A few random thoughts while seeing where exactly Hurricane Irma is going to hit…

Me? I’ve been commenting at the Weather Underground blog over the past few days that the NHC track was always too far to the east and that they were putting too much credence in that dopey trough sliding down from Oklahoma. It just didn’t seem that strong to me – certainly not strong enough to push a hurricane as large as Irma has been up the Florida east coast or even up its spine. I always thought it would hit anywhere from Sarasota to the Florida / Alabama border, and I’m sticking with it.

…I notice that late last night they started moving Irma’s landfall from Ft. Myers up to Tampa Bay, and now they’re hinting that it could even hit further north than that. Knowing that hurricane tracks are prone to wobble one way or the other, I’m guessing Tampa Bay or slightly north of there, but if I were living in Pensacola (I wish!) I’d be keeping a wary eye to the south.

My favorite hurricane song? Gotta be Neil Young’s “Like a Hurricane”. That is some bad-ass grungy guitar playing on Neil’s part.

They say Irma will be the strongest hurricane to hit Florida since Hurricane Donna in 1960, might even surpass that. I remember Hurricane Donna hitting Massachusetts – in fact it’s one of my earliest memories, I was almost five then. I can remember the wind wailing outside our windows and eating supper by candlelight after our power went out. I seem to remember the menu that night included Spam.

The pictures coming back from Barbuda and St. Maarten are heart-wrenching. It will be interesting to see what kind of wrath Irma leaves in Florida.

Looks like I’ll be making another donation to Samaritan’s Purse for the victims of Harvey and Irma. I’d much rather give my money to SP rather than a bureaucracy-heavy organization like the American Red Cross. Putting the money as close to the local folks in my view is always best, and the folks at SP are top-notch in that regard.

And let’s not forget Hurricane Jose that’s spinning out there behind Irma. Me? I’ve got a sneaky suspicion that somewhere down the line Jose and New England are going to be used in the same sentence.