Thursday, August 20, 2009

Hurricane Bill: August 20 Update A

Bill is such a lovely, wonderful, magnificent storm, isn't he? First he
turns to avoid the Caribbean, and now he looks like he's going to 'swerve'
to avoid Bermuda, and then turn again to only skim the east coast...
before he heads OVER TO THE UK!?!?! Yeah yeah, laugh it up. ;)

He's currently at 23.5N, 62.6W, and at the last advisory at 2pm, was
moving NW at 18 mph. Winds from a hurricane hunter earlier were at 120
mph, making him a cat 3. Central pressure was 951mb. His eye got a bit
cloudy earlier today, also an indication of some weakening, I think as a
result of that dry air and wind shear I mentioned yesterday. But it's
looking a bit clearer again now. The wind shear from the west has died
down a bit, and now it's just from the SW. You can see this on satellite
images - his eye is closer to the SW side, and there are a lot more clouds
streaming off in the NE quadrant.

Bermuda is under a hurricane watch. Hurricane conditions may be there by
Saturday. I heard from SB on the island... they began hurricane preps in
earnest today. TS force winds extend out 260 miles and hurricane force 105
miles. The center is about 600 miles from the island.

You guys on the east coast should also be prepared of course. I can't yet
comment on that part of the track as I haven't had time to look at
everything. I'll try and have a proper look tomorrow.

(And er... For anyone called Bill who may be reading this...see, I was
very complimentary ... today anyway. ;))

Gotta go! Be good. Esp. you Bermudians. Get your beer in *before* the
rainbands start hitting this year will you? :)

Ciao,
J.

p.s. I've mastered the art of capital letters on this device, but still
can't get the disclaimer. So don't forget to ignore this message and
listen carefully to the NHC, your emergency managers, the NWS, your
spouses & significant others, your kids, your pets, the guys at the
auto-repair shops, your doctors & dentists, Eddie Izzard, Monty Python,
and of course, everything ever said by Keanu Reeves. :)

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