SUBHEAD: Let us pray these hurricanes pass north and south of the Hawaiian Islands without much damage.
By Juan Wilson in 6 August 2014 for IslandBreath -
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2014/08/iselle-and-julio-come-to-visit.html)
Image above: NBC News tracking of hurricane Iselle (left) and Julio (right) heading for Hawaii. From (http://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/hurricane-central-tracking-iselle-julio-n174096).
I sit in Hanapepe Valley, on Kauai, as two hurricanes make their way westward across the Pacific Ocean on trajectories that will skirt just south and then north of here. The show will begin starting Friday morning.
By then the winds of Iselle and Julio will, hopefully, be reduced to a merely a "violent storms". On the Beaufort Scale that is a Force 11 Storm (64-73mph winds) down from a Force 12 Storm (74mph and above).
I don't know if it is related to global warming, but it is quite unusual for two hurricanes to follow the same track just days apart. The one-two punch would be unprecedented in the era of satellite hurricane tracking, said Kevin Roth, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel. One thing is certain, hurricanes feed of the energy of warm ocean surfaces. Global warming will only make them more frequent and stronger.
I was not here for Hurricane Iwa (1982) or Iniki (1992), but I've seen a few hurricanes along the East Coast on Long Island and Connecticut shorelines. My experience with them as a young person was that, outside of the danger and potential for harm, hurricanes were exciting. There is literally a charge in the air as they pass.
Now, as an older person, with much time and effort invested in home and yard, I dread the possibility of damage and cleanup. Even a mild storm will bring down many tree branches and likely do some damage.
Yet I have not plywooded over my windows or bought cases of bottled water. Nor have I bought extra batteries or propane bottles. I'll bring in the tools and equipment out in the yard that could go flying but that's about it. This house got through Iniki with only a few scratches.
I am counting on being buried down in a narrow valley with 60 foot high stone walls on either side to protect us from the worst of the wind. I know that during Iniki that flying debris coming of the hillsides above was some threat in the valley.
When I moved into Hanapepe Valley in 2001one could still find sections of corrugated roofing wrapped around trees like Kleenex. I would not want to be out and about when that stuff was flying a 100mph.
I feel somewhat at ease because we have solar energy stored in batteries, water stored in large tanks and food growing in the yard. We're not planning a raiding the shelves at Big Save, or Walmart.
It does seem worrisome that the tracking of Iselle is just to the south of Kauai (and over the Big Island) while the tracking of Julio is just north of the Hawaiian Islands. This means that any unforeseen variable in the paths of the storms will likely take one of them over the island chain.
Best of luck to you and yours this weekend - especially if you're in Hawaii. I hope it goes well over the next few days. Let us pray these hurricanes pass north and south of the Hawaiian Islands without much damage.
.
By Juan Wilson in 6 August 2014 for IslandBreath -
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2014/08/iselle-and-julio-come-to-visit.html)
Image above: NBC News tracking of hurricane Iselle (left) and Julio (right) heading for Hawaii. From (http://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/hurricane-central-tracking-iselle-julio-n174096).
I sit in Hanapepe Valley, on Kauai, as two hurricanes make their way westward across the Pacific Ocean on trajectories that will skirt just south and then north of here. The show will begin starting Friday morning.
By then the winds of Iselle and Julio will, hopefully, be reduced to a merely a "violent storms". On the Beaufort Scale that is a Force 11 Storm (64-73mph winds) down from a Force 12 Storm (74mph and above).
I don't know if it is related to global warming, but it is quite unusual for two hurricanes to follow the same track just days apart. The one-two punch would be unprecedented in the era of satellite hurricane tracking, said Kevin Roth, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel. One thing is certain, hurricanes feed of the energy of warm ocean surfaces. Global warming will only make them more frequent and stronger.
I was not here for Hurricane Iwa (1982) or Iniki (1992), but I've seen a few hurricanes along the East Coast on Long Island and Connecticut shorelines. My experience with them as a young person was that, outside of the danger and potential for harm, hurricanes were exciting. There is literally a charge in the air as they pass.
Now, as an older person, with much time and effort invested in home and yard, I dread the possibility of damage and cleanup. Even a mild storm will bring down many tree branches and likely do some damage.
Yet I have not plywooded over my windows or bought cases of bottled water. Nor have I bought extra batteries or propane bottles. I'll bring in the tools and equipment out in the yard that could go flying but that's about it. This house got through Iniki with only a few scratches.
I am counting on being buried down in a narrow valley with 60 foot high stone walls on either side to protect us from the worst of the wind. I know that during Iniki that flying debris coming of the hillsides above was some threat in the valley.
When I moved into Hanapepe Valley in 2001one could still find sections of corrugated roofing wrapped around trees like Kleenex. I would not want to be out and about when that stuff was flying a 100mph.
I feel somewhat at ease because we have solar energy stored in batteries, water stored in large tanks and food growing in the yard. We're not planning a raiding the shelves at Big Save, or Walmart.
It does seem worrisome that the tracking of Iselle is just to the south of Kauai (and over the Big Island) while the tracking of Julio is just north of the Hawaiian Islands. This means that any unforeseen variable in the paths of the storms will likely take one of them over the island chain.
Best of luck to you and yours this weekend - especially if you're in Hawaii. I hope it goes well over the next few days. Let us pray these hurricanes pass north and south of the Hawaiian Islands without much damage.
.
1 comment :
Thanks for your always wise assessment of everything! Stay in valleys, be self-sufficient for food, even manage solar or wind to power our phones and computers, above all value water, Katherine Muzik
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