Ser Pounce

Sorry to disappoint but from the perspective of basically next to Charles Towne Landing Park in Charleston (across Ashley River from downtown), not a lot happened at all. I did get to go show my 7 year old what high tide was, what storm surge is, and what it looks like when you combine the two which he thought was cool. That, plus a few downed sticks and lots of frogs out this evening were really about it. Schools are on e-learning tomorrow so I'll be using PTO to supervise that too.

High tide over here (Charleston) is around 8:30 and they're talking about 3-5' of storm surge. That's on top of the tropical storm warning / hurricane watch, so it looks like the usual flooding is going to happen around the lower parts of downtown. Unless the track really shifts overhead and we pick up a lot more rain it looks like the biggest problem in the metro will be power outages. In the immediate area Dominion trimmed everything a good 6' or more back from power lines (looks like a hungry dinosaur came through). People complained about it to no end but they'll be glad it happened later tonight.

Yep, I'm watching this one. In Charleston it's also all about the tides and storm surge and that's way too early to guess on at this point. Looks like a good test for the drainage improvements put in place earlier this year, plus motivation to wrap up the job.

As of right now not a lot is going on in Charleston. Windy enough to knock down pine cones and twigs and light rain every so often. My neighbor has a bradford pear that he's parked his Hummer H2 close to. The tree is around as big as they get before they start dropping big branches so the fates have been tempted.

In Charleston getting ready for lots of rain I was definitely feeling a wind chill while outdoors!

I screwed that up, for some reason I read "between Charleston and Myrtle Beach" instead of Hilton Head. But it seems like from a Charleston perspective year after year models tend to shift farther up the coast over time than not. At this point my biggest concern is how to manage virtual learning on Friday since that's what schools are doing. That and runoff control. Need to wrap up what I'm doing at work and phone in that I need to use PTO for the rest of the day. Push notification for storm surge warning just went out for whatever that's worth.

That would be better from a local perspective than a SAV-CHS landfall I suppose. I'm going to have to start getting the place ready for a big rain event though. Lots of gutters missing because of work on the house so I'll probably have to go temp install some of the scraps they left lying around to get some kind of coverage for the place. edit: I screwed up, read Myrtle Beach instead of Hilton Head which would have been a different scenario for CHS being farther up the coast.

Agreed, that's where I am. I'm starting on drainage work at home today, but it's something that needed to happen anyway. It's been interesting watching this one run east but there's a lot of time left. Tomorrow will be when a lot of locals really start paying attention.

Yep, another day of checking in every so often while I'm at work. Fortunately my place isn't in the city, not in a flood zone, and there are no trees within 100' of the house thanks to Hugo and the previous owners not planting anything. Definitely need to stop by Sam's already this afternoon.

That'll take me out to about 2:30. Right now for a purchasing decision I'm thinking less about storms and more, what could I use this thing for. I have no plans on getting an RV or tailgating so that's out. No clue what people use them for when camping because I've always done remote backcountry stuff out west. My landscaping stuff and mosquito fogger is all electric and it would be nice not to sling 200' worth of extension cords around. I'm leaning towards buying one because of that reason alone. It's not going to be a decision made because of unreliable model tracking 5 days out.

Looks like the generator is available for $300 off... but it doesn't get here until after it might be needed. Decisions, decisions...

Awesome, and it looks like it gets here Friday if I order in the next few hours. Looks better than the ones from Lowes/HD/Sam's on top of it, and it's definitely the right time to sell my old one. I'll wait for the next update from the NHC before pulling the trigger but this looks like a strong buy.

Yeah I remember it ramping up pretty fast with at least one of the three that came by. This is stuff I buy every year and after hurricane season slowly consume so it won't be stale the next year or whenever it's needed. I should've bought all of it in July. Also I need to getting around to tuning up the generator since the voltage output is a bit off. A lot of modern appliances have too much electronics and I'm a little reluctant to plug something into what's probably a pretty dirty power source. It's probably 35 years old. Any recommendations for a good replacement? If needed it would power a fridge and maybe a window unit or a (LED) lighting circuit or two at home. I'm an electrician among other things so wiring that up is not a problem.

Yep. I haven't watched the news in a couple of days thanks to mom flying over to visit, but I'm sure that kind of talk will start coming out today or tomorrow. She had great timing! Might as well make a Sam's and Publix run today or tomorrow because I never replenished last year's supplies. It's entirely premature, but anyone taking bets on whether we'll have evacuation orders in Charleston County for a 4th year in a row?

If this ends up healthy on the other side of Puerto Rico, that's when my guess the locals start talking about Hugo is since that was 30 years ago this year. It's an interesting one to track so far anyway.

Bingo, I haven't paid much attention in about 18 hours but it looked exactly like the kind of thing that would get wrecked by Hispaniola and much ado about nothing afterwords. Everything subject to change of course. Maybe people are jumping on it over there because there hasn't been much to do yet this year.

I'll read over there but not say much. Honestly I'm staying away from there more this year because watching stuff from too far out gets kind of stressful after a while.

Hmm, I think we found the cause! I'm in Charleston and the evacuation orders and makeup days at work have been pretty annoying. Maybe I could counteract their effects by selling my lousy, little generator and buying something better...

Channel 2 here from what I heard was talking about gusts above 40 / sustained in the mid 30s at 6. They kind of left things open ended like the local weather office did earlier. Schools are cancelled tomorrow but day care is still open so long as the bridges are. I'd rather watch from home but the windows at work give a pretty good view of some tall, spindly trees on adjacent airport property. I don't think very much work will get done tomorrow.

It's still on for me. His truck is bobbing up against a house. Some siding is visible and there's a 2nd floor deck to the right. I'm surprised it's still this buoyant and that the glass is intact.

http://www.calypsowebcam.com/

That additional 6 (more likely 10)mph seems like a tall hurdle to jump. Might be able to get there though.

Our local office is calling for 25-35 mph with gusts to 45 mph / potential for 58-73 just to cover all bases.

I was counting the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 as the 3rd.

If we were going to get a 4th category 5 landfall I'd put it in the gulf.