It is headed right for me in virginia. I have through 1 before but i think it was only a grade 3. NOthing like a GRADE 5 though 
. If the power goes out i will have lots of time to pratice flute and whistle, yeah.
-Andrew Cassidy
Be safe and good luck!
What is it?
The hurricane.
Cranberry,
we can look forward to only some rain from this side of the mountains.
Stay safe on the coast folks.
Just as my reeds got used to the dry weather. 
Uh, my whistles and bones don’t care, but my pipes and bodhran really complain about weather changes 
We don’t even know for sure yet where it is going to land… I guess it is not “if” any more, but where and when. I am up in New Jersey, 15 min for New York City, and I am notoriously bad with natural events. I was up all last night, tossing and turning and imagining scenarios.
I do remember that shortly after Floyd, my home insurance policy was modified with a clause excluding hurricane related damages… Wonder what I pay them for really, if something like that is not covered.
I am not worried about terrorists too much, but I am scared witless about Isabel, I am not ashamed to say…
Not to belittle anyone’s valid concerns, but having grown up along the Gulf coast and survived severa bigl hurricanes, and now living in the corn belt, I’ll take a hurricane over an equivalent tornado or earthquake any day of the week. At least with a hurrican you get lots of notice and can take steps to minimize personal injury and even property damage.
At present, they’re saying it’ll hit somewhere between Cape Hatteras, NC and the Southern New Jersey coast sometime on Thursday or Friday. In other words, they really don’t know yet. No need to lose any sleep yet. The worst damage will be within a few dozen miles of the coast, so if you live sixty miles inland, all you can expect is wind and a lot of rain, with accompanying problems like localized flooding and power outages. You should have necessary emergency supplies like flashlights (WITH fresh batteries) a battery or crank-powered radio, etc.
If you live near the coast in these areas, make sure you have gas in the car and consider packing any valuables. Then just watch and be ready to leave if the authorities in your area suggest it. Most of the people killed in this country by hurricanes either didn’t know they were coming or deliberately stayed to watch. Houses can be rebuilt.
I’m far enough inland that the winds and surge won’t be a problem. We’ve had enough practice with heavy rains this summer that a few more inches shouldn’t be a problem.
Regarding Chuck’s point, I’m in total agreement. I have a friend who grew up in the Bay Area and he’s scared shitless of hurricanes – he considers them much more dangerous than earthquakes. I said the same thing to him – you have at least 24 hours notice for a hurricane, none whatsoever for an earthquake. I’ll take the known evil, even one with a lot more destructive power, over the unpredictable one anyday. I may be strange, but I’ve enjoyed the few hurricanes I’ve been through, and I’d LOVE to see a tornado.
Well, just come to the midwest in the Springtime! I’ve seen three funnel clouds and a tornado actually forming. I got my butt out of there before it touched down, so I can’t say I’ve actually see the whole tornado.
To everyone on the east coast, stay safe.
Just play your Susato and maybe you won’t be able to hear the winds!
- Jan
Having been through a volcanic eruption (Mt. St. Helens), a major earthquake (Loma Prieta) and a hurricane (Hurricane Fran), I’m with Chuck…given my druthers, I’ll take the hurricane. They’re nice, polite storms that give you plenty of warning to stock up on Coleman fuel, batteries, canned goods, powdered milk and ice, and to call your family and let them know that you ARE prepared and WILL BE OK. 
. That said, they’re pretty darned scarey, if Fran is any indication (I’ll never forget waking up that night and hearing that weird, keening noise, or getting up in the morning and seeing the huge oak trees down all up and down our street).
Believe it or not, there are aspects of the hurricane’s aftermath that I remember fondly. With no power anywhere in our part of the city for a good week, the stars at night were absolutely fabulous. I learned “Si beg, Si mor” sitting out on my deck after the hurricane, playing under a canopy of stars so amazing I can’t believe I had the breath to play. We re-learned the joy of reading, playing cards and talking by the light of a lantern. My hubby hated those days without power, but I really came to enjoy them…at least for a while
Redwolf
Hey Redwolf! I was living in Longview WA for the Mt St Helens eruption, and the 5.3 earthquake there! Where were you?
I did 5 years in Indiana, and 4 in Texas, so tornados impress me, but I don’t find them unusual.
