TRACKIN951

So every know that the largest hurricane that has been recorded is headed our way, by our I mean southern Florida. Well right now the foreseen path is towards Key West or Miami, but any change in the jetstream and this thing could be coming right for me in Tampa So the question is: Are any Florida people planning to hit the road here in the next day or two. The storm is scheduled to hit on Saturday. And if it starts coming my way at all im packing up the 951 and heading north. Maybe go party in another state or something for the weekend.

Joseph Imports

As catastrophic as these storms have been, I enjoy tracking their path online. NHC . Viewiing the satellite imagery shows just how gigantic these storms really are.

-Alex

Gator_86_951

I didn't even realize it had gotten that bad until this morning. I hope everything works out for everybody.

dlgranison

They have already started to run out of fuel and generators in my area. I waited a half hour at the gas station with a bunch of angry people. Everyone needs to remeber to just CALM DOWN!

ehall

Trackin..head for Jacksonville. Same for any others. The Gulf Stream moves out here, and "USUALLY" we get the least of it. There's plenty of beer and football to be watched. Get a hotel res. now though. Good luck to all. E

ehall

you're invited too granison. I'll let you stay for free if you'll rebuild my engine.

dlgranison

ehall, you should have tracked me down when I lived in Jax. I worked at Br---s

ehall

I didn't know that. You'll have a pm coming soon, in that case.

pm sent

TRACKIN951

Can I really rebuild your engine, lucky me. Ehall I didnt know that you were in FL, what other rennlisters are in FL. As the path is slowly more defined there is a good chance that Ill be heading north, along with some friends. But only time will tell. Hopefully it wont make it this high but my friends at University of tampa already have classes cancelled as of 1230 tommorow(thursday). Yeah these storms are a little fun to watch, that detailed forecast really shows the intensity!

ehall

Dime is here in Fl also. He lives 15 miles away. There are a couple of guys with big 9 series cars around town as well. BTW granison gets to do the rebuild. He's done it once or twice. I would wait and see with this one. These damn things have a bad habit of changing directions as the close on the Gulf. We'll see.

firemed530

Hey guys I am in Fort Myers. I work for charlotte county fire/ems. So I am gonna be busy the next few days. The longer it takes to turn east the worse off I am but like always just wait and see. Anybody else in the Fort Myers area?

dime1622

yeah, the storm that rolled thru last nite was CRAAAAAAAAZY. if the track goes north, i'm headed to DC. im only 3 miles from the beach, but luckily we're on the back side of florida for this one. i feel awful for the west side...

Porsche-O-Phile

"largest hurricane recorded"? Please. You guys need to learn to research your statements better.

FYI the largest tropical system (technically a Pacific super-typhoon named "Tip") ever recorded was WAY larger than Wilma - probably 6-7 times the size and more intense in terms of barometric pressure and wind speed. Here's some links:

http://www.srh.weather.gov/srh/jetst...ropics/tip.htm
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/enc...yphoon_tip.htm
http://psychcentral.com/psypsych/Typhoon_Tip

As far as north Atlantic storms (hurricanes), yes Wilma had BRIEFLY the lowest barometric pressure recorded, but no longer. It is currently decaying over the Yucatan and will likely emerge a marginal hurricane into the cooler (less energy) waters of the western Gulf of Mexico and that, coupled with high shear at the upper atmospheric levels will help to rip the storm apart and weaken it further. Most likely it will be a Cat 1 or 2 by the time it reaches Florida, if that.

Don't get me wrong, it's still serious. High winds and rain bands can extend quite a ways from the center and will likely innundate much of the state of Florida, but it will be relatively fast-moving and not that intense on the Safir-Simpson hurricane scale. Take caution, but this ain't going to be any Andrew, Katrina, Charley, Ivan, Hugo or Gilbert.

Incidentally Gilbert was the last storm to directly hit the same areas of Mexico that Wilma is currently wreaking havoc on - and was FAR larger as a storm. Here's some information on Gilbert:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1988gilbert.html
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english....shtml#gilbert

Oh, speaking of "large" hurricanes, who else here remembers Mitch? Or Floyd?

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1999floyd.html
http://www.hurricanehunters.com/floyd.htm

http://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/rsd/images/Mitch.html

Both WAY bigger than Wilma in terms of size.

So in short, should people prepare? Certainly. Should they panic in a typical "knee-jerk" response now that everyone's jittery about hurricanes in wake of Katrina? Nope. This one won't even be close.

Please stop feeding the machinery of stupidty by getting everyone riled up about these things by going "ooga booga - HURRICANE!!!", 'cause it'll just end up making people panic for the first year or so, after which they'll tire of people crying wolf, let their guards down completely and be vulnerable when a really big one DOES come. (People these days have an absolutely retarded attention span, in case you're not aware). The stupidity is predictable and these kinds of posts just fan the flames of it. Call it what it is, say "hey guys, Wilma's coming - please take necessary precautions to protect lives and property" not "THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH!!!" Thanks.

And next time do your own research so I don't have to spoon-feed it to you.

Joseph Imports

Nice report Jeff.

Fastcar944

Staying home,not to worried yet. would be fun to have a FL get together sometime?