#HurricaneSeason

[physalian]

Writing Weather Part 2: Thunderstorms and Hurricanes + Hurricane Safety PSA

It’s hurricane season y’all!! Long before I knew about Pride Month, June 1st was the day I celebrated as the start of hurricane season.

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you may know that I’m a Floridian. I love thunderstorms. I think a lot of us in the south do, and today’s post is about writing thunderstorms and violent weather when they don’t serve as ominous rumblings and plot hurdles.

In other words, this post is about embracing violent weather, from personal experience.

—

When I was a kid, our house had a pool. Rule is that you can swim until you hear thunder, then you gotta leave the pool because even if the clouds aren’t over you, lightning can strike (advice that eludes so many in this state). I lived on the Gulf Coast, in a city that made a deal with the devil like, 90 years ago, and has never seen a direct hit from a hurricane since. They were always near-misses, but we still got plenty of tropical storms and suffered the storm surges and the endless winds and rains.

Thunderstorms, to me, are a comfort. They probably wouldn’t be if I’d lost my house or a relative to violent weather so I’m not here to necessarily romanticize deadly weather, but it is just weather. It’s not caused by a bad actor and it has no intent. It just is, acting indiscriminately. So in a way I am romanticizing it, I suppose.

I mean that they’re a comfort in that, at least when I lived on the coast, they always followed a pattern. Every day around 2-3pm, the afternoon rains would come for a few hours and leave. It never rained in the morning, but you’d always be caught coming home from school during the summer months.

I loved how the wind would shift and the trees would rustle in warning of the oncoming rain, the temperature would drop in a reprieve from Florida’s oppressive heat, and you really can smell it in the air—fanfic isn’t lying to you. Petrichor (the smell of rain) comes after. Before, it doesn’t necessarily smell metallic, like rust, but something… clean. It overpowers the smell of the cars and burnt rubber.

I loved staring up at the monumental black clouds and hearing the thunder roll in. I loved staring out over the pool and watching the rain come in sheets and wonder if this was the day the pool would overflow. I loved how thunder would shake the windows and the power would flicker and could always sleep to the rain slapping against the windows.

I still do, I just don’t have that house anymore. Rain, unless I have to be out in it, has always calmed me down. If I’m at work in an office and I’m stressed, and I see it’s about to storm outside or I hear it on the roof, I instantly relax while everyone else whines about getting wet.

When writing thunderstorms that aren’t meant to be thematically evil, consider the following:

They’re a reprieve from oppressive sun and heat

The sound of the rain on your roof, trees, windows, lawns, pool cages, cars, and patios are all different

Rain does not fall in a consistent pattern, it blows with the wind and can patter off or dump in a frenzy and it’s mesmerizing to listen to

The smell is cleansing and pure

Thunder loud enough to shake the windows can be thrilling, not just terrifying, and cats generally don’t react the same to it as dogs do

Sun showers (when it rains without clouds) still amaze and befuddle even the locals and they’re rare, but seeing sunlight bounce off raindrops is such a novel thing

Some other things that are genuinely terrifying:

Tourists who panic over a little rain and drive at 30mph with their hazards flashing are more dangerous than the locals driving 50 with just their regular lights on and everyone hates them—do not drive with your hazards on in the rain, the intermittent flashing in poor visibility is more disorienting than solid red lights. If you can’t drive in the rain, don’t drive in the rain.

Hydroplaning will give you a heart attack and it goes against your instinct to slam the breaks—when you do so, you lock up the tires and the whole car skids out of control. Doesn’t just happen in the rain, it happens when the roads are wet after the rain.

Being caught outside when there’s lightning close by is a religious experience. However loud you think it is, it’s louder, and you can taste it in the air. The anticipation of the thunder might be scarier than the actual thunder.

Thunderstorms come from one direction. If you’re looking east at the clear blue sky, sometimes you can have absolutely no idea that there’s literal black stormclouds looming in from the west and the dawning realization is incredible.

As far as hurricanes go, we have evacuated and rode them out before, so here’s my observations.

They’re emotionless forces of nature that level the earth indiscriminately, and there’s something peaceful in being humbled like that.

Every single one I’ve experienced has hit overnight and it doesn’t sound all that different from a thunderstorm.

The last one I experienced dropped the temperature in the middle of summer down to 50 degrees and it was still very windy after the fact.

The wind can sound very intimidating and you never know if it’s going to be carrying sticks, palm husks, trash, or branches.