I’ve lived the rest of my life here in New England, and have dealt with a nice handful of hurricanes and snowstorms, including an interesting hurricane that hit Maine while we were up at camp, 50’ from the water’s edge. The others weren’t terribly concerned. We put the shutters up on the windows, stocked up on ice for the cocktails, and went to watch the surf slamming into the granite shoreline.
All the years I’ve been through stormy weather, the only time I feared was during a microburst, here in inland CT. The sky went from normal stormy sort of grey, to DARK and tornado-stormy sort of green black in about 3 minutes, just enough time for me to get the bird cages into the central hallway and away from the windows. When it was over (maybe 10 minutes later) all of the sudden I realized that it wasn’t just light, it was TOO light. One third of the tree shading our front porch had been snapped off and laid neatly in between us and our neighbor’s houses.
Just checked out the predicted path of the hurricane. The chart had this wid area with a dotted line down the middle as the most likely. The dotted line looks like it goes through my back yard. hmmm.
BTW Chas, this one appears to want to hit somewhere a little north of virgina beach and go North from there a little east of DC a little West of Baltimore. We haven’t had a Class 3 or 4 hurricane in a long time. It might be a little more wind and rain that your thinking of. But … If you are fully prepared, Murphy’s law will spin it down to a little tropical storm with just a little rain. So please prepare fully, or don’t prepare at all, either way I just want that little dotted line going some were other than my back yard.
I was in Spokane. It was totally weird, because I’d left for work before the eruption (as had most of the people working around me), and thought it was just a big thunderstorm approaching from the west. We had midnight at 3:00 that day, and ended up with a couple of inches of ash on the ground (not to mention all over the houses, cars, pets, etc.). The hardest thing was, none of the emergency agencies seemed to know what to advise…cover your mouth with a damp cloth or dry? Wash the cars, or would that scratch the finish? Bathe pets or not? We couldn’t get around via car or bus for a couple of weeks, because the air filters would clog before you’d gone a mile, and I remember losing several weeks of work. Crazy summer!
I don’t remember feeling any earthquakes of any size when I lived in Washington (other than a couple of tiny ones when I was at school in Lacey, right before Mt. St. Helens), but Loma Prieta more than made up for the ones I missed. Now THAT was freaky! I’ve been through a couple of 5s and one 6 since then, but a 7 is a whole different category. I am NOT looking forward to “The Big One,” that’s for sure. Having seen the damage a 7 can do, I have no desire to experience an 8 or 9.
Redwolf
First, I hope the folks in NC and VA weather Isabel without loss.
Second,
I have Tommorrow Off Neener, neener, neener…
The OPM decided at 7 pm to close all Federal Agencies in the DC area for Thursday. I looks like they’ll be closed Friday too. Nice long weekend to sit around the house and play whistle. Even better for me the main track of the storm has shifted West and no longer runs down the middle of my back yard.
Here in Nj, the wind is kicking up somewhat, and we’re supposed to get winds later today and tonight around 25 to 35 m.p.h. - no big deal, with 1 to 2 inches of rain. But they are closing the schools along the coast at 1:00 p.m.
~Larry
BTW, I can recall a few hurricanes that were category 5, but they always seem to lose most of their power before they make landfall. I wonder why?
~Larry
Heck, now its down to a lil’ ol’ Cat2 popgun. I’ve been watching CNN coverage and so far all it’s done in NC is rip off a shingle or two and knock down a lot of power lines. The storm surge (for you old timers, they used to call these tidal waves) has so far not exceeded 4-6 feet.
As for why they lose power, especially on the Atlantic coast, my understanding is that, unlike the Gulf, the colder water of the Atlantic saps their power. They need warm water to grow. Once they move over colder water they wilt. Then they hit land and that further impedes their rotational speed. The ones that do so much damage in the Gulf usually hit an island, slow down crossing it, then pick up speed again over the warm Gulf water. By contrast, it now looks like this one’ is hitting NC, and will now go skipping up the coast, probably dying as it does so.
It sounds now like the biggest worry is that it might spin off a tornado or two. Now, THOSE worry me.
Me. too, Chuck, considering “Tornado Alley” is just a bit south of me! 
~Larry
Seven or eight years ago, I took off work early when word came in (I worked for the State Police) that a tornado had hit a couple of towns on either side of my home. We were lucky, though. After it hit the first, it popped up into the air for a while then came down again on the other side.
Anyway, as I drove home, I looked out and could see FIVE of the danged things at one time - three going and two coming. I drove the rest of the way with one eye out for places where I could pull off and dive into a ditch.