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Irma's Coming!

I'm really tired of watching these idiot reporters out doing what they just spent half the morning telling us what to do.

I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, telling people to evacuate when the reporter is clearly not evacuating seems strange. On the other hand, If people in the path don't see how bad it is, there may be a danger of them not taking seriously.
 
I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, telling people to evacuate when the reporter is clearly not evacuating seems strange. On the other hand, If people in the path don't see how bad it is, there may be a danger of them not taking seriously.

Mmmm, but when "how bad it is" sees the reporter just about managing to stay on his feet then I'd say it's a very bad message to send.
 
Isn't this what reporters have always done? Isn't it essentially their job? With family in South Florida I definitely value the extensive coverage. Been watching the networks and CNN on and off all day.
 
Finally some good news. The Mayor of Naples FL just told MSNBC that they have been told, the eye of the storm has dissipated and the wind circulation from west to east is not expected to produce the kind of storm surge as originally expected along Florida's Gulf coast.
 
Finally some good news. The Mayor of Naples FL just told MSNBC that they have been told, the eye of the storm has dissipated and the wind circulation from west to east is not expected to produce the kind of storm surge as originally expected along Florida's Gulf coast.

Around 5:30 or so, the Weather Channel reporter was reporting live from Naples and he said he was in the eye. It was calm there. He said he was just waiting for the other side of the eyewall to reach him with the high winds and rain again. The guy on the desk said he likely would not see the other side of the eyewall come through as it had largely dissipated already.
 
Here's supposedly some video from this morning looking out the windows of a home in Big Pine Key while it was in the eyewall of the storm. It's said in the video that this is before the eye had actually arrived and that the estimated storm surge at the time was about 7 feet.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10155729564519549&id=807759548

I was asked at the link to sign in to Facebook, but I was able to download the video without doing so by using the download program "youtube-dl." I don't really do Facebook myself.

ETA: Here's a picture by someone else of some boats on the road in Big Pine Key after the water had subsided. It looks like they're on the main road - Highway 1.

https://twitter.com/ExtremeStorms/status/906993196252745729

The same fellow has a picture of someone's roof on his driveway, too.
 
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I have been following some of the developments on a weather forum. A lot of the discussion is technical but everyone agrees, Irma is still a powerful and dangerous storm. One point some of the folks make is, we really don't know too much about the overall effects in places away from news reporting or some footage posted on a few social media sites.

Here's a radar scan from 9:30PM EDT tonight. Still a huge amount of water and energy in this storm. If I understand this (doubtful), the yellow-red bands in the lower left are the core of the storm; the eye has 'closed.' The dark area in the middle is the dry air flow Irma is picking up as she moves over land. That is what is weakening the storm. I think over the last couple of hours the storm has tracked further east-northeast than expected.

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Isn't this what reporters have always done? Isn't it essentially their job? With family in South Florida I definitely value the extensive coverage. Been watching the networks and CNN on and off all day.
One can have extensive coverage without stunts. A hotel room with a nice window or they have these fancy "green screen" contraptions. You can still throw in a guy wading in the water (maybe with a life preserver and a harness) as a demonstration. Preferably taped so there's no on-air horror show.

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Irma is heading closer to us near Orlando than expected earlier today. We have experienced heavy rain since early this afternoon. Around 5:30 in the afternoon, I posted on Facebook that we hadn't seen much wind. A few minutes later an incredible gust hit us. We saw trees bending. It was very brief, though. About the same time a Tornado Warning alert was issued for our area.

A few more hours passed before the wind picked up. It is now sustained around 30 mph, I think, with strong gusts every once in a while.

We lost power a couple of hours ago. We saw sparks through our front windows and heard a loud bang as a transformer blew up. We have a small generator outside that is powering a TV and fan.

Our front yard looked like a lake before the sun went down. I am confident that our house is high enough that we don't have to worry, but it is disconcerting that we can't see very well what is happening. We are hearing things hit the house occasionally.

The worst for us is still a few hours away.
 
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I'm really tired of watching these idiot reporters out doing what they just spent half the morning telling us what to do.

It's boring, stupid. I ended up watching Fox for a while because they had a little more info than CNN and MSNBC who both had their idiots standing out in the wind and rain trying to talk non-stop when they had nothing to say.
 
Radar has picked up a lot of tornado activity in the storm. This is one of the problems mentioned about a very limited amount of information coming in. It will probably not be known until tomorrow whether or how much tornado damage might have been done.
 
I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, telling people to evacuate when the reporter is clearly not evacuating seems strange. On the other hand, If people in the path don't see how bad it is, there may be a danger of them not taking seriously.

I don't have an issue with reporters staying in the evacuated areas. They usually have some kind of safe place to be.

But 24 hour coverage of an idiot reporter standing in the wind, WTF, how is that supposed to be interesting? And then you always have the station reporter telling them to get inside, stay safe, whatever, are we supposed to believe they are risking their lives to get the story scoop? :rolleyes:
 
...Our front yard looked like a lake before the sun went down. I am confident that our house is high enough that we don't have to worry, but it is disconcerting that we can't see very well what is happening. We are hearing things hit the house occasionally.

The worst for us is still a few hours away.

Good luck!
 
Helmets. They could at least have helmets on those guys standing around amidst the flying debris they keep telling us about.

I like where this is going :9.

Water-tight skin suit, life preserver and wading boots by Body Glove, to keep your core dry and prevent hypothermia.

PPE including helmet, eye protection, Skyhook™ Harness kit, and hi-viz vest by 3M, leading global industrial supplier, you can find these products and more at your local Grainger. Grainger: the ones who get it done!

There, you just indicated how dangerous the situation is if you aren't properly prepared and just got the network a few hundred thousand dollars in product placement.

This world is run by morons, I swear.
 
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Helmets. They could at least have helmets on those guys standing around amidst the flying debris they keep telling us about.

Was it Dan Rather who got his first national exposure covering one of the Gulf Coast hurricanes, 'lo those many years ago? It was one of the national anchors, I'm sure.
 
Is it too late to buy orange juice futures? Irma seems to be going right up through central Florida, which is where I believe the orange groves are, and I doubt orange trees are as resistant to wind damage as the palms that are shown bending with the wind. With tropical storm force winds covering the entire state, and hurricane force winds in much of the center, I would have to believe there will be a lot of damage.

But.....they do grow the things in Florida. They have to be at least somewhat resilient. It's not like hurricanes haven't gone through before. They just don't normally cover the entire state.


ETA: Yes, OJ futures have spiked, although only 10% or so, but that is apparently very large.
https://slate.com/business/2017/09/...-irma-damage-frozen-orange-juice-futures.html
 
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