When the power went out during the last storm, I woke up in the middle of the night to my ceiling fan off and the deadness of no electricity around me was creepy. It is dark when the power goes out and all the streetlights don’t run. When there’s cloud cover and no moon or stars, your visibility is shot to hell.

Rain comes in bands with sometimes several minutes in between, to the point where you can go outside in the middle of a hurricane and not get wet because there’s no rain.

People are incredibly dumb and will try to drive through the floodwaters like lemmings. Unless you drive a Jeep with the air intake on top, not even your fancy Big Dick Truck is safe, and cars can float and lose traction (hydroplane) in very little water—do not restart your car after it stalls. You’ll destroy your engine. Just wait for it to dry out.

People are incredibly dumb and will bring pool floats into the floodwaters and paddle around on the submerged streets. Not knowing or caring about the sewage that’s backed up from the drains, the trash polluting the water, or downed power lines electrifying it.

Hurricanes, when they’re not actively destroying things with newsworthy weather, are very boring to experience. There’s zero visibility beyond the grey haze and it just lasts for hours, usually without power, until it moves on. You can’t “see” the storm, it’s all one big cloudy mass from the ground.

During the last storm, Dasani water was consistently the only water left on the shelves. People are dumb.

During the last storm, people were panic buying gasoline and pumping it into trash bags as if they could somehow pour a trashbag of gas into their fuel tank at home. People are dumb.

With all that said, I like hurricane season because it’s exciting. It’s something to break up the monotony, something fresh to anticipate. Yes, it’s violent dangerous weather, I know, and one bad storm can destroy your life or livelihood, it should absolutely be taken seriously. I just like storms.

—

Hurricane Safety PSA!

Check your local flood zones to see if you live within one and if you can move your car to a secondary location to spare it from flooding, that you could still reach in an emergency, you might want to do that. During one storm, the local university opened up its parking garages to students with nowhere else to put their cars except the streets.

Stock up early on your essentials, there’s plenty of supply checklists. There will be bad weather this year. No need to wait until the news panics about it, and makes everyone else panic about it. Buy your batteries and lanterns and water storage solutions now. It’s not like they’ll expire even if you don’t have to use them within a year.

Stay informed, but you don’t have to watch the news every second of every hour. Storms rarely go on their predicted path. If you’re going to evacuate, do so early. You don’t want to be trapped on the highway when it hits.

If you can’t buy a generator due to finances or not owning your place of residence, look into non-electric methods of food prep (like camping gear) and heat management, like folding fans or battery-operated theme park fans.

Going outside and trying to drive once it’s over might leave you stuck or even injured, and rescue efforts will already be spread thin enough without having to add you to the mess. Unless you must leave, just stay where you are.

Stay safe everybody!

[tea-moth11]

Avatars of the American South: Part 1 of ?

I like the idea of a Buried Avatar to be a storm chaser. He would follow the storms looking for flooding and hurricanes. Plenty hit the South every year and bring destruction and hardship with it. The destruction is expensive so not only are people literally buried by the water but the expenses alone in the following days/weeks/months is enough to instill terror.

He would flit in and out of these areas after "feeding", looking like an ordinary dude in jeans and a tee. Not easy to remember his face during the fallout of a natural disaster.

[weatherdingus]

2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season Summary

Welcome back to Rowan's Meteo Corner and the third Annual Atlantic Hurricane Season Summary! If you see this post somewhere else that's because this is the first year that I'm cross posting this to Threads and technically Instagram as well. I won't plug, but if you see it, it's probably me.

Disclamers: This is posted the DAY AFTER THE END OF HURRICANE SEASON and off season storms do exist, so a storm could possibly form before the end of the year and be counted as a 2024 Atlantic Storm. Also, this are unofficial cost estimates coming from early surveys, so things may change.

With that, have some delicious data!

ACE (Accumulated Cyclone Energy) Score: ~161.6 units (Extremely Active)

This is the highest ACE score since 2020, which had an ACE score of ~180.4,

This is also the 4th year in the 2020's with an above average ACE score (2021 and 2023 were considered "above normal" and as previously stated 2020 was considered "extremely active").

For those who don't know ACE is calculated by adding or summing together the squares of the maximum sustained velocity of all storms that are at least tropical storm strength at the recorded six hour intervals, then divide that by 10,000 to make it less complicated (definition from the National Hurricane Center butchered by your local dingus).

