Monday, October 24, 2005
“It's … it's headed right for us!”
WILMA IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHEAST NEAR 18 MPH...30 KM/HR. A CONTINUED NORTHEASTWARD MOTION... WITH A GRADUAL INCREASE IN FORWARD SPEED... IS EXPECTED TONIGHT AND MONDAY. ON THIS TRACK...THE CENTER OF WILMA IS FORECAST TO MAKE LANDFALL ALONG THE SOUTHWESTERN COAST OF THE FLORIDA PENINSULA EARLY MONDAY MORNING. HOWEVER... WILMA IS A LARGE HURRICANE AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS WILL REACH THE FLORIDA PENINSULA WELL BEFORE THE EYE MAKES LANDFALL. THE EASTERN PORTION OF THE EYEWALL... ACCOMPANIED BY THE STRONGEST WINDS... WILL REACH THE SOUTHWESTERN COAST OF FLORIDA ABOUT 2 HOURS BEFORE THE CENTER OF THE LARGE EYE MAKES LANDFALL. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 115 MPH...185 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. WILMA IS A CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. LITTLE CHANGE IN STRENGTH IS EXPECTED UNTIL LANDFALL OCCURS ...AND WILMA WILL LIKELY MAKE LANDFALL AS A CATEGORY 3 HURRICANE. SOME SLOW WEAKENING IS FORECAST AS WILMA CROSSES THE SOUTHERN FLORIDA PENINSULA... BUT THE HURRICANE IS FORECAST TO STILL BE A SIGNIFICANT CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE BY THE TIME THE CENTER REACHES THE FLORIDA EAST COAST EARLY MONDAY AFTERNOON. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 85 MILES...140 KM... FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 230 MILES...370 KM. SUSTAINED TROPICAL STORM-FORCE WINDS ARE OCCURRING OVER THE YUCATAN CHANNEL... WESTERN CUBA... AND THE LOWER AND MIDDLE FLORIDA KEYS. THESE WINDS SHOULD REACH THE SOUTHWESTERN FLORIDA COAST BY MIDNIGHT... WITH HURRICANE-FORCE WINDS REACHING THE LOWER KEYS AND SOUTHWESTERN FLORIDA COAST BEFORE SUNRISE.
Hur ricane WILMA Public Advisory
The eye of Hurricane Wilma is about 40 miles across. This is one huge storm. And the only thing that comes to mind is “Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines.”
We survived
We survived Hurricane Wilma. Casa New Jersey weathered the storm nicely (if a bit leaky around two uncaucked windows). In fact, the only thing that took damage were trees and a small ding in my car—from what, I don't know.
We have no power at the moment. I'm at the office right now, making sure everything is running smoothly (Smirk picked me up on the way). Oh, and it's nice and cool now.
More on this (and pictures) once I have more time.
