to move two years ago. If not, I’d be at ground zero right now. You see, I was living in a little town called Long Beach, Mississippi and working at the NASA Stennis Space Center. Long Beach is just to the west of Gulfport, halfway to New Orleans and the huge NASA reservation is due north of there about 20 miles inland, just across I-10. I lived and worked in that area for over two years and madea lot of friends. I hope they all made it out safely because the eye of Hurricane Katrina is about to pass over them with 145 mph winds ....

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Hurricane Katrina turned slightly to the east before slamming ashore early Monday with 145-mph winds, providing some hope that the worst of the storm’s wrath might not be directed at this vulnerable, below-sea-level city.

Katrina, which weakened slightly overnight to a Category 4 storm, turned slightly eastward before hitting land, which would put the western eyewall - the weaker side of the strongest winds - over New Orleans. But National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield warned that New Orleans would be pounded throughout the day Monday and that Katrina’s potential 20-foot storm surge was still more than capable of swamping the city.

Katrina, which a day before had grown to a 175-mph, Category 5 behemoth, made landfall about 6:10 a.m. CDT east of Grand Isle in the bayou town of Buras. The storm hammered the Gulf Coast with huge waves and tree-bending winds. Exploding transformers lit up the predawn sky in Mobile, Ala., while tree limbs littered roads and a blinding rain whipped up sand on the deserted beach of Gulfport, Miss.

Katrina’s fury also was felt at the Louisiana Superdome, normally home of professional football’s Saints, which became the shelter of last resort for about 9,000 of the area’s poor, homeless and frail. Electrical power at the Superdome failed at 5:02 a.m., triggering groans from the crowd. Emergency generators kicked in, but the backup power runs only reduced lighting and cannot run the air conditioning.

About 370,000 customers in southeast Louisiana were estimated to be without power, said Chenel Lagarde, spokesman for Entergy Corp., the main energy power company in the region. At the hotel Le Richelieu in New Orleans’ French Quarter, the winds blew open sets of balcony doors shortly after dawn. Seventy-three-year-old Josephine Elow pressed her weight against the broken doors as a hotel employee tried to secure them.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/29/2005 at 07:45 AM   
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   Sunday - August 28, 2005

Perfect Storm?

This little fellow’s name is #42040 and he is a floating moored weather buoy about 64 nautical miles south of Dauphin Island and Mobile, AL. He is currently reporting 33 foot waves pounding his little yellow behind every 14 seconds (this is what they mean when they refer to “storm surge"). He is going to have a very rough night tonight. Aren’t you glad you aren’t him? Poor little #42040. The worst is yet to come for him. Let’s see how long he can keep sending uplinked satellite data to NOAA. Anyone want to make bets on how long he can hold together?

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 10:26 PM   
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Exodus

If you think traffic in New Orleans is bad right now, take a look at the mess in Baton Rouge, thirty or forty miles North of the Big Easy (live from WBRZ webcam). Reports from Louisiana State Troopers are that traffic on I-10 is moving at 20 mph, a snail’s pace while the storm closes in behind them at 12 mph. The people in these cars have to follow the roads. The hurricane is making its own road as it goes. Who will win this race ....?

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 08:22 PM   
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Hurricane Katrina Update

The following message is being brought to you as a public service by the Mainstream Media in cooperation with the political leaders in Louisiana and Mississippi and under the guidance of FEMA ....

CATASTROPHE! WE’RE DOOMED! MIND-BOGGLING DAMAGE! SEVERE FLOODING! BUILDINGS DESTROYED! ENTIRE CITIES LEVELLED! MILLIONS HOMELESS! NEW ORLEANS RENDERED UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS! CITY FLOODED! TRILLIONS IN DAMAGE! CALAMITY! CATACLYSMIC EVENT! NEVER BEFORE IN HISTORY! INTERSTATES CLOGGED! MILLIONS FLEEING! DISASTER OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS! HUMAN TRAGEDY! DEATH AND DESTRUCTION! NATIONAL EMERGENCY!

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 05:13 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Stoopid-People •  
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All You Need To Know About New Orleans

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 12:15 PM   
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All You Need To Know About Katrina

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/28/2005 at 11:21 AM   
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   Saturday - August 27, 2005

Run Away!

Having lived on the Gulf Coast a good part of my life, I’ve learned to recognize the signs of a bad wind rising. One telltale signal is the barometric pressure. From past experience, I’ve seen that the faster it drops and gets down around 900 millibars, the worse it’s gonna be. Hurricane Katrina just blew through Miami and flooded that city. Now, she is over the summer-heated waters of the Gulf and building strength. Barometer is down to 945 mb and falling rapidly. Maximum sustained winds are up to 115 mph and climbing. Katrina is expected to be a Category 4 hurrricane when she hits New Orleans sometime Monday night.