Major Hurricanes (anything with 1 minute sustained winds of over 111 mph or 178 km/h: 5 (Beryl, Helene, Kirk, Milton, Rafael)

We'll get more into the nitty gritty of some of these storms in my record/history section!

Hurricanes (anything with 1 minute sustained winds of over 74 mph or 119 km/h): 11

Named Storms: 18

Depressions: 18

One tropical disturbance was given the title of Potential Tropical Cyclone 8 in mid-September, but never formed into a storm or depression. It dissapated off the East Coast and will forever be known as PTC 8, rest in wind sheer little guy.

This was the latest starting Atlantic Hurricane Season since 2014, with the first storm, Tropical Storm Alberto, forming on June 19th.

This is also the first storm to feature two Catagory 5 Hurricanes since 2019 with Hurricanes Dorian and Lorenzo.

Current (December 1st, 2024) damage estimates: > $222 billion USD (2024)

If these estimates hold true, that would place this as the second costliest Atlantic Hurricane Season, overtaking the legendary 2005 season coming in at $172.3 Billion.

STORM INFO:

Strongest Storm (Barometric Pressure): Hurricane Milton (897 mbar)

Strongest Storm (Wind Speed): Hurricane Milton (180 mph/285 km/h 1 minute sustained)

Longest Lasting Storm: Hurricane Beryl (10.5 days)

Crossover Storms: None

Number of Storms Your Local Weather Dingus Weathered: One (Hurricane Francine)

RECORDS AND HISTORY:

Hurricane Beryl became the earliest forming Catagory 5 storm in the Basin, gaining that status on July 2nd and beating out 2005's Hurricane Emily which gained Catagory 5 status on July 16th.

Hurricane Milton attained the lowest recorded pressure in the Atlantic Basin in almost 20 years, becoming the 2nd most intense Hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico behind Hurricane Rita (895 mbar) and the 5th most intense in the Basin behind Rite, Labor Day 1935 (892 mbar), Gilbert (888 mbar), and my beloved Wilma (882 mbar).

Hurricane Milton allowed the Atlantic to snag the storm with the lowest pressure in the world for 2024, for the first time since 2017 with Hurricane Maria. Is this important, no, but it's still a very interesting fact to me.

Hurricane Helene dropped record amounts of rain in North Carolina, Georgia, and is currently estimated to have caused ~$120 Billion in damages. If these estimates hold true, that puts Helene as the 3rd costliest Atlantic Hurricane behind Harvey and Katrina (both are tied for first, so is Helene technically 2nd?) at $125 Billion.

CW: Discussions of death tolls, nothing specific, but still I wanted to put a warning.

I'm not doing death toll facts both out of respect for the dead (I'm still on the fence about some of my jokes, but jokes are the Gen Z way) and for the fact that they're always changing. This was one of the deadliest seasons in recent history and every person lost, counted or not, will be gravely missed

RAAA, you hear that lord, I did it! Now I can finally lay down and die! (Trail to Oregon reference)

Please take this time to see if you can afford to donate to relef efforts in North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. If you have money, time, food, or supplies that you're able to spare, please see if it can be donated, especially as it starts getting colder.

Next Year's naming list starts June 1st with the name Andrea.

Goodnight Atlantic, rest well and please give us a break, I beg, we cannot take this anymore.

[cafecubano]

i tweeted this but i had the urge to also share it with tumblr

[1m-facts]

Read the remaining facts, plus myths, quotes, faqs and an epic quiz at: 50 Hurricane Facts to Fuel Your Curiosity About Nature’s Force

[emmaknitsanyways]

I’m obsessed with this picture

[latin-america-photography]

Cartagena residents face the consequences of flash flooding caused by a three-day rain storm during the annual rainy season in Cartagena, Colombia. - Copyright © 2023 Jan Sochor Photography

[jackhalljrs]

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2. Hurricane Panels can do more for your Tampa Florida home.

3. Storm Shutters by Jack Hall Jr’s are Hurricane season ready.

Remodeling your family home,energy efficient windows and doors, a new space for a sunroom, a new Kitchen or Bathroom, many renovation projects inside or out. Jack Hall Jr’s is the best contractor for your remodeling job.

Jack Hall Jr’s Construction a Remodeling Contractor Florida, can help make your vision a reality. A state licensed residential contractor in Florida with 36 years A+ BBB, Accredited Top contractor.Jack Hall Jr’s provides the highest quality vinyl replacement windows in Bartow, Lake Wales Florida. Jack Hall Jr’s also maintains the best customer satisfaction after the sale.

