Tropical Storm Isaac, Saturday Evening

It's been a rainy, windy day culminating is a breezy night, the streets of the city are shiny with moisture, and if you didn't know the tropical storm is starting it's final approach you'd have no idea there was anything going on other than a common-or-garden summer thunderstorm. Other than the hurricane shutters on all the buildings and the commercial clean-up crews standing by.

On the drive in to work at ten o'clock I saw lots of cars parading around with their fog lights on, as though the light rain were some sort of portent of the high winds to come. Better that than the usual practice of people choosing to drive in the dark or the rain with no lights at all.

Downtown Key West is half a ghost town, the bars open and empty, a few people hurrying along the sidewalks. Tonight is apparently the night for hurricane parties. Tropical storm force winds, around 40mph are expected Sunday morning, with hurricane strength by Sunday evening. All finished by Monday evening we hope as Isaac goes off up the Gulf to damage to the heathen on the Gulf Coast. How strong our storm will be depends on how much strength the storm gains now that it is off Cuba and over warm waters. that it drives forward at 22mph is good for us as that helps keep the circulating winds from gaining in intensity. A least a bit. We keep hoping for the best.And that is the latest track put out by the Hurricane center in Miami.

Isaac And The Florida Keys

Another day another hurricane advisory and the news is not improving. Twenty four hours ago it looked like this storm might be little more than a damp squib, rain and wind and nothing too excessive. Things have changed.

I woke up this morning with a sinking feeling when I checked the five o'clock update. I expected to see a nice solid path over Cuba's mountains, the Sierra Maestra, and instead the National Hurricane Center is projecting a path off the north coast of Cuba, right up the warm waters of the Old Bahamas Channel, which should help the storm to strengthen nicely.

So I got my storm shutters out and started screwing them in place. I put my potted plants into the best protected spots I could and everything not nailed down I hid in the sheds. Our outside furniture we moved into the living room.

With Cheyenne on her bed to guard it. She's none too happy about all the kerfuffle.

Rain alternated with wind all morning and I soldiered on getting wet and wind blown as I screwed in the shutters. The idea is the aluminum panels will prevent flying debris, like coconuts, from smashing the windows.

I inherited the best possible shutters from the previous owner and they slide into the lip at the top and screw in at the bottom. It takes me about an hour to install all the shutters on my 800 square root house.


Up and down my street homes are now shuttered and many of them are owned by snowbirds who keep contracts with gardeners and handymen who agree to look after homes for absentee owners.


So far the predictions call for a category one hurricane though the problem is that hurricanes can slow their forward motion and increase their circulating strength.


My problem is that as of tonight I'm locked down at work and whatever preparations I make have to be good enough for whatever may happen.

My wife and Cheyenne are staying at home for this storm with the company of a friend. I will try not to worry while I am at work. Local officials haven't issued an evacuation order yet and now it's probably getting too late as storm force winds are expected in the morning. In the past the tourist industry got seriously annoyed with evacuation orders which they said killed the flow of money to the islands. So this year the evacuation orders haven't been coming fast and furious as in years past. Officials are advising those with the means to leave to go home and those that stay to stay indoors. The airlines are adding flights to help get people out of Key West.

It will be interesting to see how this new method of non evacuation works out. Somebody always ends up blaming somebody else after the fact.

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Hurricane Warning

The National Hurricane Center in Miami has issued a hurricane warning for the Florida Keys which is defined thus on their website:

A HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED
SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE WARNING AREA. A WARNING IS TYPICALLY ISSUED
36 HOURS BEFORE THE ANTICIPATED FIRST OCCURRENCE OF TROPICAL STORM

FORCE WINDS...CONDITIONS THAT MAKE OUTSIDE PREPARATIONS DIFFICULT

OR DANGEROUS. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE
RUSHED TO COMPLETION.

