Yikes- IKE
 

Graphics are pretty neat. For you fellow Forum members in Ike's path I'll send out some good vibes for you- take care

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26295161/

Folks in Texas within 100 miles of the point of landing, now projected to be Matagorda, may want to keep an eye on stream gages.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/tx/nwis/rt

Just click on the dots and watch the river flow.

For example, I clicked on a dot in the tidal zone near the land fall and got this graph.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?08162506

You can see the tide go in and out. By playing with the data & graph you can lengthen or shorten the graphed time period. When the edge of the storm is nearing land is when to start watching the tide gage (unless it gets wrecked by the storm! Always a possibility). That will give you an idea about storm surge.

Also, expect torrential rains. Local areas are likely too see rates of greater than an inch per hour. That part of Texas, being flatter than a politician's joke, will see nearly instantaneous flooding from heavy and prolonged rain.

Combine that with the "water dam" formed by the storm surge, which backs-up a bayou like a ladies toilet at a rock concert, will cause rapid local flooding before the storm surge gets ashore.

Finally, the inland track looks like it may pass over the Edward's Plateau. That's good news for the aquifer but sucks for home owners along the Guadalupe River and its tributaries. All of those scenic little steep canyons will be the death of cattle, sheep deer and adventurous boaters.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?08167500

Here's a great source for interesting off shore data.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/maps/WestGulf.shtml

Just click on the label by the colored spot and see what's going on off the coast of TX. Here's one in the path.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=42001

Here's the world-wide source.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/

Thanks for the vibes Mistress.

Shelby gutted her 407 yesterday and headed down to stage at my folks place today. She'll head somewhere south when the wind will allow it.

I'll be gutting our 407 tomorrow and be dropping the kids off for the weekend at the folks on Friday. Hooking up with Shelby asap.

DJ is hauling some press folks and gear down in the Caravan when the winds allow. Not sure where she'll end up.

We are all hoping the coordination is better than Katrina.

Keep the good juju come'n !!

Saw your post ref. John and Martha. Glad your getting something out of the tapes. But the thought still gives me the willies. :D

Oh...Shelby was curious as to if you mastered the comp yet?

I'm also following the mistress in sending good vibes your way...



You guys are in my thoughts and prayers....

Thanks Justin. We appreciate that.

Our main missions are what we call RTPs (Roof Top Plucking) and/or RTDs (Roof Top Deliveries. Mainly cases of water bottles we duct tape and drop from just out of skid reach if necessary.) We go in to the flooded areas after the weather calms down.

Do a bit of praying for some of the folks that can’t be reached before and during the storm. Those are the folks that really need the prayers. We feel for them. Looking at the post storm makes us cring about the during.

Thanks again.

I don't know where the other Texas Gulf Coasters are, but I'll try to keep you all updated on what's going on here in Houston.

Yeah, stay safe out there! Looks like Ike is headed right toward Houston!

NWS is already showing potential 75 mph wind potential in Houston, but as of now it looks like they think the worst wind will be just south of Houston.... however, risks of tornadoes looks quite high!

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/

Now, they're predicting landfall in Freeport, which is about 55 miles due south of me. That means most of the rain would be dumped from the NE quadrant of the storm, which would basically cover most of Brazoria, Galveston, and portions of Harris Counties.

It seems as if we are not going to have a repeat of the Rita melee with clogged contraflow freeways. Everyone's taking it pretty calmly, only those who need to evacuate are being urged to do so. Everyone else who wants to go but isn't being forced will likely hit the roads after the mandatory folks are let out.

I reserved a room for my family earlier this week in San Antonio should we be expected to be in the path for the worst type of damage. After looking at the forecasts, looks like San Antonio won't be entirely out of the path either. At least all they have to worry about is 35-40mph winds and isolated tornadoes, we're in the 60-75mph range with moderate tornado risk.

"After nearly 40 years of eating cookies nonstop, shouldn't Cookie Monster be a comatose, double amputee diabetic by now?"

The reason is simple, he is a Monster!

Oh ya, storms suck, take cover, be safe.

lol :D

Slight shift toward NE.

Wind field probabilities.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you guys.