Category 4 Bill & Economics and Halifax

Sitting here way too long and watching Bill spin. For a hurricane person Bill is amazingly, low fat and low sugar eye candy! Beautiful to watch, better than any screen saver and more fun than a video game ... always changing, always rearranging as it goes through numerous eye wall replacement cycles and keeps sending us the most photogenic images of a big, storm that has a long trademark tail that reaches deep into the hot, moist tropics feeding it's engine that is located inside the inner core and it just really pumps, in and out, moisture in, energy out, a true example of what a Big, Bad, Hurricane is supposed to look like.

Here's a loop, watch him spin and tell me you don't get lost in those images?

My goal here at Hurricane Harbor is really to show you the story behind the story or the story that Bill carries with it that may or may not evolve down the line. Anyone can show you models and images and give you meteorological double speak. My goal is to make this more real, more human, more understandable and to show you a peak into regions and the lives of people in places where Hurricane Bill may end up reaching such as Halifax. These are real places filled with hurricane history that is rich and poignant and it is a region we don't think on other than knowing it is somewhere up there on the map.



And, hurricanes are newsworthy for more reasons than wind surfers being blown into buildings while playing out on a beach before a storm or for breathtakingly sad pics of trees ripped out of the ground and storm surge carrying ships inland onto someone's lawn. They are not just about death and disaster in the Caribbean or along the Gulf of Mexico but they are important for how they impact the places they travel to and that is often a long term effect way after the media has packed up and left town for the next town in the news.

Today Hurricane Bill was covered in an article in the Bloomberg Report.

Why is Mr. Bloomberg watching Bill? Two words: Oil Refineries. Though one word tells the bigger story: Economics.

Economics are often weather driven in many ways and on many levels.

Check it out for yourself:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aePSpUqGFKXc

Did you know there are oil reserves up there in the land beyond Maine or did you think they were just in Saudi Arabia and in the Gulf of Mexico? Hmmmnnnn? Well, there are and it is a newsworthy story in itself if Bill travels north into the Canadian Maritimes. This is perhaps why one of the best weather sites anywhere online is the Canadian Hurricane Centre.

http://www.ec.gc.ca/ouragans-hurricanes/default.asp?lang=En&n=DA74FE64-1

There are numerous links online covering this are and it's rich hurricane history however they often get overlooked or ignored. Here are a few..

Jim William's cover's Nova Scotia with data on his site:

http://www.hurricanecity.com/city/halifax.htm

Hurricaneville discusses Juan:

http://www.hurricaneville.com/juan.html

This is a sad, moving story about the aftermath and clean up of Juan, says it all... "heartbreaking"

And, more so this is a good example of how hurricanes are not simply storms down in the tropics that interfere with cruise ships and sailing ships and people who are silly enough to live along the coast in Florida. Hurricanes affect the whole entire coastline from the border down by Mexico to Maine and beyond.

Night time view of Halifax .. did you know it was so beautiful?



What and where is Halifax?

North of Maine and jutting out into the North Atlantic and therefore the home to some of the best surfing waves, the wildest weather and filled with a rich history that is interesting to anyone who follows European History and or Cajun History as many of the original Cajuns came from this region on their way west towards religious freedom in the New World. A slight detour but a very interesting story on many levels. A slight hop, skip and jump from Acadian to Cajuns down in the Bayou.

Don't believe me? I would not make that up!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajun

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Halifax#Acadian_period

Halifax has beautiful beaches and picturesque lighthouses and people who are artistic, spiritual, hard working and friendly, known as Halagonians. Just so you know. Truth is I know one well and have met a few and it is not just a name on a map far away sounding like a place that existed back in the days of Hans Christian Andersen.

So, while watching beautiful Bill staying probably away from the United States please remember that your friendly, Canadian neighbors up in Halifax may have to contend with this very strong, memorable hurricane. Of course, please keep in mind that if that front is not as strong as it is cracked up to be.. it could get a lot closer to New England, Maine, Boston, Cape Cod and would imagine that the East Tip of Long Island is going to experience some great beach breezes and waves at the least.

Just remember, nothing is for sure in the tropics until after a storm has passed. It's fluid, things are always changing and that is why we love it. It is not boring, it is constantly changing, constantly rearranging, fronts move along from west to east, upper levels lows dig down, deeper...deeper and deeper and then they die out and another one takes over and then things change and shift in that river of air we call the atmosphere and the storms caught in it's path shift their track a bit to the left, to the right and sometimes they just stop and halt in their tracks and wait for the next strong steering current to take over and then they spin and spin and spin making everyone nervous watching them and waiting to see where they go.

Florida lucked out with this one because a storm the size of Bill could pretty much wipe Florida off the map economically for a long time to come. Hugo comes to mind when thinking of the Carolinas. This is a big one and August is not really prime time Cape Verde Season, September is so Remember September to misquote a famous saying... and there is a new wave coming off of Africa that is forecast to have a track that would be further south than Bill.




http://www.intellicast.com/Global/Satellite/Infrared.aspx?animate=true&location=default

It's a big, blue wonderful world and the atmosphere is a river running across the surface of the Earth, many rivers and a storm even as big as Bill is just a big pebble in the stream.

Blue Cane... filled with moisture..



For those of you worried on the Continental United States I will quote from the 11 AM Discussion out of the NHC:

"a large mid-latitude trough is expected to swing eastward over the eastern United States."

Sharing this as well as I do enjoy my cup of Joe from Joe so here goes, enjoy for yourself... preferably with an expresso..he talks fast ;)

http://www.accuweather.com/video-on-demand.asp?video=34591989001&title=Wednesday%20morning%20Bill%20Pill

As for me, going to make some cafecito with my expresso maker and have some coffee and watch some loops of Bill.

Hope this has helped put Bill and his possible travels into a better perspective.
Adding in some links below for looping or linking or reading when you have some time with or without coffee or herbal tea, which ever is your pleasure.

Take care and will update later today as events unfold.

Personally... Bobbi is concerned on the strength of the front and I really do believe Bill will travel along the left edge of the cone and that the forecast cone may be tugged to the left (west) in the short term though eventually I think he will re-curve. Where and when.. don't know. Hoping to get to the beach and see some waves over the weekend but not sure it's in my own short term forecast. Either way.. I'll be around. Trying to twitter if I can remember to tweet lol.

Besos Bobbi
Ps.. long post I know but took me a long while to think what I wanted to say on Bill that was unique and that has not been said. Thanks for reading, as always...

Some great links:

http://www.esl.lsu.edu/animate/goes/index.php?region=tropics&channel=wv

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/east/nwatl/loop-wv.html

http://www.esl.lsu.edu/animate/goes/?channel=ir

interesting article

http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/into-the-eye-of-a-hurricane/article156714.html

The beautiful landscape of Long Island shown in clips from the movie...Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind...