Important Anniversary and Ike Models Interesting Trend Continues

Today is the anniversary of the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900. It is the worst natural disaster in U.S. history with as many as 12,000 deaths. This storm was a Category 4 storm that swept water over most of Galveston Island, toppling and crushing homes. The fatally wounded victims who didn't drown, were killed by flying debris. This was before the island had a sea wall. Ironically, some of the homes further in on the island may have been saved by debris from the destroyed homes. It piled up, making a seawall of debris. Water also swept inland from the coast...taking more lives.

As I reported in the previous post, with each model run, the projected storm paths are further west. This is again the case with the 8 pm runs. Not one of the most popular model paths has the upper Texas coast in its path.

That being said, let's keep an eye on this anyway...landfall (on Saturday) is still a long way out and if a trough develops later in the week as some models are picking up, you just never know how this storm could turn.

I'll have more on Tuesday.

Have a good night!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Hurricane Ike 1 PM Update

Well the 1 pm model runs (2 pm eastern) are continuing the overall trend of moving the landfalls west with almost each run. If we keep this up, Ike will hit Mexico. Anyway, a lot could happen in 5 days (landfall is expected Saturday). Please do take this seriously and get your home and family ready...see previous posts for tips.

I looked at the statistics for the last 150 years of storms. My friend Lew Fincher of Hurricane Consulting brought this up in his email update. No storms originating in the same area as Ike have (in that period period of record) hit the Houston area. On the other hand, if you look at where they hit, many of the hits are isolated from the others...i.e. there is no significant clustering...i.e. there's always the first time and that's all it takes to make your life miserable.

Anyway, I post as frequently as appropriate. More to come!

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Really...You Need to Prepare for Ike!

HURRICANES AND WEATHER

Sorry this is so late...little one has been sick and we just got back from the doctor.

Now, I'm not saying that Ike will definitely hit the Houston area...one of my favorites, GFDL is off to the right. But, the models are starting to cluster more and they as a group are averaging on an upper Texas coast landfall on Saturday.

Cash, gas, prescriptions...these are priorities all week. Of course you need supplies. Make copies of important documents and send them to a safe place beyond the danger zone. Make your contingency plans--stay or go. Let family and friends know your plans. Document all property and send the records outside the area (or make sure in waterproof containers). Think about how to protect your property and begin preliminary steps (i.e. purchasing plywood and plylox clips or other means to affix).

Ike is emerging on the south side of Cuba. It will probably make one more landfall (on the west side of Cuba) before it gets into the Gulf.

This weeks weather...hot and humid...a few showers.

SPANISH WORD FOR THE DAY
We did hurricane yesterday...how about the Spanish word for storm, tormenta pronounced tore-men-tah.

Here's some more research about learning Spanish:
A report on the Culver City Spanish Immersion Program designed for the bilingual education of English speaking student learning Spanish showed definite patterns emerging following the second year. The English speaking students were acquiring competence in understanding, speaking, reading, and writing Spanish, while maintaining English language proficiency.

This comes from Cohen, A.D. (1974). The culver CitySpanish immersion program: The first two years. The Modern Language Journal, 58(3), 95-103. from Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts Database.

Before the holiday and party rushes, you can get a jump on gifts by ordering my award winning DVD, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco from from http://www.frankandpaco.com, Ventura's Educational Supply, Dolo Publications, Carlex Inc., The Curious Mind Store, amazon.com, bestbuy.com, and barnesandnoble.com.

AND MORE
Do you just hate set in stains? That one commercial (where the lady throws a washing machine out her window) cracks me up. Well I have a lot of those because Sarah drink and dribbles chocolate milk all the time. Try some Resolve. Spray it on and let it sit. Come back in an hour. You will be amazed and how it dissolves the stain without ruining the fabric. Amazing!!!

Be safe everyone!

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman