Hurricane Helene about to biotch-slap the FL "Big Bend"

[jerryskids 5,905]

Cat 4, huge storm surges, hitting land tonight.  

Quote

Hurricane Helene Nears Potentially Catastrophic Category 4 Florida Landfall; Historic Inland Flooding Possible

By Jonathan Erdman And Chris Dolce

less than an hour ago

At a Glance

• Helene is intensifying as it nears its Florida landfall.
• Potentially catastrophic storm surge could occur in Florida's Big Bend region.
• Potentially historic rainfall flooding, damaging winds and some tornadoes will push inland in the Southeast.
• Those inland threats will be felt in parts of Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee.

Sign up for the Morning Brief email newsletter to get weekday updates from The Weather Channel and our meteorologists.

Hurricane Helene is intensifying ahead of a Category 4 landfall in Florida tonight, delivering catastrophic, possibly record storm surge, destructive winds and flooding rainfall.

The fast-moving pace of Helene means its dangers will spread well inland. Life-threatening flash flooding, potential record river flooding, damaging winds and tornadoes are expected in parts of Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee.

(MORE: Map Tracker)

Here's the latest status: Helene became the second major hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season Thursday afternoon, after an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter mission measured winds of a Category 3 hurricane.

It is still gaining strength, centered 130 miles west of Tampa, Florida, and is speeding up, now moving north-northeast at 23 mph. Maximum sustained winds are 125 mph.

Bands of heavy rain associated with the hurricane and another weather system continue to pummel parts of Florida and the Southeast U.S., prompting occasional flash flood and tornado warnings.

Winds have gusted up to 72 mph in the Tampa Bay region, 67 mph in Naples and 64 mph in Fort Lauderdale, so far. Coastal flooding has been observed on the western Gulf Coast of Florida around the Naples area and to the west of Tampa in Treasure Island. Over 45 reports of flash flooding have been received by the National Weather Service since Thursday morning, from Georgia to Virginia.

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has issued tornado watches into the evening from the central and southern Florida Peninsula into parts of southern and eastern Georgia and middle and southern South Carolina.

 

Much more including path at https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2024-09-26-hurricane-helene-forecast-landfall-florida-southeast

 

[TheNewGirl 1,167]

GLOBAL WARMING!!!! 

CLIMATE CHANGE!!! 

 

AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! 

 

Seriously, tho I hope our geeks out that way stay safe. 

[Strike 4,509]

My boss is in Florida.  Kept posting to chat about power going out, then coming back, then out again, then back...... finally said he's shutting down and call him on his cell if we need anything.  That was an hour ago.

[jerryskids 5,905]

5 minutes ago, TheNewGirl said:

GLOBAL WARMING!!!! 

CLIMATE CHANGE!!! 

 

AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! 

 

Seriously, tho I hope our geeks out that way stay safe. 

I'm trying to think of who lives there.

@Voltaireis in the panhandle but I think (hope) he is on the west (good) side of this.

@peenieis in Atlanta which, while inland a bit, is supposed to get a ton of rain and wind.

@Bill E.is in Georgia but looks east of the really bad stuff.

@iam90sbabyis Orlando area I think, looks OK.

@GobbleDog?

 

[Baker Boy 1,622]

https://babylonbee.com/news/experts-warn-hurricane-forming-in-hurricane-alley-during-hurricane-season-is-clear-sign-of-climate-change
 

Experts Warn Hurricane In Hurricane Alley During Hurricane Season Clear Sign Of Climate Change

[edjr 6,168]

my idiot inlaws moved there in 2022

to top off everything the real estate market has tanked there and they can’t sell

[easilyscan 640]

Just now, Baker Boy said:

https://babylonbee.com/news/experts-warn-hurricane-forming-in-hurricane-alley-during-hurricane-season-is-clear-sign-of-climate-change
 

Experts Warn Hurricane In Hurricane Alley During Hurricane Season Clear Sign Of Climate Change

Thank you! 

While I feel for those who may be affected, it's amazing that every year (during hurricane season) people seem shocked when one develops.

[Voltaire 4,793]

25 minutes ago, jerryskids said:

I'm trying to think of who lives there.

@Voltaireis in the panhandle but I think (hope) he is on the west (good) side of this.

@peenieis in Atlanta which, while inland a bit, is supposed to get a ton of rain and wind.

@Bill E.is in Georgia but looks east of the really bad stuff.

@iam90sbabyis Orlando area I think, looks OK.

@GobbleDog?

 

I've had amazingly great hurricane luck thus far. When Beryl and Francine came through, Pensacola experienced nothing but clear skies and calm winds. Not a drop of rain. Thus far, 5:37 PM Central time, that's my Helene story too. School was cancelled today anyway.

