O, the weather outside is...

[jztemple2]

Actually the aluminum panels did land in my neighbor's yard, but thankfully didn't hit his house or his brand new screened in patio

There used to be a full aluminum roof over this area:


The aluminum panels, as they blew off, shredded the pool screen.


Parts of the aluminum roof. What I didn't know was that most of the panels ended up in my neighbor's yard.


The final piles of debris, including what was in my neighbor's yard


And finally out in the front yard, waiting for the county to pick up

[Blackhawk]

Looks like Tampa dodged a bullet, relatively speaking.

Which will, undoubtedly, cause some of the people who prepared and evacuated to blow off the next warning. It'll also spawn conspiracy theories ("Why did the government want everyone out of town when it was safe? Was Biden's FEMA behind this?")

[Daehawk]

you have the same type pool and aluminum roof that a girl streamer I watch has..she lives in Tampa.

[Brian]

[Blackhawk]

If Ohio is there, I'm afraid to see what's to the east of me.

[jztemple2]

According to the National Weather Service, we got 5 inches of rain in the 48 hours of Milton. This doesn't include the all the rain we got over the weekend and Monday and Tuesday . So we've had a lot.

Also according to NWS we had a max wind gust of 70 mph which was at about 1am. The gust that took off my roof at about 6am apparently wasn't the strongest gust, but it was a doozy.

[msteelers]

Sorry for the damage jztemple, but glad that everyone is safe.

My in laws went by our house and we didn’t have any damage from what they said. Our neighbor’s fence took some damage which divides our backyards, and across the street a huge tree snapped in half, but our place is fine.

[jztemple2]

Sorry for the damage jztemple, but glad that everyone is safe.

My in laws went by our house and we didn’t have any damage from what they said. Our neighbor’s fence took some damage which divides our backyards, and across the street a huge tree snapped in half, but our place is fine.

Glad your house did OK. Overall it appears that Milton wasn't as horrible as it could have been, but it was still bad in places. As of noon today there were still 120,000 FP&L customers without power in Brevard County, out of about 350,000 customers. Since the power plant is within five miles of our house, it's probably more likely that we would be the area that never lost power.

The wife has been on the phone with the insurance folks, a house roofer and several aluminum & screening companies. We've got two folks coming tomorrow and right now another next week. Turns out that nobody does aluminum pan roofs any more which isn't surprising considering that roof is about 37 years old

[Isgrimnur]

That’s a good long run for a roof of any sort.

[jztemple2]

Another roof that didn't do well:

[Grifman]

The world is just crazy and sick. Weather forecasters have been asking people to stop with the stupid conspiracies about govt controlling and directing the weather/hurricanes. And because if that, many are now complaining about death threats.

Isn’t it weird that many of the same people who don’t believe in climate change because people can’t impact the weather are the same people that believe that the govt can create/direct hurricanes because the govt can control the weather?

Man, we live in a stupid world. Ever day looks more and more like the movie “Idiocracy”.

[Grifman]

Update on highways in western North Carolina:

Since Helene, NCDOT crews have reopened more than 460 roads, but more than 600 roads remain closed. Of those roads closed, 98 are primary roads.

NCDOT said it has identified more than 5,800 damage sites, which includes 500 bridges and 600 culverts. The state expects at least 100 bridges will need full replacement.

Hopkins emphasized that all roads in western North Carolina should be considered closed to clear the way for crews.

The westbound lanes of I40 will not be stabilized until early 2025. There’s no date on rebuilding the highway.

[Punisher]

Disturbing new social media tend - influencers deciding to ride out the storm for views:

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/ ... ation-book

She's not the only one.

https://www.wideopencountry.com/online- ... lly-exist/

[Max Peck]

When the mayor of Tampa said "I can say without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die" it pretty much guaranteed that certain people would decide to ride it out just to prove her wrong (and gain some fame and fortune along the way).

[Isgrimnur]

[Kraken]

Ordered.

[jztemple2]

Today's outage chart for east central Florida (Spectrum 13 viewership area). In all of Florida there are still 950,000 customers without power .

[jztemple2]

Our forecast for the next few days. We're getting a blast of cold, well, cooler air. Hello fall!

[jztemple2]

Just in case you thought we'd have enough of hurricanes....

1. Eastern Tropical Atlantic (AL94):
Shower and thunderstorm activity remains limited with a well-defined area of low pressure located several hundred miles west of the Cabo Verde Islands. This system is currently embedded in an unfavorable environment and development is not anticipated over the next couple of days. However, this system is forecast to move generally westward to west-southwestward, and environmental conditions could become more favorable for additional development by the mid to latter part of this week. A tropical depression could form as the system begins moving west-northwestward and approaches or moves near the Leeward Islands by the end of this week.
* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...10 percent.
* Formation chance through 7 days...medium...40 percent.

