When those of us on the East Coast of the US/Canada get tired hearing reporters over-hype Hurricane Irene (OBTW Irene is my mother-in-law’s name…); we can just go the source and cut out the absurd middlemen.
Here is the US’ NOAA National Hurricane Center’s web site. I like zooming in on the interactive path map labeled “Cone/Warnings Interactive”, and the three Wind Speed Probability maps.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/092739.shtml?gm_track#contents
This next link leads to a good page to use to see the weather predictions near you for the next 7 days. You (obviously) have to put in your own location. I get to see the predictions broken down into 3-hour increments, but some locations only seem to be available in daily increments.
[http://forecast.weather.gov/afm/PointClick.php?lat=38.955137225429574&lon=-77.6348876953125
By 3:00 PM tomorrow the winds are supposed to be up to 23 Kts and are supposed to stay in the 20’s for the next 24 hours.
Batten down the hatches, then (safely) enjoy the show (from a safe location).
Blake](http://forecast.weather.gov/afm/PointClick.php?lat=38.955137225429574&lon=-77.6348876953125)
Hi, Blake!
Even though the wind speeds are not as bad as Camelia, Ivan, Katrina, Frederick and goodness knows, I do my best to forget the other names, but the problem with this one is the projected path.
It appears to be projected to rake the east coast. Purchase hurricane latterns (and oil) or candles, a generator, if you can afford it, and keep containers of fresh drinking water. Fill your bathtubs for water for cleaning.
Protect your windows as best as you can and stay in the center of your home. The biggest threat with hurricanes is the tornadoes that are spawned.
Stay safe, and for goodness sake, don’t go outside during the calm of the eye of the storm.
Wishing everyone to be okay… Been through these too many times, and they are not fun.
Ann
Yeah - If you are on the coast, you are getting a lot of rain, some decent upper-end category 1 winds, and a modest storm surge for a fairly long time from the large storm. Lots of power lines are down. That is no fun.
However, if you are at the edge of the mountains in Haymarket, where I live, you are hearing all of the breathless reporters talking about bearing the brunt of the storm, and about the worst of the storm approaching, and …; but all you are getting or going to get is a gentle rain.
I’m all for paying attention to the weather; but the commercial announcers appear to be mostly paid to scare us with information about impending crises so that we will continue to watch their broadcasts, and not to simply educate us through an accurate, level-headed delivery of information.
A catalog of the words commercial announcers use will quickly make their companies’ biases clear.
My post was about using the NOAA’s NWS and NHC to get the useful info without having to filter out all of the fear-mongering.
Blake