Tropical Storm Isaac

[tank]

Current forecast has it hitting the upper keys/Homestead/Miami on Monday morning as a cat 1 Hurricane.

[tropicbreeze]

At this stage not an easy one to pick. Looks like Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba are places not to be over the next several days. Passing over them will cause a bit of mutual destruction. That could change things quite a bit on its subsequent northwards track. But conditions for intensification are becoming more favourable.

[palmislandRandy]

With any luck it will continue to track a little more east of Florida & turn into a "fish storm".

[Ken Johnson]

I'm going fishing Friday!

[tank]

I'm going fishing Friday!

I was planning on going on a tuna trip on Friday to Walkers/Grand Cay for 3 days. Trip has been cancelled.

Good luck on Friday, Its always better right before a storm.

[tank]

Also,

WIthin 4 months, my area went from being in a significant drought to being 20% over our average rainfall so far this year, with almost all of it coming in the last 2 months. At this point north Florida could probably do without any rain Isaac brings.

[Dave-Vero]

This week's flood watches from Tampa north make it look as though the main issue for peninsular Florida may be the rain. Tampa once had serious floods on the Hillsborough River, but a flood canal has been built to bypass the water to the east of the city.

Heavy rain in Haiti is likely, and is automatically a disaster.

[tropicbreeze]

Isaac is expected to start making landfall in around 12 hours, possibly without reaching significantly more strength. That interaction and passing over part of Cuba may weaken it quite a lot. Whatever else might happen, those areas are likely to cop a lot of rain. Although previous forecasts were suggesting it was likely to tend a bit to the north west (over the Gulf) they're now favouring a move a little more to the east. Of course these forecasts and model trends can change quite significantly over a couple of days.

[Moose]

Whole lotta rain in the Mooseland this morning.

Hurricane Watch has been issued for all of Miami-Dade County.

[fastfeat]

Just talked to a buddy in Miami Springs. Boarding up all the City buildings.

Best of luck to all. Kinda wish I were there to ride it out...

[Jason in Orlando]

Good luck to all you folks down south, on the west coast, and in the panhandle.

Jason

[Dave-Vero]

This is looking terrible for Haiti, damaging for the Keys (a category-1 hurricane is no fun), and a potential mess for Naples through Tampa. The Tampa Bay area is so severely soaked from recent rains that it'll take only a bit of wind for trees to start flopping over.

Then the Republican Convention has all those tents, covered passages, and even a long air-conditioned covered passageway. Some of those seem to be blowing away already.

[Moose]

4- 8 " of rain and potentially up to 12" predicted for Miami-Dade County in the next 24 hours ...

[John Case]

Looks like a Cat 2 when it hits the mainland....hope the eye passes E of New Orleans.....

[DoomsDave]

Florida looks like it'll dodge the bullet, mostly.

Praying for New Orleans. Batten 'em down, Keith and Kathryn

[Dave-Vero]

So far, Florida's been fortunate to apparently not have any tornadoes, which the National Weather Service considered the main threat, outside of the Keys. The worst is already over in Miami, which got gusts up to about 60 mph, probably enough to drive water through leaky windows. The Keys are looking like having a strong tropical storm, which can do considerable damage, but building codes have become much stricter and houses built on raised platforms are no longer allowed to have storage rooms or enclosed garages under the house--that's intended to keep houses from collapsing during storm surges.

An exclusive party for 20,000 invitees at Tropicana Field will go ahead tonight. TV 13.

[Dave-Vero]

Today, at least one damaging tornado and significant rain on the southern Atlantic coast. We've been in a pocket of dryness, so it's not all bad, but 5.7 inches in seven hours isn't much fun.

[palmmermaid]

Here are some pictures from our garden. We can't get out of the driveway even with my truck. The water is too deep. The house and barn are islands. At least my barn is dry so my horses aren't standing in water. Some folks in this neighborhood are not so lucky. We had 20" of rain in total. That's more than we had with any of the hurricanes.

The bromeliads are in big pots. This is a mulch path.

The next is a picture of our drive way and mailbox.

[displaced_floridian]

If there's one good thing to come out of Isaac's landfall on the northern gulf, it is that people's complacency may be shaken about a tropical storm or 'minimal' hurricane being of no concern. Even if it does not intensify any more, sustained winds of 70 mph with gusts in the 85-90 mph range can do considerable damage. This, and it being a very large, slow-moving storm means a storm surge of 6-12 feet just east of where the center makes landfall, which can do a huge amount of damage. Maybe people will not be so quick to write off a tropical storm as not worth bothering about.

[Mandrew968]

I got lots and lots of rain. It was pretty windy too--20 plus foot bamboo touched the ground a few times, borneo giant fell over and twisted, Heterospathe longipes blown over and so did my Coccothrinax miraguama(in the shade). I braced up both palms with various cantainers in the area--they should be fine. I am going to remove the Borneo Giant and split it up into containers and put them into the nursery; it was fun while it lasted!

