Home From Gulfport, Awaiting Hanna

Here I am in Norfolk, Va awaiting the arrival of Hanna and her Tropical Storm force winds. We are still waiting to see if we get the eastern or western side of the storm as it moves through Southeaster Virginia. The storm track seems to have shifted a bit west this morning and convection definitely looks better than it did 24 hours ago. I still don't see this as being a huge event in my area, but the winds will be brisk and should be fun for a weather enthusiast like myself. Not to mention, today is my birthday and it's always nice to have Mother Nature send me a little gift. The latest track does show us receiving some good winds sometime tomorrow morning/afternoon. There doesn't look to be any shear as the storm moves through my area, so the Tornado risk should be low if we get the eastern side of the storm. However, the friction of the storm cells as they move over land could definitely spin up some weak F1 tornados. I have put up a live cam facing east from the 2nd floor of my house so you can see the tropical moisture and winds move into the area the next 24 hours. I will be providing my usual video and photography coverage of Hanna as it moves closer so keep checking back.

I just got back from Gulfport, MS where I was visiting a client who was severely impacted by Katrina and just had a brush with Gustav. It was my first trip to the Gulf Coast, so we took I90 along the beach to see some of the Katrina and Gustav damage first hand. It really is amazing to see the damage in person. It is just staggering to think about the size of that storm surge and what it must of been like to live through it. I heard several amazing stories. The trees still have that classic mangled look to them. It's as if a 20 mile wide tornado went through the area and just left nothing in its wake. As I watch Ike making its move towards South Florida or the East Coast, I sure hope we don't see something like this again. It is starting to look more and more likely for whoever is in Ike's path.

Keep checking back as Hanna gets closer. The blog is officially active on storm watch.

SCM