[Hardcore troubadour 13,735]

Will this affect this weekends games in any way? 

[GobbleDog 909]

We rarely get much in Orlando, especially with this one since it headed up the west coast. Been raining all day and there's occasional huge gusts of wind, but meh... so long as the big oak trees don't fall and power stays on... we cool.  It's the coastal communities that get their asses handed to them.

Somebody posted this website here years back.... I bookmarked it because it's so damn cool. Especially when hurricanes are brewing. Highly recommend.

https://www.windy.com/?29.119,-83.013,7

[jerryskids 5,905]

14 minutes ago, GobbleDog said:

We rarely get much in Orlando, especially with this one since it headed up the west coast. Been raining all day and there's occasional huge gusts of wind, but meh... so long as the big oak trees don't fall and power stays on... we cool.  It's the coastal communities that get their asses handed to them.

Somebody posted this website here years back.... I bookmarked it because it's so damn cool. Especially when hurricanes are brewing. Highly recommend.

https://www.windy.com/?29.119,-83.013,7

I remember that, it's super cool.  Thanks for posting. Glad you are OK.    

[easilyscan 640]

22 minutes ago, Hardcore troubadour said:

Will this affect this weekends games in any way? 

https://en.as.com/nfl/what-nfl-games-could-hurricane-helene-affect-in-week-4-n/

[Voltaire 4,793]

17 minutes ago, GobbleDog said:

We rarely get much in Orlando, especially with this one since it headed up the west coast. Been raining all day and there's occasional huge gusts of wind, but meh... so long as the big oak trees don't fall and power stays on... we cool.  It's the coastal communities that get their asses handed to them.

Somebody posted this website here years back.... I bookmarked it because it's so damn cool. Especially when hurricanes are brewing. Highly recommend.

https://www.windy.com/?29.119,-83.013,7

That is great thanks.

As this is my first year in hurricane alley, it makes hurricane tracking news more important.

[IndyColtsFan 325]

5 minutes ago, Voltaire said:

That is great thanks.

As this is my first year in hurricane alley, it makes hurricane tracking news more important.

Oh wow! Where did you move to? I thought you still were in Michigan.

[IndyColtsFan 325]

I've had enough of those motherfockers.

Hurricane Rita in 2005 dropped a 100-foot-tall pine across the top of my house. It took out the weatherhead and gouged huge holes through the roof. I had thigh-sized limbs poking through the kitchen and closet ceilings. Took out the fences as well. Didn't get power back for three weeks and was working 17 hours a day coordinating news coverage. We rode it out in the mouth of the Buttmont newspaper parking garage, and seeing 125 mph sustained winds with gusts up to like 150 mph channeled through a downtown was pretty spectacular. At one point Rita was a Category 5 with 180 mph sustained winds and gusts up to 235 mph, basically a massive F5 tornado. 

Hurricane Ike in 2008 dropped a 50-foot oak tree across the top of my house, a different house out in the country, again taking out the weatherhead. Almost every oak tree in the back yard fell over, crushing fences and pancaking a 10-by-20-foot shed. Total damage was $40,000. Had a monster generator and AC unit for that one and was able to power most of the house.

I moved the fock away from the coast after that but couldn't get rid of that house. I was two weeks away from closing on it when Hurricane Harvey put 58 inches of water in it, causing $125,000 in damages and near financial ruin thanks to dealing with two mortgages and no rental income.

Now I live on a dadblammed hill.

[seafoam1 2,399]

Just now, IndyColtsFan said:

I've had enough of those motherfockers.

Hurricane Rita in 2005 dropped a 100-foot-tall pine across the top of my house. It took out the weatherhead and gouged huge holes through the roof. I had thigh-sized limbs poking through the kitchen and closet ceilings. Took out the fences as well. Didn't get power back for three weeks and was working 17 hours a day coordinating news coverage. We rode it out in the mouth of the Buttmont newspaper parking garage, and seeing 125 mph sustained winds with gusts up to like 150 mph channeled through a downtown was pretty spectacular. At one point Rita was a Category 5 with 180 mph sustained winds and gusts up to 235 mph, basically a massive F5 tornado. 

Hurricane Ike in 2008 dropped a 50-foot oak tree across the top of my house, a different house out in the country, again taking out the weatherhead. Almost every oak tree in the back yard fell over, crushing fences and pancaking a 10-by-20-foot shed. Total damage was $40,000. Had a monster generator and AC unit for that one and was able to power most of the house.

I moved the fock away from the coast after that but couldn't get rid of that house. I was two weeks away from closing on it when Hurricane Harvey put 58 inches of water in it, causing $125,000 in damages and near financial ruin thanks to dealing with two mortgages and no rental income.