Jack Hall Jr’s installs the best Impact Windows and Doors installs impact windows and doors in Florida. Our professional installers replace your existing windows with very little mess or bother.

Improving energy efficiency with new replacement windows and doors can reduce the cost of your already expensive electric costs but it also protects your home in high wind conditions like Hurricanes and Tornado’s and will lower your homeowners insurance costs.

Your go-to Florida contractor for replacement windows and doors, impact windows, professional installation in Central and South Florida.

We recommend the “King” line of vinyl Impact replacement windows with all the latest technology but with a down to earth price. We sell, Furnish and install only the best because our family has been trusted with Florida homeowners over 42 years.

HIRING QUALIFIED INSTALLERS

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[cassandrawallac]

How To Get Extra Meds During Hurricane Season: Be Prepared

Hurricane season can bring unexpected challenges, and one of the most important things to prepare for is your health. Having a sufficient supply of prescription medications can make all the difference if pharmacies are closed or roads are impassable. This means that it is imperative that individuals should plan with the respect to TRIZ. Let your doctor know that you want to have more than the usual stored stock in case of any storm surge. Some insurance policies let you get emergency refills during the hurricane season so make sure you understand your policy. At TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track , ensuring that you have at least a one month supply of your medications If you carry your prescriptions, ensure that you check the expiry dates Although preparing a list of your prescriptions may appear like a no-brainer, it is important to ensure that the prescriptions include the dosage and instructions as well. Moreover, make it safe by carrying your medicines in some containers that are highly resistant to water.

Read more: How To Get Extra Meds During Hurricane Season

[lifelongwellnessguide]

How to Get Your Medications Ready Before a Hurricane

When preparing for a hurricane, one of the most important tasks is ensuring that you have enough medications to last through the storm and its aftermath. Here are some essential tips to help you get your meds in advance:

Review Your Medications – Make a list of your current prescriptions, including dosages and any special instructions. This helps you track what you need.

Get Early Refills – Contact your healthcare provider and pharmacy to request early refills. Many pharmacies will allow you to refill prescriptions ahead of time during emergencies.

Prepare a Medication Kit – Pack a portable kit with all necessary medications, a list of prescriptions, and any medical supplies you might need, and keep it in a waterproof bag.

Check Expiration Dates – Ensure all your medications are up to date and replace any expired ones.

Read more: Tips for getting your meds in advance if a Hurricane is coming

[weathermadness]

WeatherMadness.com Highlights for Thursday: Very heavy snow will continue across Southeast Colorado where up to 30" may accumulate. Snow will move back into Denver tomorrow and could be heavy. Rafael became a Cat 2 hurricane but will stay in the Gulf through the weekend. Shear and dry air may cause Rafael to weaken.

[restorationready]

Prepare Your Home for Hurricane Season

Living in a coastal area, your house has to be ready before the onset of the hurricane season. Here are some vital steps you can take to safeguard your property: 1.Choose Strong Roofing Materials: Another good idea could be in the investment of a metal roof. It has wind resistance in over 130 mph, and that makes it more effective than other common shingles. 2.Install Impact Garage Doors: This should be done through choosing impact resistant garage to avoid them from being blown away strongly by winds. It helps inhibit pressure from air from entering and to ensure the right structure of your home. 3.Add Storm Doors and Windows: The normal doors and windows should be replaced with impact resistant doors and windows. They shall not be easily blown by the wind or even damaged by an assortment of flying particles so your house is safe while a storm rages. Adhering to these measures can go a long way in minimizing potential loss in your home.

Check out: Preparing Your Home For Hurricane Season

[howard11792]

HSM_7390 by Howard Metz Via Flickr: South Jetty

[geezerwench]

[inexable]

Weather Wars: Can We Really Control the Storms?

The debate rages on about whether humans can actually control the weather. While Florida Rep. Carlos Gimenez calls such claims "outlandish," some insist on the possibility, pointing to scientific practices like cloud seeding. With natural disasters like hurricanes causing fear and devastation, how should we approach the information swirling online? Are patents and theories enough to prove human influence over weather, or is it all just conspiracy talk? Share your thoughts—can we truly manipulate the elements, or is all this just a storm of misinformation?

[julissadesigns]

Man saves woman from Hurracaine Helene flood waters , Eddie Hunnel #hurr...