Yes, the blog is alive

Ahhh, more than a few of you have wondered. Apologies to those looking for the blog. I meant to post today, but today was the first day of work after a long vacation and, well, that post just didn't happen. I'll go with a short post tonight (there is hockey on, after all, which technically means I'm still watching Hurricanes) with an update in the morning.

Alberto is a 70 MPH hurricane moving toward the northeast at 8 MPH. Hurricane warnings have been hoisted for much of the Florida Gulf coast, and the storm will probably make landfall there early Tuesday morning. It is not certain if Alberto will become a hurricane prior to landfall; currently it is forecast to do so. Alberto has moved away from the warmest Gulf of Mexico loop current, and is still in a sheared environment, so strengthening above minimal hurricane strength is not expected. Primary effects will be from the expected 8-10 foot storm surge along the Gulf coast; the wind and rain isn't really anything we haven't seen in the last two years.

In Melbourne, this is basically the thing we need to help extinguish some of our fires. Winds to tropical storm force right now is only a 50/50 proposition, and hurricane force winds are not expected here. Basically, we get a bit of rain (probably not enough, but every bit helps) and a bit of wind. Tornadoes are the biggest threat, since we are on in the storm-relative right front quadrant, which is the favored location for tornado formation in landfalling tropical systems.