This is rather annoying news because it seems Tropical Storm Isaac remained much more intact than expected while clipping the island of Hispaniola, and is thus stronger as it approaches Cuba. Furthermore the weather forecasters are estimating the cyclone will spend less time than originally estimated over Cuba and will likely lose less power...than originally estimated.

DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK
------------------------------
AT 500 AM EDT...0900 UTC...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM ISAAC WAS
LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 19.0 NORTH...LONGITUDE 73.3 WEST. ISAAC IS
MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST NEAR 14 MPH...22 KM/H...AND A
WEST-NORTHWEST TO NORTHWEST MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR THE
NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS WITH SOME INCREASE IN FORWARD SPEED. ON THE
FORECAST TRACK...THE CENTER OF ISAAC WILL MOVE NEAR OR OVER EASTERN
CUBA TODAY...AND MOVE NEAR THE NORTH COAST OF CUBA TONIGHT AND
APPROACH THE FLORIDA KEYS ON SUNDAY.

All of which means today is preparation day before I go in to work tonight and get locked down. It's a drag but at least so far it's only supposed to be a category one storm for us. Quite possibly much worse for the Gulf Coast. Bad for them better for us.

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Key West Bight

One purpose of walking endlessly round Key West and taking pictures is to remind myself of where I live. This picture with the sandcastle of the Steam Plant condos in the background and the frothy green palms in the foreground, put me in mind of somewhere exotic, possibly a desert oasis

This solitary loo brush shown below has featured here before but it is still worth seeing again flying proudly above the Coastguard station.

It was a lovely day down on the water but I was impaired by my struggle with a summer cold (a special word of thanks to the kind soul that donated it to me) and I was rendered weak by the heat.

I sat on the wooden planking in the shade of the old warehouse on the Chevron dock and watched the world go by on a summer afternoon.

The flags above were flying from a fairly large sailboat. The second flag from the top I recognized as the pennant of an associate member of the Seven Seas Cruising Association. It's a loose grouping of people who like to travel by sail and their full members "Admirals" have red pennants and vote at meetings.

Above I could see the fast cat ferry to Fort Myers Beach waiting for it's evening departure while below the lightweight frames of white dagger boards on a private catamaran caught my eye. The boards are hollow to save weight. Which probably means the rest of the boat is devoted to speed not comfort, which is a drag I think.

The older wooden schooner Hindu looks more like what a landsman might expect a boat to look like, all varnish and brass. That's a lot of work to keep up, not to my taste either though I have enjoyed a sunset cruise on the Hindu, watching the crew work while I ate and drank.

This young person looked possibly like a disoriented superhero with a green cape, or a lost crew member looking for his berth, or a tourist wondering where the bars are.

The waterborne commute:




The pause that refreshes:




A conversation about boats:




An 18th century piece of headgear, truly piratical I suspect:




Refreshment afloat?

Another one looking for a berth, this or with a red ditty bag.

Homeward bound:




Whitewash, blue water, green palms and boats.

Just the scenery to refresh a tired coughing hack, with a tired hacking cough.


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Hurricane Preparations - Tropical Storm Watch

The National Hurricane Center in Miami has just issued a Tropical Storm Watch for the Florida Keys with Tropical Storm Isaac yet to reach Cuba. That means sustained winds of 40mph are likely within 48 hours. Within that sustained wind strength local gusts are expected to be stronger and at this point that may be as bad as it gets, thanks to Isaac hitting Cuba head on and losing strength as it dumps rain across the island. Landmasses steal strength from cyclones as they need warm water to power their winds. Based on that Isaac looks like it might be more of a problem for Mobile, Alabama, than Key West.

It's a strange thing waiting for a hurricane especially when faced with a storm that appears to be weakening as it approaches. On the one had one has to prepare for the worst and on the other hand half your brain is reminding you this is all likely to be a waste of time. Rain and wind blew through in waves this morning, alternating with bright sunshine.

