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Just a heads up, you will see people say that the storm will “weaken” before landfall. I put weaken in quotes because even though it might go from a cat 5 to a cat 3, those cat 5 winds will have already been pushing the water towards the coast, so storm surge won’t be any less serious. Also, cat 3 is still very dangerous.

You know which other storm weakened from cat 5 to cat 3 before landfall? Katrina. I’m not saying this storm will be that, obviously New Orleans is a unique case with the levee system. But it just demonstrates that you shouldn’t take the storm less seriously because of some last minute weakening.
 
If you live in the Tampa Bay area, you should take the evacuation orders from Hurricane Milton seriously. I don’t like to be hyperbolic, but this has the potential to be the worst hurricane to ever hit that region.
You sure got that right. I went from 3 to 5 in a couple hours. I hope they heed the evacuation advice.
 
It really depends on the water temperature near the west Florida coastline. If it's still fairly warm it could make landfall as a CAT 4 hurricane.

Relatively speaking, the water Milton will be going through is much shallower than what Katrina did. Hence the upwelling will not bring cooler water to the surface.

So yeah, hang on. :(
 
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I hope anyone here that lives in an evacuation zone is taking this seriously. If you live in a flood zone, don’t be a fool. It isn’t too late to evacuate. If the highways are too backed up, drive 30 miles inland and use booking.com to find a cheap hotel, it’s better than nothing.
 
In Milton’s wake, not to rub salt in the wound, but how many storms does it take before Florida starts losing population, and shore front residential property is no longer a thing, because it’s uninsurable? My Dad lives in Central Florida.
 
I'm sure you have seen the pics or videos of the roof of The Trop (Tropicana Field), or where the roof used to be.

Reports this morning state the roof was designed for 110 MPH winds. Really??? On the tip of St. Pete? 110?

Should have been 140 minimum and that might not have been enough had it hit full strength.
 
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So very done with this inversion that we've had for a week. Been in the mid 20's since Sunday, everything is frosted over with frozen fog. The sky has been the same gray, lifeless color and it's really starting to screw with me...

IMG_0059 Large.jpeg


For comparison and context, this is the view from our local Ski resort at over 7000 ft. The entire valley is beneath that layer of clouds and it's been mid to upper 40's (f) at the ski resort...

Screenshot 2024-12-05 at 11.06.47 AM.png
 
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So very done with this inversion that we've had for a week. Been in the mid 20's since Sunday, everything is frosted over with frozen fog. The sky has been the same gray, lifeless color and it's really starting to screw with me...

View attachment 2459135

For comparison and context, this is the view from our local Ski resort at over 7000 ft. The entire valley is beneath that layer of clouds and it's been mid to upper 40's (f) at the ski resort...

View attachment 2459136

One nice thing about colder weather is the end to wildfires.
 
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For comparison and context, this is the view from our local Ski resort at over 7000 ft. The entire valley is beneath that layer of clouds and it's been mid to upper 40's (f) at the ski resort...

View attachment 2459136

I grew up skiing in WV. It was all I ever knew and sunny days were very rare. We mainly skiied at Snowshoe which is around 4,800'.

Took our first trip to Colorado and from the ground it looked the same as WV, gray, cloudy and gloomy. Figured, oh well, at least it won't be ice.

So we took the gondola up out of Aspen and about 1/3 of the way up, we popped through the clouds and it was sunny and beautiful. Wow! Completely different experience. Especially with the powder.
 
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I grew up skiing in WV. It was all I ever knew and sunny days were very rare. We mainly skiied at Snowshoe which is around 4,800'.

Took our first trip to Colorado and from the ground it looked the same as WV, gray, cloudy and gloomy. Figured, oh well, at least it won't be ice.

So we took the gondola up out of Aspen and about 1/3 of the way up, we popped through the clouds and it was sunny and beautiful. Wow! Completely different experience. Especially with the powder.
It’s been decades but I loved skiing Canaan Valley and the Black Water Falls area. My Grand Parents farm is about 20 miles away (Hambleton).
 
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Thanks to the Polar Vortex, in central Texas, as of Tuesday we will have had 4 nights of below freezing 3 nights of hard freezes. Monday night several inches of snow fell. You want to put Texans (at least this part of Texas) in a panic, mention snow. ;) A couple weeks prior when it fell to about 30F briefly, my outside philodendron shook it off, but the Elephant Ear folded. Now the philly is flat too, although I covered its base with a thick layer of fabric. I suspect/hope it’s not dead. All the important potted stuff is either sitting in the kitchen on the table or the floor, or in the shed with a heat lamp going. This morning was the coldest 24F, but the high will be 47F.

IMG_3449.jpeg

IMG_3448.jpeg
 
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NH, we had 5-6 inches of snow on Sunday and then below zero temps. The snow was generally clear by Monday morning so not a big deal but the cold temps are a bit of a shock after a couple of years of mild weather (mostly over 20 with only a few days below 10).
 