[PalmatierMeg]

Yesterday the word of the day was "Squalls". Squalls, squalls and more squalls. I rather like the sound of that word if not the results. Here in Cape Coral we really lucked out compared to other areas. May this be the last/only tropical system we face this season.

[Eric in Orlando]

From last night to this morning our weather station here at Leu Gardens recorded almost 25" of rain......until I found a huge hornets nest on the precip sensor keeping in the down position.

[Walt]

Rain amounts varied here in Highlands County, but I picked up 4-1/2" from Isaac. Wind was minimal and of no consequence. Today the wife and I had to drive up to Sebring. I noticed the canals and lake levels seemed to be up noticably from the rain. I wouldn't mind getting a couple of more weather systems like Isaac (i.e., good amount of rain with minimal wind). My garden (entire property) is lush, and loving the wet tropical conditions (heat, humidity, and rain).

[palmmermaid]

Here's an update from my area of Florida. It is Thursday morning and the water is still too deep for us to get out of the driveway. I think it will be down by this afternoon. We have a serious case of cabin fever!

My barn did not flood. We have power, water, and food for us and the horses. One of my horses threw a shoe and of course the farrier couldn't get her truck here. But the house at the end of the street isn't flooded and has a nice level driveway and a fence all around. So we waded through water over our knees with the horses to the vacant house so she could reset the shoe. I love my farrier! We also let the horses graze for a while as they have been in their stalls since Sunday night.

Then our neighbor's ducks got out of their pen and were running (swimming? around and she was frantic. She was afraid to get in the water because she saw a small alligator in the water behind her house. So my husband got a bucket of feed and we herded the ducks back into their pen.

All in a day's life in south Florida. Still paradise to me.

[DoomsDave]

Here's an update from my area of Florida. It is Thursday morning and the water is still too deep for us to get out of the driveway. I think it will be down by this afternoon. We have a serious case of cabin fever!

My barn did not flood. We have power, water, and food for us and the horses. One of my horses threw a shoe and of course the farrier couldn't get her truck here. But the house at the end of the street isn't flooded and has a nice level driveway and a fence all around. So we waded through water over our knees with the horses to the vacant house so she could reset the shoe. I love my farrier! We also let the horses graze for a while as they have been in their stalls since Sunday night.

Then our neighbor's ducks got out of their pen and were running (swimming? around and she was frantic. She was afraid to get in the water because she saw a small alligator in the water behind her house. So my husband got a bucket of feed and we herded the ducks back into their pen.

All in a day's life in south Florida. Still paradise to me.

Yike, that was a lot of water!

I gather your house didn't flood . . .

Praying for the coast of LA, MS, AL . . .

[palmmermaid]

No,no water in the house. Just every where else. And of course nothing on the national news about this. It is all about New Orleans. Just like in years past. Wilma kicked our butts but all we heard was Katrina. And now the people living in the same place - the Ninth Ward - are complaining. Everyone living in Louisiana should read "Rising Tide". They would get out of Louisiana. According to many of the experts, the Mississippi will change course and New Orleans and surrounding areas will be flooded - for good.

Kathryn recommended this a while ago and I bought and read it. Great book.

[Dave-Vero]

The situation in western Palm Beach County is still bad. Seven public schools will remain closed tomorrow.

[palmmermaid]

Yes, it is still bad. People can't flush their toilets, can't drink the water, can't get out. The fire department and other agencies are going door to door asking if people need anything. People are running out of medicine, out of food. Horses and cattle are still in water and there is no way to get them out or a place for them. A couple of the feed stores are getting in as far as possible with bales of hay and people are meeting the trucks with any vehicle - even boats - that can get there.

I read an interesting fact yesterday. The 100-year flood number for this area is 12.5". We received an official total of 18". There is just no way to plan for that.

At least we can get my truck out and the yard is drying out, albeit slowly. There is just a vast amount of water to move.

[Dave-Vero]

Palm Beach Post has a story on losses. Reminds me of an earthquake in Japan that wiped out a number of koi breeders.

[palmmermaid]

Interesting, Dave. I know most of the growers mentioned. I know how bad it is. I fear I will loose some plants in my garden that have been underseveral inches or feet of water for several days. I know the little fish I had in my pond are gone. The pond was under 2 feet of water. Probably bromeliads and begonias will be lost along with some palms and succulents. Well, it could be worse. We could have water in the house and barn.

[Moose]

Hmmmm - the system formerly known as Hurricane Isaac appears to have doubled back and is re-emerging back to the Gulf. Very unusual for a system to do this after traveling so far inland a week later. I hope our friends in western Palm Beach County Florida don't see any of Isaac this weekend. I am sure their ground is still saturated.