Storm Update

I guess when I post ominous information about storm forecasts and don't update them frequently people get a little worried about what's going on. I'm following them closely, but I probably won't write about them that often unless they really concern us. Nobody (including me) wants to read a blog of information transcribed from the Weather Service. You can always check the National Hurricane Center website for current information, though: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo_atl.shtml.

The update: Bill is now a Category II hurricane and gaining strength. The forecast says "BILL COULD BECOME A MAJOR HURRICANE WITHIN THE NEXT DAY OR SO." The predicted track has a sharp turn north and should miss us entirely. The storm is moving very slowly, however, and this far out is way too soon to count on that prediction. I said I wouldn't mind experiencing a mild storm while we're here - Bill is not it.

Bill

Ana has more or less dissipated, and it's not expected to reorganize. A remnant low pressure zone was left behind, and we got some of the weather associated with it last night. Oh boy, did we get a lightning storm last night! It was exciting at first, but it went on so long that I was a bit annoyed at how hard it was to get back to sleep. We don't get lighting out in Washington. There's a lot of rain, but almost never lightning. I remember, after living there for a few years, a few of us heard a little rumble in the distance. We all looked at each other, a little confused, thinking the same thing, "was that thunder?"

Then there was Tropical Storm Claudette, which formed in the Gulf of Mexico and moved over the mainland US. It dissipated quickly and wasn't a major storm.

Rough Weather

We've been having some wind. It's been quite cool because of it, but it has disrupted some of our plans. Today all of the waterfront activities were canceled because the water was much too rough. I missed out on a dive because of it. Today was supposed to be the first dive that would count towards my "advanced diver" SCUBA certification. I'm signed up to take the course with several of the students. We had our first classroom meeting for it after breakfast this morning. I'm also going to be taking the rescue diver course with a few of the staff. It's really fortunate to have a dive instructor working here.

Speaking of rough weather, it's officially hurricane season. I've subscribed to the National Hurricane Center's RSS feed to get frequent updates on tropical storm activity. Updates come about 4 times daily, and you can subscribe using this URL: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo.xml. There's nothing serious yet, but there's a disturbance that formed in the Lesser Antilles that is has a very slight potential of developing.


I just checked now, and a second disturbance has formed over the Northern Bahamas. It too has a very low probability of forming into a more organized and powerful storm though. It's pretty exciting to keep track of these storms. I wouldn't even mind getting a mild hurricane while we're here. I just hope we don't get anything like Hurricane Ike (a strong category 4 storm), which hit here and did a good deal of damage last season.

Because the waterfront activities were canceled we needed to entertain ourselves somehow, and we found a way that was arguably just as good as diving; we watched the new Harry Potter movie! I'm very excited they've decided to do the the final movie in two installments (even if their motivation is to wring every penny out of us fans).

By the way, it turns out that the "bird of prey" we saw the other day was an American Kestrel.