If you live anywhere between Houston, TX and Pensacola, FL you better keep an eye peeled for dark skies and high winds. Where she hits now will depend on steering currents and upper atmospheric wind shears. Regardless, folks as far as several hundred miles inland will probably feel this one .... and it’s gonna hurt ....

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/27/2005 at 04:59 AM   
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   Thursday - August 25, 2005

Miami Vice

A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE SOUTHEAST FLORIDA COAST FROM VERO BEACH SOUTHWARD TO FLORIDA CITY...INCLUDING LAKE OKEECHOBEE. A HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION. AT 2 AM EDT...0600Z...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM KATRINA WAS ESTIMATED BY THE MIAMI RADAR NEAR LATITUDE 26.1 NORTH...LONGITUDE 78.4 WEST OR ABOUT 35 MILES… 55 KM...SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF FREEPORT GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND AND ABOUT 110 MILES… 175 KM...EAST OF THE SOUTHEAST COAST OF FLORIDA.

KATRINA IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 8 MPH ...13 KM/HR...AND THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS. THIS MOTION WOULD BRING THE CENTER OF KATRINA THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE NORTHWESTERN BAHAMAS TONIGHT AND INTO THE FLORIDA STRAITS THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 50 MPH...85 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. KATRINA IS EXPECTED TO BECOME A HURRICANE ON THURSDAY BEFORE REACHING THE SOUTHEAST FLORIDA EAST COAST.  THE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT THAT WAS ENROUTE TO KATRINA HAS HAD TO ABORT DUE TO COMPUTER PROBLEMS.

TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 70 MILES...110 KM FROM THE CENTER. ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1000 MB...29.53 INCHES. DUE TO ITS SLOW FORWARD SPEED...KATRINA IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE A SIGNIFICANT HEAVY RAINFALL EVENT OVER THE NORTHWEST BAHAMAS...AND SOUTH FLORIDA… WITH TOTAL RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 12 INCHES AND ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF 15 TO 20 INCHES POSSIBLE.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/25/2005 at 03:21 AM   
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   Monday - August 15, 2005

It Was A Dark And Stormy Night

Where’s Skipper? Right here. Where has he been? Right here. What happened yesterday? Pull up a chair, kiddies and I’ll tell you a tale ....

Saturday morning dawned bright and full of sunshine with clear skies and forecast for another hot day in St. Louis. All that would change drastically before nightfall. I busied myself in the morning posting stuff here and doing ordinary housecleaning chores. About 1:00 that afternoon, I decided to knock off and enjoy a little R&R. I popped open a beer, settled into my recliner (of “pinkness” fame) and plopped in a DVD. I had just received the Johnny Weissmuller ”Tarzan Classics” collection from Amazon and was eager to go back in time to a day when movies were fun.

I made it through the first movie (of six), “Tarzan The Ape Man” and was starting to get drowsy (after only the third beer? what a lightweight!). It was then that I noticed things had gotten pretty durned quiet outside. The crickets, cicadas and birds were silent and traffic on the street otuside was almost non-existent. I launched myself out of Ye Olde Pinkness and threw open the front door to get some fresh air and see if the world had ended and everyone forgot to tell me.

I wish I hadn’t.

Remember the scene in “Ghostbusters” where the powers of darkness under the control of Zool descended on New York? The sky got real bloody nasty like a cauldron of boiling oil and lightning flashes mixed in to add a little spice to the display. No sooner had I uttered the words, “OH, SHIT!”, than the aforementioned fecal matter hit the ventilator. I barely slammed the door in time before the first winds hit, rocking the apartment. Now, I’ve experienced 70 mph winds before (and even twice that strong during the occasional hurricane down on the Gulf Coast, where I’m originally from) but this crap slammed into the city of St. Louis like a runaway train doing ninety-to-nothing on a track straight to hell. Here’s what KMOX had to say ....

Winds clocked at 70 mph

(KMOX - August 13, 2005)—The heat wave has broken. . .but so have tree limbs. . .and entire trees. . .in a severe thunderstorm that swept through Saturday afternoon. Winds were clocked at up to 70 miles per hour. Temperatures dropped 20-degrees. Even large trees came down and highway crews are on overtime to get the roads reopened.

The storm has left road accidents in its wake. A tractor-trailer was jackknifed on westbound Interstate 44 at Big Bend. Another tractor-trailer ran off the road on Eastbound 70 in St. Charles and flash flooding blocked even some major interstates. Ameren-UE reports tens of thousands of customers lost power in the storm and have emergency crews working around the clock to restore service.

The good news. . .a second line of storms behind the first, broke up before it could do damage. The first round, though, was enough. It’s left damage it will take days to repair.

