weather

I have spent all 38 years of my live in the greater Cincinnati area. As matter of fact, 36 of those years have been within about a 15 mile radius. We never used to have our power go out, but that has changed. Now it is happening on a constant basis. Last night’s cause was a high wind storm, with gusts over 50mph.

So I was thinking about this. Here in Republicanville, we hear right wingers saying how we don’t need to invest that much in infrastructure. Well then what accounts for these power outages – the weather? If that’s the case, then does that mean these same wingnuts are admitting that we are seeing climate change? I would LOVE to have an answer to this.

Hannah has been downgraded to a tropical storm as it hits the Bahamas, but is expected to regain hurricane strength once it gets back over open water. Behind Hannah is Ike, still a tropical storm, but expected to gain strength over the next couple of days.

As if that isn't enough, we now have Tropical Depression 10 located about 170 miles from the Cape Verde islands. Forecasters are expecting this to become a named storm later today.

Saturday the media was talking about a possible 1, 2 punch from storms. Now it looks like we might have a 1,2,3,4 punch coming. This will really be testing our nation over the next week.

The Washington Post is reporting this morning that the Republicans are considering delaying the start of their convention because of Tropical Storm Gustav, which is expected to become a hurricane before making landfall on Tuesday. The White House is also debating whether Bush should cancel his speech or not.

Gustav is not the only problem Mother Nature is throwing at our country. Tropical Storm Hannah is out there strengthening also, and expected to become a hurricane in the next couple of days and could hit the U.S. towards the end of next week.

As if that isn't enough, there are two more potential storms growing.

(image from the National Hurricane Center)

The yellow area is a tropical wave that has less than a 20% chance of becoming a storm. It has been pretty unstable over the past 24 hours, but has reached a higher potential at times as it does try to organize.

The orange area is a little more serious. That contains a 20-50% chance of becoming a tropical storm. It just developed last night and has become more organized over the past 12 hours.

So we are looking at a very bumpy ride over the next couple of weeks. If the Republicans do delay their convention, I don't know when they will have a clear shot to hold it.

That's the latest from the National Hurricane Center. The yellow area is a tropical wave that appeared tonight and has less than a 20% probability of becoming a tropical storm. The red area is a storm that has a greater than 50% probability of becoming a tropical depression either tonight or tomorrow. On top of that we have Gustav expected to gain strength as it aims for the Gulf. It is forecast to hit the Gulf Coast on Monday.

(Click for full size image)

The world's largest statue of Jesus was struck by lightning. Pretty cool looking.

Amazing video from last night. Keep the victims in your thoughts and prayers.

Eight states hit and some 67 tornadoes tore up the south last night. Tennessee was the hardest hit:

The victims included 24 people in Tennessee, 13 in Arkansas, seven in Kentucky and three in Alabama, emergency officials said. Among those killed were Arkansas parents who died with their 11-year-old in Atkins, about 60 miles northwest of Little Rock. Hundreds more were injured.

They are expecting the number of fatalities to go much higher as they continue clean up efforts. Here is the Red Cross' donation page. I am sure they will need help right now.

Tornadoes have been ravaging the south tonight. One person is reported dead in Tennessee and three dead in Arkansas. There are also reports of a lot of people trapped in Tennessee.

Not exactly in "tornado alley". As matter of fact the last tornado in New Hampshire was an F1 in 1995.

So why this talk of weather (besides the fact I am a weather junky)? Well as soon as I heard about this, my mind went to work. I wonder if this did turn into a tornado (hopefully not) what Pat Robertson would say about it, especially with all the Republican candidates there for the debate. Just one of those mid-day thoughts that make you go hmmmmmm.