Hey guys,
Heads up.

Forecasters issued a hurricane warning for parts of Florida's Gulf Coast on Monday as the first named storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season quickly gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico.

The warning from Longboat Key near Sarasota to the Ochlockonee River south of Tallahassee means Tropical Storm Alberto was expected to produce hurricane conditions within the next 24 hours.

Oh great, NOT! Thanks for the information JAGIRL. I have a family member in LongBoatKey. I sure hope that none of Florida will be hit by a hurricane. Take care!!

With all due respect to those who suffered property and personal damage in past years' hurricanes (including my brother who has evacuated his home 4 times in past 3 years), I guess that is the price for living in Florida. News stations in Boston are reporting this tropical storm like it is some strange and mysterious event.

But they also act this way when it is cold in Boston in January - not sure why that is a news story either.

Just saw Al Gore at a book signing this noon - and in his brief remarks - about global warming naturally - one of the things he mentioned is this storm (and the effects of the hurricane season starting earlier and being stronger and lasting longer - on an annual basis).

gail,
What can we say? We're all crazy folks! I live in Jamaica and every year I start my hurricane preparations for the new hurricane season right after the old one! We've been hit only once directly in the past 18 years (Gilbert) with Ivan and Dennis brushing us very very closely.
It's not fun waiting for the next big one to hit. But strangely enough it's just part of life as we know it...

Media are funny that way. When storms hit and thousands of people are displaced from their houses for more than a year, still waiting for roof replacements, they tend to think the story is newsworthy. Go figure.

How you'd compare that to cold weather in Boston is beyond me . . .

Must throw my 2cents in: while waiting for my son to finish his tennis lesson, the television was on in the snack bar of the club. Some CNN morning talk show was on, and a "food scientist" was there to tell people that--among other things----if a lettuce leaf gets slimy in your prepared salad-in-a-bag, just throw it out and eat the rest. Oh, and that milk is o.k. to drink if it smells fine.

I guess that is what passes as a feature story now. And it is Reason #456-b why We Don't Have a Television.

I think it we are well past the time when anyone expects actual news from television. It's called the boob tube for a reason.

Good hurricane news/forecasts, satellite photos, etc., available at

http://www.boatus.com/

their info comes directly from NOAA, of course, but the format is very user-friendly and all the charts are on the same page.

I want to know one thing: what do those people do with all that plywood they bought at Home Depot the last time???? Do they throw it away and then go buy a bunch more for the next storm?

And what about those batteries and candles? If they ended up not using them do they throw them out so they can rush to the store and clean out the shelves for this storm???

The bread and milk I can understand!

Apologies for going a little off topic, but, nytraveler, what did you think of Al Gore in person?
I was pretty impressed by An Inconvenient Truth.

I wonder the same thing as Intrepid1. One of the stupidest things I've seen in central Florida is people lining up to return plywood that they didn't use because they got lucky and the storm passed them by. Don't they think that another storm could come by? These are people with plenty of room in their garages to store a few sheets of plywood for an emergency.
Anyway, I'm thankful my Mom lives inland. During hurricane season, she never lets the gas tank go below half (which is easy, because she doesn't drive much, only local errands) and she makes sure she has plenty of canned food, water, and so on just in case. The worst she's been hit with was still "only" Category 1. And she's lucky that tornadoes kicked up by 'canes have never come to her community.
Fingers crossed for everyone this season!

Intrepid & BTilke
LOL I have hurricane shutters that I just dust off and put up when I hear a storm's coming our way.
I stock up on non perishables during the non-hurricane season, so I don't end up rushing the stores when a warning comes along.
it's the strangest thing though, I can never seem to find the batteries I bought the season before! I guess I end up using them or something...hmmm...

Intrepid - they also show hardware stores in New England selling out of snow shovels before each snow storm. I think it is because no one told them snow shovels were not a disposable item, and that you really can keep them from storm to storm. Can't be that all these people just moved here since Mass. is the only state to lose population at last census report

I'm thinking it is a slow news day.

I live in Tampa and yep we have gotten plenty of rain but those of us that have lived here for awhile (29 yrs in my case) have a good sense of when these storms will be really bad and when it is just a rain event. I think the excessive media coverage that actually was bad 2 yrs ago as well as of course last year left people with a lot of hurricane fatigue. I work at a school and it was really exhausting trying to make the best decision about cancelling school or not during the fall. Just praying for everyone's sake that the storm does minimal damage.

I live in the New Orleans area and am SO OVER hearing about hurricanes. You'd think that a hurricane was coming to New Orleans again the way that they're covering Alberto!!!

My daughter sent me the NOAH tracking link this am LOL She still lives in Florida.
From one who lived there for a little over a year, after 10 hurricanes in ONE year, if they say another is coming, I would be interested. Even though we managed to get through them with no damage, except for power being off for 5 days, it is a huge event to those living there ( I think)..
With all the roofs still covered with tarps from last year, (thanks Insurance companies) I guess it is big news to those people too.
Jamaica! how great!!

We in lower Al are actually hoping it will swing alittle our way this time, as we are in a terrible drought!

Batteries do have a shelf life and of course, some are used during the year for other purposes. As for the boards...they probably used it on other 'projects'...my DH for example, would use it for an additional tree stand for hunting!

The TV NewsNerds here have been yelling be prepared, be prepared, be prepared for about two months now. Alberto has been charted to pass (1)directly over us, (2)'waaay to the east and (3)waaay to the west. They warn us about possible heavy flooding while the offical forcast say a possible 60% chance of rain during scattered thundershowers.

They are crying "wolf" constantly. You know what is going to happen, don't you?? Yep, people are hear about hurricanes danger sooooo much that they are going to start tuning out. And then, there's going to be a real threat but too few will hear.

I have found that this is about the best site for plain talk about it.

http://hurricane.terrapin.com/

http://www.boatus.com/hurricanes/tracking.asp

This is one thing I don't miss about living in Tampa. Bad thing is...our sailboat still sits in her slip in St Pete. We spent one entire day of our vacation there last month putting her back together from last hurricane season, 4 days varnishing, and one day sailing, and another to dismantle everything again in preparation for this year's hurricane season. Pretty normal boating average...1 day of sailing to 6 of work??

We've got to get her over here and out of harms way. Sure as shootin' as soon as we do, one will head straight for the Texas coast!!

Frankie - much less stiff and much more charismatic (if you can believe it). But I think it's much easier when you're truly speaking from your heart - and not wondering if exactly how you frame a remark will gain or lose you a point in the polls.

He was succinct, compelling - and really scary.

I've personally been ignoring national politics for years because it's so depressing. I think what bothers me the most is that a democracy gets the government it deserves - and that we as a people value so little those who are informed, serious, and thoughful - even if they seem a tiny bit dull - over ill-informed panderers to the wealthy and powerful who play to people's prejudices while ignoring any real issues.