Labor Day Weekend. 45 Dead & the Number Climbing from Ida's Aftermath. Thoughts on How We Teach the DANGERS of INLAND Deadly Impacts Far From Landfall. 1926 Louisiana Hurricane Good Analog to Ida.

Fast look at the tropics this Friday morning.

Hurricane Larry putting on a show.

Far out at sea expected to be 140 MPH winds.

(as per NHC forecast)

Little yellow x S of the Yucatan 30%

Wave by  Africa a 0% "we see it but no don't think so)

I got back to Raleigh late last night and my daughter and her friend arrived an hour later so it's a busy day for me and I'll update the blog later this afternoon if there are any changes. However, the reality is that Larry is out AT sea and expected to stay out at sea for the time being. Could he get under a ridge and travel further West? Yes, he could but will he and if he does how far West will he travel? 

I think for the time being going into this Labor Day Weekend we should give thanks we are not dealing with any landfalling hurricanes and no Cones are touching our coastlines. The INLAND deathtoll and damages from Post Hurricane Ida or as it is known now on Twitter #IDAaftermath is truly depressing, horrifying and the number of those who died has been a moving target going in the wrong direction.

It's hard to even begin to touch on all of the destructive ways Ida rearranged life in the United States over an area from the coast of Louisiana to New England. I'm rarely surprised by much but this surprised me on many levels. Yes, we warned of it and yes it exceeded even our expectations but matched the fears that  many of us had on how much flooding there would be as it exited out to the Atlantic.  I mentioned in this blog often on how Camille's legacy after Louisiana was the deadly flooding in Virginia after it left the destruction along the Gulf of Mexico an old new story.

I also always mention perspective here in the blog. I'll give you one on perspective. I kept looking for various analog hurricanes and my mind goes where my mind goes. Yet a good analog hurricane I never thought on amazingly was the 1926 Louisiana Hurricane that made landfall near Houma, Louisiana following a similar path in August towards the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. Why? Because obviously when I think on 1926 my mind goes to the Great Miami Hurricane or the Nassau Hurricane and being a Miami girl I rarely focused my research on distant Gulf of Mexico historic hurricanes. I know them but we go on instinct often thinking on what similarily impacted us in Miami or now when I'm in the Carolinas.

Ryan Maue who is great at Hurricane History posted this link on Twitter last night. All I could think of was, that was a month before the 1926 Hurricane and then when I looked at the 1926 Hurricane data I remembered the Louisiana Hurricane that made landfall a month before. 1926 was a vicious year in Hurricane History. We think of the Roaring 20s as fun times but it was a period of dramatic weather history. Flooding similar to, but different, took the lives of many, children died, severe weather seemingly dropped out of the sky littering the landscape with debris and death. Back then there was no NHC that routinely issued advisories and the NWS didn't update their forecast discussion in real time and no one had cell phones that sent them annoying text messages warning them of impending destructive weather.

How much better could we have been with this horrific weather disaster? Definitely had people taken weather warnings seriously and cancelled apointments and stayed home vs being out on the highways swept away by Flash Flooding some lives would have been saved. Many lives would have been saved. However when a F3 Tornado tears up the landscape of New Jersey few could see that coming even though we knew it could happen, the where and the when we cannot forsee or choose.

But..............when an EMERGENCY WARNING goes out for SEVERE WEATHER, FLASH FLOODING and such it needs to be taken seriously immediately. You don't process this and think "it's hype" or "this is FAKE WEATHER BS" or "YEAH YEAH ... I'll be fine I have a van I'm high up off the ground" you take it seriously. I've heard too many complaints from people who ignored it and their car got stuck on the side of the road floating quite a distance from where they were when someone rescued them in a Kayak. A FIRE ENGINE got stuck in the flood waters trying to rescue people, you having a truck or a van will not help you in a Flash Flood.

Something to think on for another day. How we properly convey the message, how we educate the general public to the real dangers of diasters such as Hurricane Donna in Long Island far from her landfall in the Florida Keys. Maybe people need to learn about Hurricane Agnes and her deadly flooding not how she was an early season storm. Maybe we need to emphasis INLAND FLOODING that can be slow and horrible or turn into FLASH FLOODING. Maybe kids today need to learn more meteorlogy in school when studying science. They may not ever have to use the Periodic Table but trust me they will at some time in their life have to understand the real dangers of severe weather aside from where a hurricane will make landall.  

Stop just focusing on landfall!

Something to think on during the Labor Day Weekend. While out having fun do not use up your Hurricane Supplies and when buying beer, snacks and paper goods but some extra ones for the rest of the Hurricane Season as this is only September 3rd we have a long, long way to go. When the Louisiana Hurricane hit in August no one knew the young 30 year old city of Miami would almost be blown off the map a mere month later!

Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on Twitter and Instagram

Ps the good part of Ida is that there was little wind, just flooding... imagine what just happened with Gale Force Winds added in...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdDgbJSSuEQ