So, I am sitting here watching this M&M's dark chocolate commerical and they are using the Addams Family song...They're creepy and they're kooky,Mysterious and spooky,They're all together ooky...
Everyone is tired. This Addams Family cluster of tropical storms has got us all a bit frazzled...
Preparations were made to head to the Gulf Coast and the weekend was spent tracking Gustav (Gomez) and connecting our people and others throughout the storm. Yesterday at the Channel 5 Weather Center we tracked damage reports and got Jim back into New Orleans. The city was fortunate as I said in yesterday’s broadcasts, with Gomez skirting the coast long enough and changing strike direction just enough that New Orleans was spared from what could have been a horrific storm. This doesn’t mean that there are not folks in need of assistance as most of our friends are in and around the Houma area which took the greatest hit. Power restoratation will be an issue but the folks from Entergy seem to have a handle on it and I am confident that we will see folks returning home.
Jim will give us an update today on the needs and hopefully we will mobilize recovery/repair efforts here within a day or two. The team is looking at some time down in Lousiana, but just how long and when depends on what happens in the next few days.
Gomez is still making tornadoes as it heads further inland and I expect that Gomez will begin to head toward Missouri/Arkansas today and begin causing a threat for Illinois with thunderstorms here shortly.
Hanna (Morticia) is struggling against shear winds and has weakened a bit today, actually a tropical storm for now, but I believe we will see intensification soon as Gomez moves away from territories she intends on marking soon. I think we will see an impact later this week but only after Morticia becomes a hurricane again. Our main concerns right now are for northern Florida and the Carolinas.
I will be surprised if Morticia does not develop quite an eyewall again and head more northward toward the South Carolina/North Carolina border, possibly striking the Georgia/South Carolina border. Shear could make me wrong and keep her a tropical storm, but I am relatively confident right now in my forecast (however, keep in mind I have only won a total of $3 at the race track in my lifetime!)
With interests in North Carolina, we will keep an eye on Morticia closely.
Now, as I have flashbacks of a few years ago when we had to learn Greek to name hurricanes, here comes two more storms…
Ike (Pugsley) is impressive, growing rapidly and looking like he has an attitude problem. All the models are saying Pugsley is going to head due west making a beeline right below the Florida south coast. I expect that we will see a Category Two and no less by Thursday, possibly a Category Three.
Now, what could very well be Josephine (Wednesday) is presently off the coast of Africa…
What's scary is that Uncle Fester is next.
Somebody really needs to let me name the hurricanes...
