Gulf Coast Hurricane Thread-2010 Season

I don't see a weather thread so I am placing this in current events.

This thread is primarily for discussing the hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico and as a secondary, how said storm might interact with the oil disaster.

First up is TS Alex which is headed for the Gulf.

I do things alittle differently which I'll get into later.

Here are the websites I perfer to use when tracking a storm;

National Hurricane Center/NOAA
Storm Pulse
Weather Underground (no jokes please)
Accuweather
Weather Channel

Secondary Sites
Hurricane.com

Do you have any others?

I live in the Houston area so here are some local sites I like to use.

Fox
NBC
ABC
CBS
Houston Chronicle

Again, if you have a good site you like to use, please let us know.

On a side note, if a storm is bad enough, sometimes DirecTV will dedicate a channel to a local feed in the affected area. I know they did this for Katrina in New Orleans and for Ike in Houston. And they have done this on a number of other occasions as well.

(Edit to add more links)

So if someone notices that a DirecTV feed is up, please let us know the channel.

[edit on 6/26/2010 by Genfinity]

[edit on 6/26/2010 by Genfinity]

Fixed the weather underground link...and no jokes, either.

[edit on 6/28/2010 by seagull]

[edit on 6/28/2010 by seagull]

www.orlandosentinel.com...

great source.... interactive map with awesmoe graphics and info

Sorry, but did you even do a search?

There is a Hurricane Watch 2010 thread in Fragile Earth

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Mods,

Can you please remove the second ".com" from my weather underground link in my original post above?

Alex has again formed into a tropical storm will a 991 millibar rating and dropping (that's bad).

The storm took a hard NW turn, then headed almost due west. I'm not sure if it's wobbling or not; we'll know more by the morning.

The more it trends to the north, the longer it will remain in the gulf. The longer it remains in the gulf, the worse this storm will get in intensity.

While it's not time to head to the hills, it is time to keep a constant eye on this storm if you live in the western half of the gulf coast.

As of last night, I have not seen any panic buying other then an occasional person (I live in the Houston area).

This storm is very large and is traveling very slow. If this turns into a major hurricane and takes that slow northerly turn, it's going to be very, very bad.

If you live along the Texas coast and you know people in the San Antonio, Austin, Dallas corridor, this would be the time to call and ask if you can pay them a visit if the storm (assuming it becomes a major one) heads your way.

Depending on what happens in the next 12-24 hours, tomorrow may be the day to make tentative hotel arrangements if you don't have other options.

Of course, if you live along the coast, you already know the drill.

Leaving in a mass exodus Hurricane Rita style won't be a pleasent experience so if conditions worsen tomorrow, keep that in the back of your mind.

If this storm is going to hit Texas, tomorrow will be the last calm day before the population goes into preperation overdrive.

Hang on to your hat. Here we go.

TS Alex has turned NNW and is expected to remain on that course for about 24 hours.

After which, it is expected to turn to the NW.

If it continues it's path while moving forward at 7mph (current forward speed), this puts landfall between the halfway point between Corpus Christi and Houston.......and.......the Texas/LA border.

You know what's in the middle of that area? Houston.

The forecast models disagree but those are for entertainment purposes only.

If it decides to make landfall in Houston or east of Houston, you can expect it to hit as a catagory 3 or 4. I doubt it will make landfall as a catagory 5 because the gulf gets shallow close to shore and the deep water is not as warm as the Caribbean Sea (as oppsed to the top water which has a similair tempature from the Caribbean to the Gulf).

I am not trying to alarm or hype this storm. Despite what the models say, this is the direction it's going and NW is the direction they expect it to go tomorrow.

The next update is an about an hour and then I won't be back until after the 10pm central update.

Note-I just heard thunder. The outter most rain bands have arrived.

.

Edit to "delete" a double post.

[edit on 6/28/2010 by Genfinity]

Just study a little history regarding El Nino and the patterns of the past especially 1998 and the 2005 seasons. In both those years and in 2010 we saw a rapid warming of the Gulf as the El Nino patterns begin to fold.

Predicting these seasons is a tricky business. Although it would seem that we have the proper ingredients for great deal of activity this year.

Let's all hope for the best. I lived through three smaller hurricanes in the past Bertha, Fran and Floyd so I have seen what smaller storms are capable of.

We are already off to a wicked Tornado season in many parts of the Central US.