Last September I gained new respect for weather systems when hurricane Ivan passed by. While our island was lucky that time, others were not. It is simply a question of time until every island in the Caribbean is hit. What was helpful in the time before Ivan passed was having a fair amount of advanced warning. Ivan was a well established storm by the time it reached 45 degrees W. The papers were a little slow to warn on this one and the University was open the morning before it passed. While it is not necessary to panic every time a storm shows up on the Atlantic, it won't hurt to stock up on noodles, cans, plastic bags, and lay in a store of water when a hurricane forms at 45 degrees west. There are several places to go for information.
These are a series of sites I found useful and I consult some of them daily during the hurricane season.
1) For a quick summary of storms and weather outlook visit:http://hurricane.terrapin.com/. For storms of tropical depression strength or above you will find links to track plots and predicted tracks. Note that storm track prediction is an inexact science. Ivan was predicted to hit us last year but swerved south at the last minute.
2)There are several worthwhile links at the site indicated above to images: http://hurricane.terrapin.com/imagesandmaps.html.en and weather discussion before and after storms: http://www.stormcarib.com/.
3) Unisys provides historical data and current images: http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/index.html. When you visit this site, you will probably want to scroll down to the middle of the page where you will find current tropical weather satellite images and aviation model forcasts. One link that I like is the sea level pressure maps.
4) The US National Hurricane Center is quite helpful and may be found here: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml.
5)In the links on the US National Hurricane Center site, there is a good set of frequently asked questions: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/tcfaqHED.html. My favorite is the question about taping windows. Having dutifully taped my windows for Ivan, I was surprised to learn this was a waste of time and tape.
6) Having learned that tape was not much help, my wife and I constructed a set of plywood shutters based on information and designs found here: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/weather_sub/shutters.html. This is something you will want to do in advance. It took us number of weekends to complete these.
7) The European Union operates a satellite (METEOSAT) that covers the whole of africa and the atlantic ocean up to the caribbean. This is an nice view of what is coming for people living in the windward Islands. It can be animated if desired and includes visible, IR, and water vapor imagery. You can acces the site here: http://oiswww.eumetsat.org/IDDS-cgi/listImages?a=0,m=7,f=1,c=2,o=1,s=0,n=6,d=1,v=400,p=0.
8) Here is a good place to go for information about how to deal with potentially contaminated water. http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/hurricanes/recovery.asp#water.
9) Further health related information in English, Spanish, French, and Creole may be found here:http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/hurricanes/recovery.asp.
10) Finally, be very careful about any wounds that come in contact with flood waters. This is a potential route for leptospirosis infection.
Take some time to check your supplies.
No comments:
Post a Comment