[msteelers]

Internet finally came back this morning!

[jztemple2]

Talked to my nephew-in-law in St Petersburg this morning. He and his wife were hosting eight other people in their house in St Pete during the storm. Lost power Wednesday night, got it back Saturday. He has a Tesla roof and battery backup which, while they couldn't use the A/C or the stove etc, keep the fridges and the freezers running as well as powering lights and fans. He being a nice guy ran extension cords to his next door neighbors with the result that the batteries went flat by Friday afternoon . He has one tree down but otherwise just a lot of debris in the yard.

They now have power and are sleeping in A/C, but they are under a boil water order and apparently didn't plan for so many people so they had to ration their water. Also the sewer system shut down before the storm so there's that to contend with . I'm ever so appreciative of having a septic tank, as long as I remember to get it pumped out before a storm hits

My brother-in-law's house on a canal in St Pete was spared flooding due to the eye of Milton going ashore south of Tampa Bay. However, the high wind tore away his pool cage which flipped over his roof, damaging the roof vent and then smashing into a neighbor's garage. Water came in the attic crawlspace and made a mess up there, luckily we are entering the dry season so he isn't going to be as pressed to repair it, except that he is trying to sell the house

And of course that disturbance out in the Atlantic has been joined by a disturbance in the western Caribbean... about where Milton formed

[Jeff V]

Last week, mid 80's. This morning, car encrusted in frost (upper 20's). This weekend, mid 70's.

Hope my remaining tomatoes haven't succumbed to the cold. We had a lot this year. I planted some seeds and seedlings ostensibly Roma/plum tomatoes, which I find most versatile for my use. Those usually grow up to be slightly larger than grapes and nothing like the roma tomatoes in the supermarket.

My MiL must have planted seeds from a supermarket tomato because in a section of garden where I didn't plant tomatoes, we have supermarket sized romas.

[Kraken]

Do you compost? I get a dozen or so volunteer tomato plants every year, courtesy of the compost bin. Never find out what they are until the end of the season, though, because they get a late start compared to seeds started indoors.

[Grifman]

FEMA workers threatened by armed men in TN:

https://thehill.com/homenews/4936262-fe ... essee/amp/

Lies on social media just makes people crazy.

[Jeff V]

Do you compost? I get a dozen or so volunteer tomato plants every year, courtesy of the compost bin. Never find out what they are until the end of the season, though, because they get a late start compared to seeds started indoors.

If by compost you mean throwing over-ripe/rotten tomatoes into the garden dirt then yes! I expected some cherry tomatoes this year that never happened. I do think my MiL was responsible for the rogue Romas.

We had a lot of bell peppers (ugh), chili peppers (more than I can use) and jalapeno peppers, also in abundance. The chilis can be dried, the jalapenos can be pickled. The bell peppers maybe can freshen the garbage disposal.

We actually had some potatoes harvested this year, as well as red onions. Usually my wife harvests potato leaves and green onion tops, this was the first time she dug out the underground stuff and it was good. Cuke and zuke production was below expectation, as well as lemongrass, calabanse squash, okra, and kangkong (Chinese water spinach).

[Blackhawk]

FEMA workers threatened by armed men in TN:

https://thehill.com/homenews/4936262-fe ... essee/amp/

Lies on social media just makes people crazy.

She explained that she listened to the group’s grievances about FEMA but explained to them that her organization was not associated with the federal agency. Elder said she felt the group was frustrated and she was able to hear them out, but was firm that their behavior wasn’t appropriate.

“People just need to be heard, and then some of that does take a skill that doesn’t take a confrontation,” Elder said. “I said, ‘Hey I hear you. You can say there’s no volunteers but I’m standing right in front of you honey and I’m here and we’re helping.'”

Elder said once the group realized that FEMA wasn’t taking those donations, and that the command center was run by volunteers, they left and surprisingly returned later with supplies to donate.

Now there is someone who knows how to handle angry people, and she did it by the book (at least the book I learned from.) Very well done.

[Punisher]

FEMA workers threatened by armed men in TN:

https://thehill.com/homenews/4936262-fe ... essee/amp/

Lies on social media just makes people crazy.

Found this link from that page about a wrongful death suit against a company.

https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/family- ... -plastics/

Not sure if there's a better thread to post it in.
Anyway. I REALLY hope they win and it sets a precedent for other weather related issues.
My wife and I used to work retail and most companies had a hard line about whether we could leave early or close for bad weather. Particularly when heavy snow is predicted. A few times they waited long enough that we couldn't leave. Either because the snow was too deep or the roads were horrible.
A few times my wife was heavily pushed to stay overnight when she worked at a pet hotel since the person who was supposed to come in couldn't get there anymore. A couple of times she did this for multiple days in a row. The store was closed but someone still needed to watch the dogs. The 2nd time this happened they ended up renting a hotel room in the hotel that was in walking distance and the few people there rotated in and out.
I could definitely understand the need there, but for most retail this is not needed and they are just trying to squeeze out every penny without regard for employee safety.

