LOL, do you have floaties for your plants?

Weather people say a lot of things......much of which is pure nonsense.

The one thing I have learned, is that you can count on the forecast being wrong, more than it is right. I can do that well by guesswork.

There is no way to predict weather more than a few hours prior to its occurrance.....up to a couple of days, in the case of hurricanes. You have to be able to read the weather, on the ground, and not in computer models.

When you see a light overcast come in, and then rising swells, and then light rain, batten down the hatches, because you are most definitely in for a blow.

Bog plants. That's my helpful suggestion besides leaving the area. I've never been through a hurricane but it doesn't sound very fun. PJ

Just stay safe !!!!!

I hope it is a bad hurricane season. Many places that was hit hard have not fully recovered from two years ago.

Stay safe and you have my prayers that the season will come and go without any bad hurricanes.

Tim Heller, who used to be the chief meteorologist at Fox 4 in DFW and now is in Houston working for their ABC affiliate used to go to my church. He was kind enough one Friday evening to allow our cub scouts to take a tour of the studio and learn about weather. The boys had a great time. Anyway, he said the weather forcast is only accurate up to two days out. Anything past that is anybody's guess and can change daily. The tracking of hurricanes can change daily too depending on which way the wind decides to blow that day - or I should say jet streams. Anyway, we just need to pay close attention to what the weather is today and tomorrow and past that - just to keep an eye on it.

Tally, I hope you still have my address but ope you don't have to use it for that reason

Tally, I just checked and the hurricane from 1900 hit Galveston on Sept 8th, and Carla hit on 9-11th. My husband has it in his head that if a hurricane is headed toward our property, he wants to drive down, to protect it. I told him he is out of his mind, that is why people carry insurance. Barbra,

When the storm hits the Gulf, drive down THEN! Make sure your insurance is up to snuff BEFORE the storm hits the Gulf. Once it's in the Gulf, all bets are off, and the insurance companies will not do a thing to improve your insurance coverage or your attitude. They won't even talk to you!

When it hits the Gulf, drive down to be sure everything is secure, picked up and put away. Protect your windows as best you can. Take your potted plants with you, or stash them in the garage.

Remove anything that you cannot replace, if possible.

Above all, use common sense, and don't drive down here if a storm is coming in. You may not be able to get back out, and you will place an added burden on first responders and emergency personel.

Tally, I was having a perfectly lovely morning, cleaning out closets and the-under-the-sink cabinet, and now you have gone and spoiled it! All this talk about Hurricanes, I think I will just take a nap, and worry about it tomorrow! LOL

Maybe I will stick a few things in boxes. And where are my insurance papers, anyway?

Janie

Janie, you just reminded me of something, when Katrina was coming into the gulf, I was at the coast, and my husband was home. I was at Lindas, and we were visiting and watching the weather, an hour later I went to our place, when I drove up, all our windows had been boarded up, it was the strangest feeling I have ever felt. I was not gone that long, and no one was there. My husband drove up later, he had been buying stuff to tie down everything in our yard, he had heard the hurricane was headed toward Corpus, and he was getting everything ready. I could not get over how fast he had boarded up all the windows, by himself. He has this system, where he has stainless steel guides, on the top and bottom of every window, he has plywood that is labeled that fits each window. He can slide the wood into the guide, and screw it down with his screwgun, in less than an hour. We have 8 windows on the stucco garage, and 9 windows on the house and 5 small windows on the well houses. Just wanted to share this with everyone. The stainless steel guides were made for us by my cousin who owes a glass company, all we needed to do was get the width of each window, and he made them for us.

Many moons ago, we had storm awnings, that folded down over the windows, and there were thumbscrews that bolted the awnings down in place.

The large living room window, had corrugated, galvanized steel sheeting, which bolted over it. The small window in the carport, had to settle for masonite bolted over it. (The masonite didn't survive, but the window did.)

The sliding glass patio door to the Florida room, couldn't be covered, so we had to rely on taping it over to try and control the glass if it broke. (It pulsated unbelievably, during the storm.)

The worst, though, was the jalousie window in the entry door, as the water from the driving rain actually traveled under and UP, through the window panes, into the interior. We had to mop up frequently. (Terazzo floors were easy to mop.)

That was in the old days, though, before south Florida allowed frame construction. We had reinforced concrete block/stucco walls, so our greatest concern was the roof. Even that was stone gravel, rather than ordinary shingle roofing. (In the Bahamas, they actually use concrete on the roof.)

During a period of low instance of storms, the building codes got relaxed.....and then Andrew came. It wasn't so much that it was such a bad storm....as that the houses were no longer built to withstand storms.

I would hope that the building codes were changed back to CBS, after that.

Interestingly, the cabin on Fakahatchee Bay, withstood the storm just fine, although the mangroves and vegetation were torn to shreds.

Hurricane Donna......6th on the all time list.