Paradise Driver: 08/14/07

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

HURRICANE FLOSSIE - UPDATE

RADAR LOOP

Now a CAT-2 Hurricane

It may be just my imagination but it looks like the "eye" just did a bump to the north. 1626 hrs - 2007-08-14

Have to keep a watch to see if that is correct.

"Let's all be careful out there!"

All emergency preparations are "on-line". The County of Hawai'i government offices will not open for business today. The State Department of Education has closed all county public schools. The State of Hawai'i will close all their offices on the Big Island today.

Airline schedules have yet to be altered, pending any change in weather conditions. Most businesses on the island of Hawai'i will be closed. Long lines exist for gasoline and propane. Stores are running out of rice, water, flashlights and first-aid kits.

All the other counties are on "stand-by" since a northward shift of 1-degree in the storm's track would cause Flossie to impact the entire island chain.

Hilo side of the Big Island is anticipating winds in the 50mph range and surf in the 15-25 foot range. The hurricane force winds should not reach the islands as Flossie passes about 85 miles south of South Point on the Big Island, the most southern part of the United States. Currently the entire Island of Hawai'i is under a Tropical Storm Warning and a Hurricane Watch. No watches nor warnings for the other islands have been issued by the National Weather Service (NWS).

Currently Flossie has calmed a bit over cooler waters and now has sustained winds of 121mph with gusts to 150mph. That makes it a CAT-4 hurricane.

Two USAF 'Hurricane Hunter" WC-130 aircraft arrived in the islands yesterday and are flying into the storm every 6 hours to gather meteorological data.

To make matters worse for the Big Island, they had a 5.3 earthquake in the Kiluea region (where the volcano is erupting) that has caused some rock/land slides. My readers from California know that a 5.3 is just a "yawner" as far as earthquakes go. Wouldn't even disturb your morning latte in El Lay or Frisco. Different strokes for different folks.

Here are some links, if you are interested in following the storms progress today:

NWS - Flossie Products Page

NWS - radar for the State of Hawai'i

NWS - radar - South Point (Big Island). That large blue arc that you see is smoke/particulate matter from the Kiluea Volcano.

The Weather Underground page on Flossie. It has tracking maps, satellite images and more information than you'll ever need to know.

Glenn James' Hawaii Weather Today.

"Big Blue"