In today’s world you can relatively predict a hurriscane or tropical depression weeks before it makes land fall.  This is due to the excellent technologies developed specifically to track weather which can save lives at sea and on land.  It can also limit the destruction with ability to do some positive preparations and evacuation plans.  When you go back 30 or 40 years ago we did not have this information available.  We could acquire the information through Trans-Atlantic flight reports, from large ships and reports from the Leewards Islands or some referred to the Farmer’s Alamanac.  These ways are not near as accurate as the way we gather all the weather data today.

Today I am observing the effects from my home office window in Ft. Lauderdale of ISAAC, a tropical storm which is brewing between Cuba and the Florida Keys.  I have used the internet for most of my tracking data by logging onto a few different sites as, Crownweather.com, NOAA, Windfinder.com, and Wunderground.com.  We have prepared three days prior and have also assisted other people in the areas around us with their preparations.  The boats are either pulled out of the water or double tied and pulled awa from the docks.  The key to getting through this kind of weather is always, being prepared.  The lighter  effect of this storm started blowing in early in the morning.  There are bands of rain and wind pushing through at around 30 knots.  This is just a storm which will only get more wet and windier throughout the day and into the evening.  The tides may become a small issue from the weather blowing the water inland, but nothing major with this storm in this area.

This storm will become a hurricane in the next day or so and will hit somewhere between the Florida Panhandle and Alabama coast as a category 1 or 2.  With the low wetlands in that area there will be heavy erosion and coastal devastation.  This storm has two days of pretty much open water to grow and instensify.  This will not be as pleasant as sitting in my home office observing the small bands of weather I am experiencing.  Living in these tropical areas of beautiful weather and waters most of the year has its price.  Whether it’s the HOT summers or an occasional hurricane, it’s worth it.