Got home from a trip today. Hurricane Ian may hit us Wednesday.

[csziggy]

Right now, according to both the National Weather Service forecast (https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/090354.shtml?tswind120#contents) and the spaghetti models on Mike's Weather Page (https://spaghettimodels.com/) St. Marks on the coast will be dead center and Ian will head almost straight north to come across Tallahassee.

I live NE of Tallahassee, much closer to Georgia than to the coast, so usually storms have faded a lot by the time they get to us. But with our canopy roads and overhead lines, usually the power is knocked out for days even with just tropical storms or strong thunderstorms.

Now we have a whole house generator and can set up the generator we bought a few years ago to power the well, so it won't be as bad as in years past. We've had years when the power was out for nearly a week. I'm getting far too old to deal with that, thus the investment in the generator..

No matter where it hits, I hope we are stay safe.

[dchill]

1. Hope for the best...

...plan for the worst. Good luck!

[sprinkleeninow]

2. We finally installed a whole house generator in 2019. One of thee best investments ever.

Be safe!🕯

[C Moon]

8. Wow. Those are expensive aren't they? Nice to have, though!!

[sprinkleeninow]

11. Had quotes from 8k + to 13k. We went with the low end. A home improvement retailer.

Couple down the road week after us.
Last year buddy 2 doors down.
Same time neighbor across from us.
We started sumpthin. 😄
It saves you from 'blowing a gasket'.

[csziggy]

15. We went with a Generac since a couple in the subdivision behind us sells and maintains them

When it's had a problem, they are on it before we know something is wrong. Can't beat the service.

What saved us significant money was that when my BIL wired the house (he and his BIL are licensed electricians) he set it up for a generator. The installers just had to add the transfer switch and put in the generator. The propane tank is rented but buried. I thought about buying it, but with the rental, if it ever starts to leak, they have to replace it just for the cost of digging up and reburial.

We have a portable dual fuel (but will run on propane) generator for the well (it's half way across our farm from the house), but I'm thinking of getting a Generac for the well. Tomorrow I'll send my husband out to set the portable up, just in case. We've owned it three years but it's never been out of the box.

[C Moon]

26. It's definitely a great idea to get one! Congrats!

[CentralMass]

3. Good luck.

[Deuxcents]

4. We're watching Ian from the south west coast

Sounds like you’re prepared n I hope you n those you love stay safe.

[rso]

5. Ian

We're in Palm Beach, looks like the projected track has moved a bit more westward.

[wnylib]

7. Yes it does. But it also looks like all of Florida will be affected.

[rso]

9. Ian

Yep, all one can hope for is to be as far as possible from the eye.

[Joinfortmill]

6. Stay safe

[LoisB]

10. Watching closely as I have many relatives in Tampa. Hopefully, everyone is prepared even if

it continues to move west. Everyone please stay safe.

[csziggy]

18. Yeah, I have a sister just north of Tampa, with a LOT of trees in her yard

So it is affects the Tampa Bay area much, her house is in danger from falling trees. Her husband hates having them trimmed or cut so now they will find out how strong those tall trees are.

I hope your family will be safe!

[LoisB]

21. Thank you. Same for yours. I hope the trees are not close to their house.

[Cheezoholic]

12. One thing to consider on what will be steering this

is these deep troughs coming through the central CONUS. The computer models have been struggling with the strength and speed of these troughs all summer. For instance where I am in Indiana it was 93 degrees last Wed. By Thurs. night it was 37. The models didn't pick up on that until last Monday. There have been several instances over the summer that the models have been struggling with this anomalous jet stream across the country and I'm sure many have been surprised by sudden changes in the short term forecasts this year.

The West Pacific Typhoon season is late and much farther north than usual. That usually results in an enhanced jet stream over here dipping farther south. Its rare but it happens.

It's been a very strange summer here with some heat but followed by some extended sessions of pleasant temps. I'm not complaining lol. But I do watch weather models and they have really been struggling this year out beyond 3 days at times. Somethings up IMO at least this year and it aint no triple dip La Nina like the media is trying to sell.

