Hurricane Bill: August 23 Update A

Boy do I have some interesting things for you today. I've received a
gaggle of goodies from readers & friends, including Bill surf photos.
Thanks everyone! First, a quick update on wonderful H. Bill (not to be
confused with wonderful Bill H. who may be reading this ;)).

Bill is currently at about 44.4N, 62.5W, racing NE at 35mph. Central
pressure is 970mb, and wind speeds are officially 80mph, making him a
mid-level cat 1 (cat 1 range: 74-95mph). As expected, he was downgraded
to a cat 1 in the advisory after yesterday's update. At the moment he has
hardly any convection to his west and south, even the 'blue-level' clouds
(see yesterday's update for explanation) are mostly on his east and north.
Parts of Canada are getting some rain, and thunderstorms. Given his ragged
appearance I think he's probably a bit weaker, but I'm sure that will be
adjusted in the next couple of advisories.

Also as expected, he's heading to my side of the pond. The 3-day forecast
map on the NHC website looks like the Americas are shooting a
cheesy-60s-sci-fi-movie-special-effects ray gun at the British Isles. Huh.
What did we do to deserve that? ;) Comments I've had since my update a few
days ago on his planned 'attack' on the UK:

From DP: "you can run, but you can't hide."
From EE: Jimi Hendrix, Foxy Lady lyrics: "I'm coming to get ya..."

Hee hee. Actually, it looks like he's heading to Scotland (northern
British Isles for the geographically bemused), and I live in southern
England (southern being the operative word for the bemused), so I reckon
it'll be fine here. Of course, the current center of the cone is heading
straight for my brother (insert more chuckling from yours truely). Here's
my conversation with him about Bill:

Me: Hurricane Bill will be there Tues/weds ish. You may get a bit more
wind and rain than usual.
Him: I don't think there's such a thing as more than usual.

So that's Scotland for you.

Finally on Bill, I hear and see that the surf was amazing on the east
coast of Florida. Sent to me by CP, check out these amazing photos:
http://www.2ndlight.com/fusetalk/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=3&threadid=98054&enterthread=y
Three days of an extreme workout, and he loved every minute. :)
If you recognize him in these photos, you can probably email him yourself. :)

Now for non-Bill things.

I got a query from 'Jim' who asked about the circulation NE of Puerto
Rico. If I'm looking at the same thing, it's not in the lower atmosphere.
It's high up there, and may be connected to a 'trough' (an area of lower
pressure that forms a line as opposed to an isolated circle, as we see
with storms - they are associated with fronts). There's not much
convection, and it is really high, so I don't think it's anything to be
concerned about. But as I learnt from the wisdom of Sean Connery's wife,
never say never (again). :) So I'll watch anyway.

I also got this from HH. It explains why Florida hasn't seen much action
since 2005. Apparently it's due to Governor Crist, who came into office in
2006.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090821/ap_on_re_us/us_crist_hurricanes_1

Or, and I'm just throwing this wild suggestion out there, it could be
because of actual *scientific* reasons. Ummm...nah. That's just plain
silly. ;)

Enough drivel for today. I have to eat dinner and paint my nails.
Ciao for now,
J.

Disclaimer: see previous entries until you get to something that looks
like a proper disclaimer and I don't write anything about Internet issues.
:)