Irene, Building a Cat 3 Hurricane In the Bahamas Tonight

First off, I took a little time off today from the computer and decided not to post too much. There really isn't much to say as the models are all in "excellent" agreement and as long as they continue to stay in agreement and no family feud breaks out I am a happy camper and not as worried as I was last night.

As the NHC said earlier, thankfully they have the Gulfstream Jet out there and two other planes and there is so much data coming in ... hard to believe they could be missing anything. Then again if one good model blinks and burps to the west I am going to wake up and worry again.

Meanwhile, the earth decided to put on a show this afternoon and there was a 5.8 earthquake in Virginia that I imagine even Martians in Green Tunnels under the Red Planet heard about! I had 3 phones calls in rapid succession from North Carolina all at the same moment in history. My daughter in Crown Heights texted me and asked me if they were having a quake as well. Just sort of pathetically ironic that as we sit and talk about whether North Carolina will or won't get a hurricane they get a quake. Typical as Mother Nature has a wicked sense of humor.

I really do believe that this storm will most likely just clip the Outer Banks if at all and depending on the angle go out to sea or give Long Island a good run for it's money as it moves north towards Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. Not 100% sure but pretty sure.

Please note the nice bumper sticker at the top of the page. Cars all over the Carolinas have those bumper stickers on their car. Do you know why? Because they are one of the most visited spots on the Planet by Hurricanes.

It's possible it will come in lower, but it better stay away from my favorite places in Myrtle Beach.

But, for tonight... Irene is building a Major Hurricane. She is possibly going through some eye wall replacement cycle.. if so watch out. She's going to get leaner, meaner and stronger.

As for me... I could wax poetic on the 19th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew tonight, but I am not going to. Maybe tomorrow morning.

Suffice it to say 19 years ago I was on the floor of an old two story house on Miami Beach feeling the wind slam into the building and at the height of the storm ... at moments you could hear the roar of the Ocean about five blocks away, maybe four depending on how you count Indian Creek. A house to the East of us two blocks away lost it's roof as it sailed off the top of the house on Flamingo Drive and landed in the yard of the house on Pine Tree. A few of the pine trees on Pine Tree came down. I think it might have been a tornado. Who really knows... we survived, we were fine, we were blessed and all of my family and my 7 month old baby girl who spent most of the night underneath me was fine. Today she called me from Crown Heights and asked me if they were having an Earthquake...

Such is the way of the world. This is a living, breathing planet that is always in flow, stretching in all directions. Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Tornadoes and Tsunamis all contribute to the way the planet looks and feels. The coastline of the United States on the Atlantic side has been trimmed and manicured by thousands of passing hurricanes over time. People are surprised that Virginia had an earthquake? Why? They have mountains .... how do you think they got there? Fault lines..

It's all Mother Nature's fault.. don't you know?

I'm going to bed... hopefully as we sleep the models will stay in perfect, excellent agreement.

Last night I couldn't get Carole King songs out of my mind, tonight they make a lot of sense.

Looping music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoHuxpa4h48

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

Sweet Tropical Dreams

Bobbi