Hurricane Irma

[Cor66Vette]

That looks promising, for lack of a better word, for the east coasters. I know direction and intensity could change- we all just gotta hope for the best.

[Rich Z]

Yeah, Irma is coming to Florida, one way or another. If the eye gets and stays over land, it should lose power quickly. Best case would have been for it to swing northeast out into the Atlantic, but that doesn't look like it is going to happen. Where is a cold front when you need one?

[Cor66Vette]

You're right about the best case being Irma goes out to sea, but I'll take good news even in little doses. And, I heard that a cold front IS coming.

[Rich Z]

I was actually planning on taking the cars out today and filling up the gas tanks. Not because of the hurricane, but because the gasoline in those tanks is getting kind of old. The C6Z is about an eighth of a tank remaining, so it needs gas, and the C5Z is a shade under half a tank. But they haven't been driven since April or May, so yeah the gasoline in their tanks is getting pretty old.

Anyway, I was dusting them off, and thinking about it, as when we went to Sam's Club last week, people were already seemingly going into panic mode. There were LONG lines at the gas pumps. So I had an app on my shiny new smartphone for checking the gasoline situation, and it was showing a LOT of gas stations, particularly up in Tallahassee, as being out of gas. So heck, I really don't NEED gasoline in those vehicles right now, and several days won't make any difference one way or the other to me. So I figure I would just wait to fill them up. Might be people who really need gasoline right now, and I sure don't.

[Rich Z]

Heck, I'm looking at Intellicast's interactive radar screen and it doesn't even show hurricane Irma down in the Caribbean. Does the eastern end of Cuba have some sort of weather radar block down there?

[Cor66Vette]

Funny, but earlier in the week there were lines, not yesterday or this morning. I keep 4 x 5 gal gas cans filled for the boat and small engine stuff, and rotate them. I treat the gas with StaBil. I was down to 3 because son #2 was getting low and he was on his way to work, so he got 5 gallons free (he's no fool). I filled that can this morning, and while I was at it, I topped off the car. If I run low or out of gas, I deserve to get stranded.

[Rich Z]

We've got the gas tanks on the Jeep and Connie's Silverado filled up. If we were bailing out, we would likely take the Jeep anyway.

I've got two battery powered chainsaws, one gas powered one, and one that runs off from an AC power cord. Heck, we've still got gas cans in the shed that we half filled during last year's hurricane here. And I fixed the Onan generator so that is good to go, and got the gas powered roll around generator that we could use in a pinch. So we are good to go by staying put here. As long as Irma doesn't take a sudden jog left and into the Gulf to gain strength before heading north again, we will be OK. Usually when hurricanes pass well to the east of us, we don't even get any rain from it. Just some mild wind and that is it. We'll probably need to pull down the chimes on the porch and take down the bird feeders, but probably not much else in the way of preparation. With the current track estimates, it looks like the worst of it in this area will be around 11 am on Monday morning. With the current track, it will likely just turn out to be a good excuse for everyone in Tallahassee to stay home from work on Monday.

[Rich Z]

Got the latest update on the track as of 2pm. Which is kind of odd since it is only 1:55 now. And they haven't really changed much at all. Practically NOTHING, to be honest.

[Cor66Vette]

I just saw on TV that Irma will be Cat 1 right after it hits land.

[CHASZ51]

It's nuts around here. My C6 is in the garage and i am staying put no matter what comes. Looks like it is gonna keep going more west and the worst could happen for my area if it gets into the gulf.