We no sooner exhale from watching Gustav, still waiting to hear what damage it left behind, when we turn our eyes to the parade of storms headed our way.
Tropical Storm Hanna became Hurricane Hanna and was knocked back down to tropical storm status as it came in contact with the islands. When it makes its way through Haiti and the Bahamas, it will probably retain hurricane status when it gets back over water – hopefully it won’t stall.
Forecast models vary greatly, depending on which news station you watch. For now, many of the Florida weather forecasters say that Hanna is expected to head towards Savannah, or further north.
As always though, they give the disclaimer that these storms are very hard to predict so far out (3-4 days). Because Tropical Storm Hanna is moving at an angle to our coast, they say it could potentially swing as far south as Miami, or as far north as the Carolinas. Get your coins out (*grin)!
Predicting intensity is still difficult at this point, as there are factors that are there to help diminish the storm’s strength, as well as factors that could play a part in strengthening the storm.
As of around 11 a.m. on Tuesday, September 2nd, Hanna was about 370 miles southeast of Nassau, moving west at near 6 miles per hour, expected to start a northwest track and speed up in the next 24 hours. Tropical storm force winds extend to 175 miles.
As we reach the peak of the 2008 hurricane season, those of us living in Florida know the drill and should already be prepared – shame on you, if you’re not. There is absolutely no reason for any panic and you should not be rushing out to hoard supplies you should already have at home (can you tell that this makes me nuts?).
Tropical Storm Ike is still way out there and I’m no weather forecaster, but personally, I think that’s the storm to watch. Then there’s Josephine.
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