Environment, Society

Virginia Bound

Leslie and I are still stuck in New Orleans. As I noted yesterday, we have been stranded by US Airways which cancelled flights to Washington yesterday despite the relatively mild weather in the city. It appears that the airline simply did not want aircraft in Washington when the storm hit. My complaint has not been that decision but the lack of consumer support after trying for hours to reach anyone at the airline. We have little choice but to try to drive back to Virginia since we have four kids who are being watched over by our sitter (I also have classes to teach on Tuesday and Wednesday). We intend to be highly cautious and stop if it gets to dicey. However, we cannot leave the kids any longer in this storm.


We have been told that we might be able to get on a flight for Tuesday but it does not look promising. Indeed, it was not even raining last night in D.C. with low winds. Tuesday looks like it will be pouring with strong winds. We love New Orleans (where I used to live) but we are increasingly anxious to be with the kids.

There may be an interruption in my posting on Tuesday in light of our effort to drive back. I will try to tweet on our status.

I hope everyone is safe during the storm. I would not travel if we were not separated from our kids. I strongly recommend that people stay indoors and of course continually on this blog.

197 thoughts on “Virginia Bound”

  1. OS

    That is what I said before, but you do write clearer english.

    ElaineM,
    It was an info on “Sandy” which I cited, if you re-read my excerpt you will see that it was. Don’t blame me for
    NOAAs faults. I’ve been using the NHC for years now. When you live on Hurricane Alley in NC you learn fast.’
    I sat through the eye of a hurricane that went ashore and right over Raleigh, NC in 1950 if I remember right, age 14.
    105 mph as I recall.

    Kooky,
    Don’t you recognize a snark when you see one. I know that they update. And as to faults, whereever they occur, I can not diagnose them. Who knows, maybe my laptop has a magic access to old items when I ask for the latest. It or the net does funny things at times. Doesn’t yours.

  2. raff,
    It is not money people will be putting on the line. It is their butts. As I wrote last night, if anyone is in an evacuation zone, be sure to write your social security number on your body with a permanent marker so they can identify your body….provided they even find it.

    There are reports that at Brigantine Beach, NJ, between 70% and 75% of the 9500 residents did not evacuate despite the mandatory evacuation order. Access is now closed, seawalls have been breached and the tide is still rising. Steady winds of 35-50 mph are expected with gusts to 75 mph. This is what it looked like on Brigantine Beach before it even started to get really bad there.

    http://i.imgur.com/fpXMT.png

    When told to evacuate, GO!

  4. The best place to keep up with weather is the NWS pages. The National Weather Service is part of NOAA and is where you will find the most up to date information for your area. Put in your city or zip code and it will take you to the weather service station nearest that location. This is the one for the DC/Baltimore area. NWS service station areas around the country have some overlap in their coverage.

    Notice the section in pink with the red bar across the top. Those are the official and up to date notices for severe weather events. There are several categories of alerts, ranging from wind alerts to hazardous weather alerts.

    http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Washington&state=DC&site=LWX&textField1=38.895&textField2=-77.0373&e=1

  5. Prediction: This will not be nearly the disaster hyped by cable tv and news and weather who are trying to scare the shit out of you just so they can sell you soap, soda, autos, etc. We are fast becoming a culture of scared lemmings. “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Howard Beale.

  6. idealist707: Guess NOAA showed that they were not up to date.

    NOAA and NHC are updating, NOAA as needed and NHC every hour, should be another update an NHC in a few minutes

    NHC

  8. ElaineM,

    Thanks for noticing. When I link to NOAA I expect that I will get the latest. Don’t you too?

    What caught my eye and what was still timely was that it was no longer to the National Hurricane Center that people, ie us, should turn to for up to date info.
    Guess NOAA showed that they were not up to date.

    So where ARE you in Massachusetts? Let us use NWS to see your local advisories.
    Here’s mine:
    http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Raleigh&state=NC&site=RAH&textField1=35.822&textField2=-78.6588&e=0

  9. That I should complain, it is your power loss, not mine.
    But feel for you. It is a big country and aerial lines are cheapest (even here), but the main grid stays up and the city power is all underground, so is secure. Most live in cities.

  10. idealist,

    That NOAA notice you provided a link to is dated October 27th.

    Here’s some information that is more current:

    October 29, 2012, 3:07 PM
    Hurricane Sandy speeds towards landfall
    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57541877/hurricane-sandy-speeds-towards-landfall/

    Excerpt:
    NEW YORK A superstorm threatening 50 million people in the most heavily populated corridor in the nation gained strength Monday, packing winds of 90 mph and picking up considerable speed just hours before it is expected to make landfall, forecasters said.