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Thanks to the Polar Vortex, in central Texas, as of Tuesday we will have had 4 nights of below freezing 3 nights of hard freezes. Monday night several inches of snow fell. You want to put Texans (at least this part of Texas) in a panic, mention snow. ;)
If God had wanted Texans to sky, he would have made bull**** white.😁

My kids first real snow experience. Yeah, Houston had a half inch of frost a few years back, but I don't consider anything less than 2-3 inches a real snow fall. I used to live in Illinois and Missouri. Not a fan of 2 feet of snow every year, so I moved south.

We had 4-5 inches of beautiful white powder where I live. The kind of fluffy snowfall skiers dream about. My daughter finally made a real snowman. A smol one (3 feet tall) complete with a 10 gallon hat because Texas y'all.🤠 It was a big step up from the 6" one she made when we had that 1/2" frost dusting years ago.
A couple weeks prior when it fell to about 30F briefly, my outside philodendron shook it off, but the Elephant Ear folded. Now the philly is flat too, although I covered its base with a thick layer of fabric. I suspect/hope it’s not dead. All the important potted stuff is either sitting in the kitchen on the table or the floor, or in the shed with a heat lamp going. This morning was the coldest 24F, but the high will be 47F.
The Missus made me bring all her potted plants indoors. Thanks for the hernia, hon.😘 I conveniently forgot to cover up some plants in the garden I didn't care for. None of them were planted, they just sprung up after I tilled the soil. If they die, they die.
ivan-drago2_crop_north.jpg

I only hope she doesn't like any of them, or she might go Ivan Drago on me.😬
 
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We had ~11cm of snow last week in ATL, and (surprisingly) the City adequately prepared. Temps increased considerably the next few days, and things flowed, nicely.

Yesterday we received ~4cm. High temps hovered around 29C, but were forecast to drop to ~10C at night.

The Commute Home was as tedious and treacherous as one might imagine (esp. in a dense Urban area filled with those unaccustomed to such weather). I eventually decided to return to School to avoid the next Morning's travel, as I factored the deep-freeze would make the Morning roads much more treacherous.

I was raised in Central/North America, and repeated accumulations of 30cm of snow were common. I have 20years of living near Washington, D.C., and have lived-through many 70cm+ Blizzards.

Urban South is a new experience for me (even after 13yrs). . . everything completely, and inevitably, falls-apart at about the 5cm Mark 🤷‍♂️
 
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Thanks to the Polar Vortex, in central Texas, as of Tuesday we will have had 4 nights of below freezing 3 nights of hard freezes. Monday night several inches of snow fell. You want to put Texans (at least this part of Texas) in a panic, mention snow. ;) A couple weeks prior when it fell to about 30F briefly, my outside philodendron shook it off, but the Elephant Ear folded. Now the philly is flat too, although I covered its base with a thick layer of fabric. I suspect/hope it’s not dead. All the important potted stuff is either sitting in the kitchen on the table or the floor, or in the shed with a heat lamp going. This morning was the coldest 24F, but the high will be 47F.

Meanwhile in Fairbanks, Alaska we are having abnormally warm temperatures :)
Screenshot 2025-01-23 at 8.31.26 PM.png
 
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It’s been decades but I loved skiing Canaan Valley and the Black Water Falls area. My Grand Parents farm is about 20 miles away (Hambleton).

I never skiied Canaan, but have 1) raced motorcycles there in the old Blackwater 100 and 2) dove there. Did my Advanced Open Water while my wife got her basic Open Water.
 
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If God had wanted Texans to sky, he would have made bull**** white.😁

My kids first real snow experience. Yeah, Houston had a half inch of frost a few years back, but I don't consider anything less than 2-3 inches a real snow fall. I used to live in Illinois and Missouri. Not a fan of 2 feet of snow every year, so I moved south.

We had 4-5 inches of beautiful white powder where I live. The kind of fluffy snowfall skiers dream about. My daughter finally made a real snowman. A smol one (3 feet tall) complete with a 10 gallon hat because Texas y'all.🤠 It was a big step up from the 6" one she made when we had that 1/2" frost dusting years ago.

The Missus made me bring all her potted plants indoors. Thanks for the hernia, hon.😘 I conveniently forgot to cover up some plants in the garden I didn't care for. None of them were planted, they just sprung up after I tilled the soil. If they die, they die.
ivan-drago2_crop_north.jpg

I only hope she doesn't like any of them, or she might go Ivan Drago on me.😬
Somethings if you prefer not having to buy them again, can be easily saved. :) Potted plants are the easiest. I put 3 freeze bags over schrubs, the leaves are dead, but I’m curious to see if the stems survived..
 
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