[Pyperkub]

FEMA workers threatened by armed men in TN:

https://thehill.com/homenews/4936262-fe ... essee/amp/

Lies on social media just makes people crazy.

Found this link from that page about a wrongful death suit against a company.

https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/family- ... -plastics/

Not sure if there's a better thread to post it in.
Anyway. I REALLY hope they win and it sets a precedent for other weather related issues.
My wife and I used to work retail and most companies had a hard line about whether we could leave early or close for bad weather. Particularly when heavy snow is predicted. A few times they waited long enough that we couldn't leave. Either because the snow was too deep or the roads were horrible.
A few times my wife was heavily pushed to stay overnight when she worked at a pet hotel since the person who was supposed to come in couldn't get there anymore. A couple of times she did this for multiple days in a row. The store was closed but someone still needed to watch the dogs. The 2nd time this happened they ended up renting a hotel room in the hotel that was in walking distance and the few people there rotated in and out.
I could definitely understand the need there, but for most retail this is not needed and they are just trying to squeeze out every penny without regard for employee safety.

Management apparently snuck out the back door to save themselves while the employees were waiting to get permission to leave. Disgusting. From the linked article:

But while employees had been given permission to move their cars to higher ground, one of those employees allegedly asked Impact Plastics’ chief financial officer, “within earshot of other employees, whether they could leave,” the suit says. “CFO Chambers said, ‘no, not until I speak to (Defendant O’Connor).”...

...According to the suit, by 11:35 a.m. “Defendant O’Connor and other senior management had stealthily exited the building out of the back door after securing some business documents from their own private offices.”

[Pyperkub]

Northern CA heading into a high fire danger window:

The Bay Area stayed on schedule Thursday morning to endure heavy winds and lower humidity heading into Friday, weather conditions that have created severe fire conditions and the likelihood of planned electrical shutdowns in several areas of the region.

“Everything is still on track,” National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Mehle said. “We’re gonna see the winds start to kick in as we move into Thursday night.”

The dangerous weather has been forecast since earlier this week and led to the weather service issuing a red flag warning that begins at 11 p.m. Thursday and runs through 5 p.m. Saturday. Regions of danger include Marin County, the Santa Cruz area, interior areas of the Bay Area, the central coast, the Peninsula, the Bay Shoreline and downtown San Francisco.

A wind advisory also is set to go into play at 11 p.m. Thursday for the interior areas of the East Bay, the eastern Santa Clara hills and the North Bay mountains. Isolated wind gusts could be as high as 65 mph, but they are expected to blow steadily between 25-35 mph and gust regularly at 40 mph, according to the weather service.

As a result, humidity levels are expected to plummet. The relative humidity in Oakland was 90% at 5 a.m. Thursday, according to the weather service. By 5 a.m. Saturday, it’s expected to be about 30%. In some of the hottest areas, it may sneak below 25%.

High winds/Low Humidity are huge for wildfire conditions. Fingers crossed. I can already feel the winds starting to pick up a bit.

[Kraken]

FEMA workers threatened by armed men in TN:

https://thehill.com/homenews/4936262-fe ... essee/amp/

Lies on social media just makes people crazy.

Found this link from that page about a wrongful death suit against a company.

https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/family- ... -plastics/

Not sure if there's a better thread to post it in.
Anyway. I REALLY hope they win and it sets a precedent for other weather related issues.
My wife and I used to work retail and most companies had a hard line about whether we could leave early or close for bad weather. Particularly when heavy snow is predicted. A few times they waited long enough that we couldn't leave. Either because the snow was too deep or the roads were horrible.
A few times my wife was heavily pushed to stay overnight when she worked at a pet hotel since the person who was supposed to come in couldn't get there anymore. A couple of times she did this for multiple days in a row. The store was closed but someone still needed to watch the dogs. The 2nd time this happened they ended up renting a hotel room in the hotel that was in walking distance and the few people there rotated in and out.
I could definitely understand the need there, but for most retail this is not needed and they are just trying to squeeze out every penny without regard for employee safety.

When I worked in the city my employer's habit was to send us home early. Spend an hour commuting in, mill about for an hour, spend an hour commuting home...all in a snowstorm. It was a loyalty test.

[jztemple2]

Criminity (as my dad used to say), two more storms have been named. Happily Nadine looks like it will go off and dissipate in Central America, well, maybe not happily for them. Oscar looks like it will bang into Cuba then head northeast out into the Atlantic.