Now I live on a dadblammed hill.

[Engorgeous George 1,620]

2 minutes ago, IndyColtsFan said:

I've had enough of those motherfockers.

Hurricane Rita in 2005 dropped a 100-foot-tall pine across the top of my house. It took out the weatherhead and gouged huge holes through the roof. I had thigh-sized limbs poking through the kitchen and closet ceilings. Took out the fences as well. Didn't get power back for three weeks and was working 17 hours a day coordinating news coverage. We rode it out in the mouth of the Buttmont newspaper parking garage, and seeing 125 mph sustained winds with gusts up to like 150 mph channeled through a downtown was pretty spectacular. At one point Rita was a Category 5 with 180 mph sustained winds and gusts up to 235 mph, basically a massive F5 tornado. 

Hurricane Ike in 2008 dropped a 50-foot oak tree across the top of my house, a different house out in the country, again taking out the weatherhead. Almost every oak tree in the back yard fell over, crushing fences and pancaking a 10-by-20-foot shed. Total damage was $40,000. Had a monster generator and AC unit for that one and was able to power most of the house.

I moved the fock away from the coast after that but couldn't get rid of that house. I was two weeks away from closing on it when Hurricane Harvey put 58 inches of water in it, causing $125,000 in damages and near financial ruin thanks to dealing with two mortgages and no rental income.

Now I live on a dadblammed hill.

One wonders whether there are large trees near your current house.

[IndyColtsFan 325]

1 minute ago, seafoam1 said:

I gave a contractor his next draw, and he ran off with the money. I wiped the floor with his ass in court, but it wasn't until the next summer that I sold that focking house, for way less than I paid for it but I didn't give a rat's ass about that.

I still get twitchy when one enters the Gulf.

[BunnysBastatrds 2,064]

 Somebody jinxed us

[IndyColtsFan 325]

1 minute ago, Engorgeous George said:

One wonders whether there are large trees near your current house.

There's an oak whose outter branches might touch the house if it fell just right, but other than that, hell no.

Ike left nothing else to fall on that old house. It wasn't supposed to be much more than a tropical storm by the time it got there, but that butt jouster was so huge that it maintained strength and remained a Category 2 as it beat my face with its cack and dirty northeast eyewall.

There's a Captain Hurricane meme of me somewhere around here should someone want to dig for it.

 

[Voltaire 4,793]

16 minutes ago, IndyColtsFan said:

Oh wow! Where did you move to? I thought you still were in Michigan.

Pensacola, Florida. Perfectly situated to miss Beryl to the east, Francine to the west, and -thus far- Helene has not delivered a single rain drop either.

[IndyColtsFan 325]

2 minutes ago, Voltaire said:

Pensacola, Florida. Perfectly situated to miss Beryl to the east, Francine to the west, and -thus far- Helene has not delivered a single rain drop either.

You might not get any. When you're to the west of them, they suck out all the air moisture. You might have the most cloudless, dryest day you've ever seen.

[jerryskids 5,905]

If anyone is watching Weather Channel, they have a quad box with video in different locations.  I don't know where Cedar Key, FL is, but it is in the top left of the screen and in the past hour the storm surge has gotten really bad.

[Voltaire 4,793]

3 minutes ago, IndyColtsFan said:

You might not get any. When you're to the west of them, they suck out all the air moisture. You might have the most cloudless, dryest day you've ever seen.

We do have clouds and the wind is a modest bit above average. It's been a really pleasant day, hopefully that continues.

Also my eldest daughter isn't at home. She's in Birmingham, Alabama staying overnight at the MEPS station because she's joining the Florida National Guard. 

[cmh6476 874]

Pulling up the radar looks awful

 

[IndyColtsFan 325]

6 minutes ago, Voltaire said:

We do have clouds and the wind is a modest bit above average. It's been a really pleasant day, hopefully that continues.

Also my eldest daughter isn't at home. She's in Birmingham, Alabama staying overnight at the MEPS station because she's joining the Florida National Guard. 

WELL GOOD FOR HER!!!!!

[iam90sbaby 2,266]

1 hour ago, jerryskids said:

I'm trying to think of who lives there.

@Voltaireis in the panhandle but I think (hope) he is on the west (good) side of this.

@peenieis in Atlanta which, while inland a bit, is supposed to get a ton of rain and wind.

@Bill E.is in Georgia but looks east of the really bad stuff.

@iam90sbabyis Orlando area I think, looks OK.

@GobbleDog?

 

I've been in every hurricane since 1996. Never evacuated, never even had a window break. People that freak out about this are pussies.

