Tropical Storm Warning Today in Tampa Bay

While we don't expect consistent wind, there have been some suspected tornadoes in the area including one that may have touched down south of Tampa Bay.   In the meantime our 1-day event will continue with a Tropical Storm WARNING and up to 60 mile an hour winds in this next band of rain coming through from the southwest to northeast:

Tropical Storm Andrea has formed

From USA Today:

Tropical Storm Andrea has formed in the Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported late this afternoon. It is the first named storm of the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season.

Andrea will bring heavy rain, gusty winds, rough surf and severe thunderstorms to much of Florida on Thursday, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.

It is forecast to cross the Florida peninsula on Thursday before heading up the Eastern Seaboard on Friday and Saturday, delivering heavy rain and thunderstorms from the mid-Atlantic to New England.

Tampa Bay meteorologists are predicting a "rain event".   I've turned off my sprinklers.


Meanwhile, there's already trouble:

Swimmers rescued in Gulf Shores, Orange Beach as Tropical Storm Andrea formed in Gulf

Here we go again!

June 1st and the start of a new hurricane season.  This is my 9th year of blogging mostly about how we are affected here in Florida and specifically the Tampa Bay Area.  

Fortunately for us in Florida ..and I really mean that....the majority of my posts from the past 7 years have been about hurricanes hitting in other parts of the U.S., Florida preparations, and insurance rates going up.   Well , none of us care for the latter, but I'd rather post about that than storms hitting locally.  

I do feel for everyone in the Northeast, Midwest, and Gulfcoast states that have taken the brunt of Mother Nature over this time period. Included in this should also be those impacted by the devastating tornadoes that hit Oklahoma last month.  

So as another predicted active hurricane season starts up, we have to shake off our complacency, do our preparations, ask our weather forecasters to balance their enthusiasm when a storm forms and begins to set a path.   It's important to stay informed and not let down our guard, and I hope that if a storm does come our way, that everyone involved and potentially affected, does the right thing for themselves, their families, and their community.  

Prepare Now for Hurricane Season (via The Ledger)

The 2013 Atlantic hurricane season is more than seven weeks away, but already top forecasters are warning residents in storm-affected states, including Florida, to prepare for a busier-than-usual season. An average year has 12 tropical storms, seven of them hurricanes. Predictions for 2013 include…

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Original location: http://www.theledger.com/article/20130430/COLUMNISTS03/130439999/1147/COLUMNISTS0112?Title=Prepare-Now-for-Hurricane-Season

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Nearly all Sandy insurance claims have been settled

Nearly all Sandy insurance claims have been settled: group (via NJ.com)

Insurers have settled nearly all of the private insurance claims they’ve received from Hurricane Sandy, a trade group has said. About 93 percent of the 1.5 million claims that insurers have received from the Oct. 29 superstorm have been settled, said the Insurance Information Institute, an industry…

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Donate!

.......to the Red Cross

And here are more ways to help

Thank you!

More Sandy Resources

Here's a few I've found....

• Google's Sandy Crisis Map (Good One)
• Sandy Satellite Photos from Gizmodo
• ABC TV in Philadelphia's Resource Guide
• Sandy-themed music playlist (and YouTube Links) from The New Yorker Magazine

Got any you can share?   Leave a comment.

Also, ironically, Bruce Springsteen wrote and recorded a song in 1973 called "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)"  The Hollies released in 1975 on their "Another Night" album.

Hurricane Sandy Observations From Florida

If you found this blog via a search, here's a link to the National Hurricane Center for information on Hurricane Sandy.

Otherwise, here are my thoughts.  First, it's quite unbelievable that we are pretty much sitting out Hurricane Sandy here in Florida.  Second, I think I jinxed the situation with my post on October 15th.

Third, I did have the opportunity to experience Sandy last week during a vacation cruise my wife and I had planned.  Just before we left Miami on Sunday October 21st, we did learn that there was a "disturbance" in the general area that our ship was headed. On Monday, October 22nd we were in the Bahamas at NCL's island, Great Stirrup Cay, and while we stayed on board, we could see the weather pick up throughout the day.

Here's a picture of the tender leaving the shelter of the Cay and headed into the open water back towards the ship:   

Incidentally, it looks like Disney Cruise Lines' private island, Castaway Cay, did take a direct hit from Sandy.

That night the Captain announced we would be skipping our scheduled stop in Ocho Rios, Jamaica on Wednesday October 24th because of a "weather system".  At that point, the limited satellite television channels we had available on board had no coverage.  Later we learned that a tropical depression had formed Tuesday morning and then quickly a named storm "Sandy"  had formed by that evening.

Sandy made landfall in Jamaica on Wednesday, the day we were scheduled to be there: 

This was the first direct hit by the eye of hurricane on Jamaica since 1988 when Hurricane Gilbert came ashore.

 Our ship had moved at near 20 knots per hour to the west headed for our new port of call, Cozumel.  We went from the Bahamas north of Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico thus bypassing the quickly moving storm to the south.

While in were hundreds of miles from Sandy on Wednesday, Cozumel was very breezy.   Our next port was scheduled to be in the Cayman Islands on Thursday.   Tuesday we were informed that we would skip that stop and head south of Cozumel to Costa Maya, which is in between Cozumel and Belieze.

Friday's trip back to Miami from Coasta Maya wasn't bad until we got within a few hundred nautical miles of the US and then the ocean picked up.  It was a rough night.  Here's a picture of the TV in the cabin's sea conditions screen:

There was a bunch of wave crashing and from the camera pointing to the front of the ship, there were some waves that sprayed across the lower deck, but at no point did I feel there ever any danger.  Safe in bed was the best place to be and when we arrived into the Cruise Ship channel in Miami on Saturday morning, all was calm.   We had missed the brunt of the sideswipe Miami felt on Thursday/Friday.

We wish the Northeast the very best to withstand the impact of Hurricane Sandy Monday/Tuesday.  The 15-20 miles per hour winds we have here in Tampa Bay are nothing but a testament to the power and size of the storm.   

No News is Good News

I realized I haven't posted in over a month, which for the subject of this blog, is a good thing!

Since Isaac, we've had Joyce, Kirk , Leslie, Michael, Nadine, Oscar, Patty and currently Rafael, the 17th named storm of the season.

This time of year we watch the Gulf of Mexico, which history shows is where many late season storms originate.

Here's an excellent on-going recap of the 2012 season.

Will the Daughter of Isaac Be Born?

Remnants of Hurricane Isaac are hanging around off the Louisiana/Mississippi coast and could organize into a tropical descendant.  If so, Isaac's daughter would be Nadine and is likely to push to the east towards Florida.

Here are the details