Any rain storm that happens to blow though suddenly becomes an advance taste of the impending hurricane. Perspective tends to get lost at these times. That the storm is currently hovering south of Port Au Prince doesn't seem to register when rain is lashing one's home. I have heard people describe these entirely normal downpours as "feeder bands" for the hurricane. Whatever.

On the other hand a regular summer downpour leaves many of these island communities half drowned and anyone who was here in 2005 remembers the drowning Hurricane Wilma inflicted. No loss of human life but thirty percent of Key West under water and ten thousand vehicles destroyed.

The drowning thing still worries people so we start to see cars parked on high ground, near the highway bridges.

In the hardware store on Summerland Key I overheard a customer talking with the owner and they were in agreement that this is good practice for "the real thing" whenever that might come. A potential category one storm around 74 mph sustained, hardly rates. Nevertheless... The Sheriff's department appropriates a high ground parking lot to preserve their cars for whatever might be coming:

At the Police Department employees are on "lockdown" as of Saturday evening which means after we go to work tomorrow we have to plan to stay at work until the storm situation is over. So we also have to plan for whatever storm might possibly hit, because if Isaac stalls over the Gulf Stream and powers up to say a major storm status I don't get a mulligan and a second chance to go home and take proper precautions. I have to go to work assuming the worst. My wife says the schools will be closed Monday and she is going to take Cheyenne and stay with friends. For a major storm she would evacuate about now but we are hoping for a category one or less...

Fuel tankers are dropping off fuel to feed the need of evacuees and locals filling tanks and jugs, just in case. Walking Cheyenne I met Linda this morning and she stopped her bicycle to lament her preparations. Her generator is leaking fuel, a broken hose I suggested about to offer help when she grimaced and said it's probably not going to be a big storm and she's sick of making preparations. Watermelon, lettuce and pre-ground coffee, my stick thin neighbor described her storm supplies. "Hurricanes without coffee are unbearable," she said as she peddled off.

Right now, except for the odd downpour, everything is serene and lovely. In twenty four hours everything may have changed. Or not. I wonder how many pairs of underwear I should pack for my lockdown at work?

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Summer's Over, But Not In Key West

Motorcyclists Up North lament the impending departure of summer. There is a slight twinge in the air they write as they anxiously scan for yellowing leaves, a sure sign of Fall to come. We've got toms of yellowing palm fronds down here.

The water is hot off Smather's Beach so water sports close to sea level are not likely to freeze anyone's blood.

The winds this summer never quite quit like they were supposed to. It's been lovely ashore with a fresh breeze to cool things off. Up North drought wildfires and apocalypse have marked the summer of 2012.

Down here in Sodom we've had a lovely serene summer thanks. Perhaps we have finally incurred God's displeasure because now we face getting whacked by a hurricane but I'm sure we'll manage. I liked this ad on Smather's Beach where the speed limit is 30mph:

It's actually paid for by foot doctors encouraging athletes to perform better if the spend money on medical care. Some people show no signs of requiring medical treatment, they just lay out in the sun and risk melanoma.

Others need AA desperately but instead they sleep in public when it is permitted and take cover at night when it isn't, oddly enough.

Smather's Beach has it's resident bums as does Rest Beach,

...while at Higgs Bach they have allocated parking, as it were:

It has been a summer filled with tourism. The economy may be as bad as you like but they keep coming:

The heat is enough to keep the pigeons in the shade too.

I felt compelled to stop the Bonneville and the views across the water. It's hot and sticky but I would have it no other way. Dry heat means nothing to me except straw-like hair and cracked finger nails.

I parked the Bonneville near the rest rooms and remembered my camera this time. The coral rock structure is strangely open to the elements which works in it's favor as a fresh breeze though here keeps the smells sanitary.

This is the direction facing our potential hurricane in the next few days. It looks peaceful enough right now.

Fall in Key West means more people, crowds and full bike racks.

These are the proverbial dog days of summer, lovely and warm and sunny, and yellow leaves are just a sign of the palms doing their constant self renewal, not a seasonal change.


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