[IndyColtsFan 325]

10 minutes ago, jerryskids said:

If anyone is watching Weather Channel, they have a quad box with video in different locations.  I don't know where Cedar Key, FL is, but it is in the top left of the screen and in the past hour the storm surge has gotten really bad.

Rita was a wind event. Ike was a storm-surge event.

Looks like this one will be both.

They're saying this spot is real vulnerable to storm surge.

[IndyColtsFan 325]

1 minute ago, iam90sbaby said:

I've been in every hurricane since 1996. Never evacuated, never even had a window break. People that freak out about this are pussies.

Particularly since you live in Minnesota.

[iam90sbaby 2,266]

Just now, IndyColtsFan said:

Particularly since you live in Minnesota.

Florida born and raised.

[iam90sbaby 2,266]

30 minutes ago, IndyColtsFan said:

I've had enough of those motherfockers.

Hurricane Rita in 2005 dropped a 100-foot-tall pine across the top of my house. It took out the weatherhead and gouged huge holes through the roof. I had thigh-sized limbs poking through the kitchen and closet ceilings. Took out the fences as well. Didn't get power back for three weeks and was working 17 hours a day coordinating news coverage. We rode it out in the mouth of the Buttmont newspaper parking garage, and seeing 125 mph sustained winds with gusts up to like 150 mph channeled through a downtown was pretty spectacular. At one point Rita was a Category 5 with 180 mph sustained winds and gusts up to 235 mph, basically a massive F5 tornado. 

Hurricane Ike in 2008 dropped a 50-foot oak tree across the top of my house, a different house out in the country, again taking out the weatherhead. Almost every oak tree in the back yard fell over, crushing fences and pancaking a 10-by-20-foot shed. Total damage was $40,000. Had a monster generator and AC unit for that one and was able to power most of the house.

I moved the fock away from the coast after that but couldn't get rid of that house. I was two weeks away from closing on it when Hurricane Harvey put 58 inches of water in it, causing $125,000 in damages and near financial ruin thanks to dealing with two mortgages and no rental income.

Now I live on a dadblammed hill.

This usually only happens in poor people neighborhoods.

[IndyColtsFan 325]

Maybe DeShittis will break out those fabulous white rubber boots he wore the last time a big hurricane struck his state.

[Voltaire 4,793]

14 minutes ago, IndyColtsFan said:

WELL GOOD FOR HER!!!!!

MOS is 74D Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Specialist

Sounds to me like an invitation to giving yourself cancer or what the Chinese ding-dong who got bit by a bat and spread the joys of COVID to the world was doing.

Also, all that beauty shouldn't be buried under a hazmat suit, but she was drawn to it. 

[IndyColtsFan 325]

2 minutes ago, Voltaire said:

MOS is 74D Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Specialist

Sounds to me like an invitation to giving yourself cancer or what the Chinese ding-dong who got bit by a bat and spread the joys of COVID to the world was doing, but she was drawn to it. 

Sounds pretty dangerous! 

[Voltaire 4,793]

1 minute ago, IndyColtsFan said:

Sounds pretty dangerous! 

No sh*t. A big reason I was drawn to maintenance support was it seemed to me the least likely place to get blown up. (Which it was.) There was a chaplain's assistant position open that I was hinting would be preferential.

[jerryskids 5,905]

10 minutes ago, Voltaire said:

MOS is 74D Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Specialist

Sounds to me like an invitation to giving yourself cancer or what the Chinese ding-dong who got bit by a bat and spread the joys of COVID to the world was doing.

Also, all that beauty shouldn't be buried under a hazmat suit, but she was drawn to it. 

Wow, that's great!  I did not think she was of adult age to do that... is she going to college as well?

[Voltaire 4,793]

3 minutes ago, jerryskids said:

Wow, that's great!  I did not think she was of adult age to do that... is she going to college as well?

Yes, she gets straight As in all AP classes and is receiving recruitment letters from top schools including the University of Chicago and West Point.

Also, she's 17 and needed parental consent.

[edjr 6,168]

people living in hurricane territory

[IndyColtsFan 325]

12 minutes ago, edjr said:

people living in hurricane territory

Exactly, and all of our insurance goes up. Luckily, it's a direct hit on a relatively unpopulated areas, and Tallahassee would be lucky for it to be a Cat 3 or 2, but that's where a lot of damage will occur. Plus, it's so big that it'll maintain strength over land more than they usually do and fock up some sh!t in Georgia, like Macon and Atlanta. Lots of damage due to falling trees. 

[Gepetto 1,149]

19 minutes ago, edjr said:

people living in hurricane territory

No taxes and no cold winters.