Preliminary figures for the impact of Milton look to be about $34B. I haven't heard anything about Helene costs but I suspect that so far there are a lot of unknowns there.

We are still dealing with trying to find someone who can replace our covered porch. We've had a couple of sales reps here but since this isn't one of their standard jobs they say they have to turn it over to their designers/engineers to come up with estimates. I suspect that since it isn't a standard job they aren't really all that interested . We're doing better with the roof, we have a local company we've dealt with before and he says he just needs a couple of week's notice and he will be able to start.

The insurance adjuster won't be here till the end of the month. I'm just hoping my wife won't get him too pissed off by demanding this or that; I've always found it better to just deal with them or anyone by establishing a rapport and going from there. Also we are in the happy position of not needing the insurance money to get the repairs started; nevertheless with the sales reps the first words out of their mouths is "do you have insurance and what can you get them to pay for?". I'm a little touchy about this because one of the sales reps wanted me to talk the insurance adjuster into condemning the pool cage as well as the covered roof so that they would pay for the whole thing and make it an easier (and better paying) job for the repair company.

All of this means our 3-4 week trip to Texas has been canceled . We just can't be away from home that long.

[Isgrimnur]

[Jeff V]

80 degrees and and pleasant as can be. Should be doing BBQ today, but my grill died, and because the weather has been so good, nobody is running end-of-season sales on grills. But all of the fall foods are in, tonight I'll make a white acorn squash sauce with walleye, roasted asparagus, and mushroom risotto. I know asparagus is a spring veggie, but it seemed to fit the menu the best and I paid for it ($5/lb).

[Kraken]

We're having a beautiful fall, dry with comfortable temperatures. Today was a little too warm, but I'm not complaining.

Tomorrow I'm abandoning my 17-year-old Weber gas grill that's sat on the patio the whole time, and that last saw duty just a couple of days ago. It still works but a hole has rusted through the firebox, so I'm not moving it. I bought a new Weber on sale last spring and it's been sitting in my garage, covered, patiently waiting to move (which was originally supposed to happen in July). I almost surely won't fire it up until next spring -- it looks like temps are going to drop to seasonal levels next Thursday, which will be our first full day in the house, and it's going to take me at least a few days to get my kitchen set up right.

For me, grilling season ends when we set the clocks back, regardless of the weather. I hate grilling in the dark.

[jztemple2]

For me, grilling season ends when we set the clocks back, regardless of the weather. I hate grilling in the dark.

Being of course in Florida, it's grilling season the year round, but I do acknowledge that when we go back to Standard time I have to check the grill with a flashlight

We've had the wind out of the north for days and it will switch to the northeast and east later this week, bringing us ocean breezes, but it stay in the lower eighties for highs and the lower seventies for lows. With the pool solar panels kaput the pool temp is a challenging 74 degrees but I can still enjoy it after my morning walk when I need to cool down.

[gbasden]

For me, grilling season ends when we set the clocks back, regardless of the weather. I hate grilling in the dark.

Being of course in Florida, it's grilling season the year round, but I do acknowledge that when we go back to Standard time I have to check the grill with a flashlight

Yeah. One of the advantages of being in a climate with decent winter weather is grilling year round. I solved the darkness problems with decent porch lighting.

[LordMortis]

When I had the patience for firing up and cleaning a grill grilling in the winter was the best. Winter grilled food has a psychological effect taste that is so much better than any other time of the year.

[Kraken]

Rainfall was 30% of normal in September and 20% in October (so far) with no relief in the 7-day forecast. We're in a minor drought with a red flag warning against outdoor burning most days now. “Outdoor burning” is a novelty to this city-boy transplant; a backyard fire at my old house would've brought down helicopters and a SWAT team with vicious dogs, probably. I had thought that I'd burn a lot of old financial records that civilized folk would have shredded, but I guess I won’t do that since I’m surrounded by woods full of dry dead leaves.

On the plus side, a drought is just too many nice days in a row. It was a beautiful fall.

[LordMortis]

I woke up this morning and was just thinking about how I've been able to get outside and walk pretty much every day since I don't know when. That's a lot of not rain.

[JCC]

Tomorrow I'm abandoning my 17-year-old Weber gas grill that's sat on the patio the whole time, and that last saw duty just a couple of days ago. It still works but a hole has rusted through the firebox, so I'm not moving it. I bought a new Weber on sale last spring and it's been sitting in my garage

I also bought a new Weber Spirit to replace my previous one. I have long been a Weber fan, and I suppose I must still be since I ultimately just bought a new one, but I don't think they last like they used to. My last Genesis had 2 sticky/non-functional valves in just a few years despite me religiously covering it when not in use. My previous Spirit I bought to replace it lasted longer than that. On the other hand, this year my brother finally replaced a Weber Genesis that lasted him over 20 years. Don't think they make them that well nowadays.