[Randomthought]

13. How close to Tallahassee?

I am worried for family.

[csziggy]

17. Right now they are only forecasting as far as Friday 2 AM hitting St Marks

From there it is an unknown. But from the spaghetti models it could be pretty much a direct hit on Tallahassee. We're northeast of town, so that would put the worst quarter out our way - but the wind forecasts show them dropping from maybe a strong CAT 2 or weak CAT 3 when it hits the coast to a CAT 1 by the time it hits the Tallahassee area.

It will be a few more days before we know for sure - it depends on a high pressure system off the coast of Texas and one that is now over Georgia. If they move significantly, that will change the path a lot.

I'd tell your relatives to prepare, just in case!

[Lunabell]

14. Hi!

Midway, Florida here. Right in the newest projected path. We bought a generator a few months ago and hoped we wouldn't have to use it. It will give enough power to run the fridge, our portable air conditioner and recharge my wife's jazzy chair.

I hope you're safe. We'll make it through and at least I can keep my beer cold, lol.

[csziggy]

19. I have a friend in Midway - that area has not had a direct hit for ages

Keep safe!

[rockbluff botanist]

16. I'm experiencing PTSD due to taking a direct hit from Hurricane Michael

Scott, is that you?

We lost power for three weeks. Our generator kept me sane.

I live in Liberty County Fl (55 miles NW of Tallahassee) by Torreya State Park.

The Florida Panhandle is listed in the top 5 areas for biodiversity in the United States. Needless to say, we are blessed with trees. Hurricane Michael took out 80% of the trees where it tore through. Trees came down on all of our houses and all of the power lines and devastated our part of the panhandle. There are still blue tarps on the roofs of some of the houses here.

I was so worried about my horses. You can't leave them in a barn and my husband would not let me put the in the garage!

[csziggy]

20. OMG - I bet you have horrible memories from Michael

My husband has two sisters and a brother whose houses were under the eye from it. They don't talk about it much, I think it was too traumatic. His brother lost both porches off his house and his FIL's house was destroyed on the same farm. The two sisters were lucky - no significant damage to their houses.

One sister had a big pine just to the north of her house taken out a few months before. All the pines on the other side were blown down to the south. If that big pine had still been there, it would have dropped right through the middle of her house!

Yeah, our horses will be up in the barn - though I personally think they are safer outside. But the barn was half constructed when Hurricane Kate made a direct hit on us in 1985 - and didn"t have any damage. So I think it will be OK.

Stay safe!

[rockbluff botanist]

23. Animals know what to do.

I put my horses in a paddock next to the house. I watched them turn their rumps to wind as the wind direction changed. Then my immense champion sized hackberry came down slowly (thankfully) onto my house!

[csziggy]

27. Yes - the biggest dangers are man made things

Years ago after Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida, a high school girl did research on horse and cattle deaths and injuries. She found that many injuries were from pieces of shingles torn off houses. They are like flying knives and can't really be avoided. On the other hand, large sheets of metal roofing travel slower and make a lot of noise, so the animals can move out of the way. Both my barn and my house have metal roofs partly because of her research.

Many livestock deaths from Andrew were from them taking shelter in water bodies when electric lines would fall into the water and electrocute the animals. In South Florida many of the water bodies are ditches dug to drain the fields or to raise roads, so there are often power lines running along them.

Barbed wire fences are extremely dangerous, whether the animals run into them or the wire comes loose from the posts. On the other hand, field or "woven" wire fence tend to sieve out flying debris so are much safer. Plus, the fence is usually attached in many more points to posts so don't tend to come loose as often.

[mitch96]

22. After living thru many hurricane close hits in So Fla it's the lack of A/C that drives you nuts.

The near misses took out the power and not having A/C sucks... Now I'm in west central Fla and we will see what happens. I have a small honda generator, solar power cube and a induction hot plate. If it gets really nuts I can go to friends house on the east coast for an
A/C vacation...
m

[Cheezoholic]

24. And the smell of all the food rotting in everyones refridgerators really sucks n/t

[mitch96]

25. An added extra aroma besides the smell of mildew... nt