    The National Hurricane Center said Monday morning that the Category 1 hurricane is moving northwest at 28 mph – up from 18 mph a few hours earlier. At 2:00 p.m. ET the storm was centered about 175 miles south-southeast of New York City, or about 110 miles southeast of Atlantic City, N.J. Hurricane-force winds extend up to 175 miles from the storm’s center, with tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 485 miles.

    Maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, with higher gusts, were measured.

    Gale/tropical storm-force force winds were reported from North Carolina to southern New England.

    Hours before the storm made landfall, high winds had already knocked out power to more than half a million customers in several states by mid-day Monday.

  14. “Much better to drive than sit in an airport at the mercy of the airlines.”

    Much better to be anywhere than in an——-(insert here).
    America is big and beautiful to live in, if you are in the wilds of Colorado. Hunter S Thompson thought so. And never took the keys outa his car or locked his house there.

    Met a young woman from Perth, Australia 3 days ago. The girls there still leave their bags on the table and walk away leaving them untended. Civilization’s last frontier?

  15. Jonathan,

    I hope you have a safe trip home.

    *****
    The wind and rain have picked up in the area of Massachusetts where I am. We lost electricity for about an hour. It is back on again.

    *****

    More than 110,000 without power as Hurricane Sandy whips state
    10/29/2012 3:22 PM
    http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2012/10/29/outer-edges-hurricane-sandy-are-bringing-high-winds-and-rains-today-but-worse-still-come/Q9xxjXy0lsXcVzUKT49CkJ/story.html

    Excerpt:
    More than 110,000 electric customers lost power today as Massachusetts was lashed by winds and pounded by waves from Hurricane Sandy, the “superstorm” poised to make landfall late this afternoon in New Jersey but powerful enough to wreak trouble hundreds of miles away in New England.

    Coastal communities braced for flooding from wind-whipped waves at the next high tide this evening; several, on both the North Shore and South Shore warned residents to evacuate.

  16. I flew non-stop commercial to Anchorage out of Atlanta. Hated every minute of the flight. It was about eight years ago, and my son was living and working there. We stayed at his apartment for about ten days. I have never been on a cruise and have never had an urge to take a floating hotel to anyplace. If I wanted to do a cruise, I would probably go by one of those freighters that books a small number of passengers.

    Next time I go to Alaska, I will probably drive the AlCan highway.

    The late Senator Stevens died in a plane crash. He was a legitimate war hero. He was in training to become a P-38 fighter pilot, but his outfit got into some kind of hot water with the brass and they were all reassigned to fly freight. He ended up flying C-47 freighters over the Hump, along the route that was nicknamed the “aluminum highway,” because of all the plane wreckage along the way. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

    In a way, it is sad that his legacy is to be remembered because of his famous speech to the Senate about the Internet being a series of tubes. Said that a constituent, “Sent me an internet,” the day before, but only got it today because somebody was sending a book and clogging up the internet.

  17. OS, Where did you visit in Alaska? Did you take a cruise? We’ve been there twice but not by cruise. I think that’s how the vast majority of folks see Alaska.

  18. OS, That was a noble use of power by Stevens. However, it doesn’t make up for the Bridge To Nowhere and other pork he squandered on Alaska. As you probably know OS, you can’t even drive to the capitol, Juneau. My son spent 2 summers working in Skagway so we visited him. The Army built a road from Skagway to the Canadian transcontinental highway during WW2. Some folks now want to build a road from Skagway to Juneau along the Lynn Canal. The proposal has stalled. Alaska is a lot like Colombia, very dependant on air travel because of terrain and remoteness. We wanted to get to Haines from Skagway to see an eagle sanctuary. It’s only a few miles across the canal but the ferry service is horrible. So, we flew Skagway Air for cheap. The pilot dropped us off in Haines, gave us his cell# and just had us call him when we wanted to come back. It was a 5 minute flight, I think the 3 of us round trip was $65 in 2006.

  19. Professor Turley, I understand your need to get home to your kids. Make sure that your nanny has support in case you don’t arrive in time, and be be careful for yourselves. I am sure your caregiver has common sense or you wouldn’t have hired them. Your kids are safest when their parents are safe, so don’t be a hero, although a loving parent is often that!

  20. Prof Turley, I really enjoyed meeting you in DC and hope you have a safe trip home. I was thinking that if you know some pilots in the area who have a plane, that might be a good way to get around without the airlines. You could just pay for the fuel, and any light twin or single engine plane might be just the thing for you. OR, if you have the time and inclination, you could get a pilots license. Good luck!

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