Me? I was trying to find a place to hide in my apartment as lightning crashed down from the angry, poltergeist-infected sky crackling into trees all around my apartment. Some strikes as close as twenty feet from my front door. I’m talking blinding flash of light and when my vision clears there is a smoking stump, split in mulitple pieces within spitting distance of my tired old butt. After the third close strike (I could REALLY smell the ozone by then) my bowels and bladder started sending warning signals that perhaps the basement bathroom would be the best place to conduct further business that afternoon. I readily agreed and made a dash for the stairs. About that time (somebody cue up Pat Travers) .... BOOM! BOOM! OUT GO THE LIGHTS! .... KMOX had the report on Sunday ....

Full post-storm power may not be back til Tuesday

(KMOX - August 14, 2005) --Slowly but surely the power is coming back on in and around St. Louis. Saturday’s 70-mile-per-hour thunderstorm left close to a half-million St. Louisans in the dark. With word it may be Tuesday before all power is restored, hundreds of families have been checking into hotels rather than spend the night without light. Florissant has opened its civic center for any resident without power who would like to stay there. And, all over the area, the sound of chainsaws is likely to be with us for several days. Some smaller roads remain closed by downed trees and wires. Amazingly, no injuries are reported following what was one of the heaviest storms in years.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I spent Saturday night in the dark, sweating my buns off as the heat and humidity invaded my previously air-conditioned abode. About midnight Saturday, the worst of the storm had passed and I started to worry about the regfrigator and how certain items might spoil if left inside. Yep, you guessed it. I decided the rest of that beer was too important to let it go bad on me. Besides, I figured it might help me sleep through a night without cool air. It worked very well, I’m proud to say.

I awoke about 10:00am Sunday, still with no power but snoring peacefully on the spare bed in the guest bedroom down in the cellar. There is only a small window, high up on the wall down there and I couldn’t see out too well (my vision was slightly blurred, probably due to some of that beer going bad on me before I had a chance to drink it). I stumbled up the stairs and threw open the kitchen door to see .... rain. Oh yeah, and smashed trees in every direction. My first thought was “Cool!”. My second thought was, “where’s the Excedrin?”

I sweltered in the heat until about 3:00 Sunday afternoon when it became unbearable so I took a cold shower (cold? that’s a joke!) and went for a drive in the Jeep (which had air-conditioning, making it my best friend at the moment). I rode all over town surveying the damage and staying out of the way of police, fire and emergency vehicles that were flying all over the place willy-nilly in pursuit of idiots playing with downed power lines. By the time I got back to my apartment around 5:00pm, power had been restored to our subdivision and A/C was already fighting to drain the humidity and heat from Chez Kelly.

I hope you all had a more pleasant weekend and if you live in the St. Louis area .... I feel your pain. When I left for work this morning, power was still on but cable had not been restored yet. You know what that means .. I have no internet access at home and no cable news. That’s probably a good thing. I’ll be posting here from this .... ahem .... internet cafe (since I would never post from work) during the day but Frank is going to have to help me keep you entertained for a few days. Until then, be aware that this Mother Of All Summer Storms is heading for the East Coast. You have been warned ....

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/15/2005 at 08:37 AM   
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   Monday - August 01, 2005

Nature’s Delicate Balance

OK, gang! Here’s the latest scoop on the cycle of nature in a nutshell: (1) every spring and summer, large amounts of fresh water enter the Gulf Of Mexico from spring melts and rains, (2) this causes algae blooms which create dead zones in the Gulf, fish avoid these areas and they become lifeless, (3) the only cure for these dead zones is .... hurricanes, which stir up the waters and keep things mixed up in the Gulf. And here you thought hurricanes were just an evil plot by Muslims in Africa or caused by global warming. Silly humans! Mother Nature knows what she’s doing ....

NEW ORLEANS (AP)—The dead zone off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas is nearly the size of Connecticut and much larger than federal researchers had predicted earlier this year, according to a new survey. An annual weeklong cruise led by researchers with the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium found an area of low-oxygen measuring 4,564 square miles and extending from the Mississippi River to the Texas border. On average, the dead zone has measured about 4,800 square miles since 1985.

The dead zone, also known as hypoxia, forms each spring and summer as fresh water enters the Gulf of Mexico and causes large algae blooms. The algae die and sink to the bottom of the Gulf, where they decompose, using up oxygen in the deeper, saltier water. Fish avoid the low-oxygen water, and bottom-living organisms are killed. The dead zone could in the long-term affect the overall health of the Gulf’s marine species, said Nancy Rabalais, a leading hypoxia researcher with the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. She said researchers are studying how the dead zone affects the growth and reproduction of marine species. The dead zone could grow much larger this year—perhaps as large as 6,200 square miles—if major storms do not stir up the Gulf in the coming months, Rabalais said.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/01/2005 at 08:40 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Science-Technology •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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