Latest...….center of Dorian has shifted more to the east. But, exact cone is still uncertain. Sort of looks like this thing will be much more off the coast of eastern/Atlantic side of Florida, like Mathew was. Currently, doesn't even look like Miami will get much, but Dorian is still a major hurricane. The cone does show the center of Dorian going over Savannah, GA.
This morning it looks like the eye of Dorian will make landfall close to Charleston SC. If it continues on the current predicted path we'll see the eye near Wilmington NC. It could be significantly weaker if it stays over land from Charleston.
That is such good news for Floridians like @Bess Barber and her family. Thinking of @Shirley Martin tho if it hits North Carolina instead.
It is and it isn't. It's good because we don't get landfall, but a hurricane is much more than a great storm. They are evil beasts. Even with it hundreds of miles away, we already have the smaller outer bands. The sky is gray, with rain bursts and quite a bit of wind. As it gets closer, these intensify. By the time it passes us vertically, the beaches already have lots of erosion, the ground and trees are saturated and all the water tributaries are already full. THEN, it starts spawning hail, tornadoes, huge storm surge and additional flooding to an area that is now quite vulnerable due to having days of bad weather already. Getting hit with the eye of the storm leaves a place looking like a war zone. It sweeping by, just makes you feel like your living in a war zone because at any moment, the weather can turn on you. So, you kinda hold your breath the whole time. This is a seriously dangerous hurricane. Looks like we are only going to get the sides, but the Carolinas have been a magnet for hurricane landfalls for the last decade. Luckily, the states work together and all our extra hurricane resources will immediately be sent to them.
An outer band of Mathew hit us, when we lived in Jacksonville. The hurricane was some 50 miles off of the coast of Jacksonville Beach area. It wasn't nearly as bad as Irma was. Irma came over us and did damage. The St Johns River looked like a floating junk yard with picnic tables and unmanned boats floating down it. The boats broke away from their docks and smashed into a local bridge. Some states, like California, get earthquakes. Some states, like Colorado, get snowstorms and blizzards. Some states get forest fires. And, there are states that get tropical storms and hurricanes. There is some type of bad weather some where.
I think this is true for every part of the planet. I guess we all pick what vice we can most live with. I'm used to hurricanes, but the prospect of an earthquake would be a terror for me.
Went thru multiple earthquakes when I lived in So. California. My very first one was when I was stationed in San Diego in the Navy and was spending a weekend at the Armed Forces YMCA there. Woke up on a Saturday morning to my bed shaking. Got up quickly and looked under the bed......nothing. All of a sudden the shaking stopped. Also felt the Northridge earthquake when it hit. Was at a job, in the restroom on the pot, when one hit. Was at a motel in Anaheim when one hit on a Sunday AM. Stepped out he door and could see transformers blowing (sparks). When we lived in Colorado before, wife and I were in two major blizzards. One in April 2003 and another in Dec 2006.
Well, it looks like we might dodge the bullet, or at least a shot to the heart. Last year the effects of a hurricane came as far as up here in the Blue Ridge. We had just left a few days earlier, which is good, because the spot where our rv had been sitting was now four feet deep in water (yes, it WAS too wet to plow and the creek DID rise). Instead, we were back in (relatively) dry Florida (except we did have to go out in the storm and drag debris out of the main storm drain) with nothing more than a couple of days without power.
Here in the Desert our worst weather consists of the wind.......almost 24/7. Aggravating in Winter, cold, mostly welcome in Spring and Fall, chokingly hot in Summer. Gusts of 50+ mph are not uncommon. When I lived in Vegas, the wind blew sustained at over 30+ mph with gusts over 50 for well over a full week! Drove me nuts trying to keep the mud out of the pool! Frank
The Bahamas really caught this thing BAD. It's hovering over them at a CAT 5 with 185 mph winds and up to 240 mph wind gusts. I have no idea if anything will be left. There are people with more means who evacuated, but there are a lot of local people who are having a really horrible experience. The thought of so many horrified children is heartbreaking. I'm going to try to save a big extra this month so I can give to the Red Cross. Those folks are really going to need it.
@Bess Barber -- are you in Evacuation Zone A or B?? The Weather Channel is saying mandatory evacuation for those zones in JAX starting at 8 in the morning.
Saw more of this on the news - hope everyone affected will be OK Just thankful for them that there are so many good folks out there willing to help