Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

I really should read my own blog.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Second rate reporter says what?

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Heads up to Central Gulf Coast Jackals

Heads up to Central Gulf Coast Jackals

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Tropical Depression 9 is getting itself organized near Jamaica. Right now, all projections have it making landfall somewhere between central Louisiana and Mississippi by either Sunday or Monday.

The meteorologists are very worried that the storm track takes the depression over the Gulf Loop Current which has bath-tub warm (90 F or greater) water to the depth of 100+ feet. This is a tremendous amount of hot water and thus energy that could potentially allow for the storm to intensify very quickly into a major hurricane.

Since this storm is a fast mover, normal emergency prep times are being compressed.

Know what your plan is and make revocable steps to activate your major hurricane courses of action soon.

Reader Interactions

56Comments

  2. 2.

    cain

    oh good – perhaps this will knock the current headlines out – the press loves an impending disaster coming up.

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    90-degree ocean water? A little hard for a Californian to imagine.

    What if Biden’s Katrina isn’t named Katrina?

  4. 4.

    West of the Rockies

    Any chance it can veer east and target-strike a certain cheesy resort owned by the tangerine turd?

  5. 5.

    Gravenstone

    A friend in suburban NO posted a local weather service notice that it could be Cat 3+ by time of landfall, due to the Gulf conditions you noted.

  8. 8.

    jonas

     Gulf Loop Current which has bath-tub warm (90 F or greater) water to the depth of 100+ feet

    Good grief, how does any marine life survive in that?

  9. 9.

    trollhattan

    Not just “way down in Dixie.”

    More Sacramento County residents have died of COVID-19 in the first three weeks of August than in any full calendar month since February, according to the county health office, as the highly contagious delta variant of coronavirus bombards the capital region with infections and fills up hospital beds.

    The county’s data dashboard shows at least 76 confirmed coronavirus deaths this month. That’s nine more than all of March and on pace to more than double the fatality rate from April through July, a stretch that averaged a little less than 40 deaths a month.

    County health officials on Wednesday confirmed 22 new deaths Wednesday and added eight more Thursday, with dates for all 30 of those fatalities ranging from Aug. 1 to Aug. 21. The addition brings the all-time death toll to 1,892 in a little less than 18 months.

    “The hospitals are at capacity now,” Sacramento County health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye said during a call with reporters Thursday. “We are concerned about the status and availability of both the general beds as well as the intensive care unit.”

    Sacramento County hospitals went from treating 220 patients with COVID-19 on Aug. 1 to 428 by Aug. 17, according to data from the California Department of Public Health, with 413 hospitalized as of Thursday’s update. The number in intensive care units has more than doubled, from 51 to 106, since the start of the month.
    https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article253761928.html#storylink=cpy

  10. 10.

    Doc Sardonic

    @jonas: Not well. This is part of the reason for the extended red tide along the SW Florida coast. Whole Gulf of Mexico is trying for the Guinness Book for world’s largest hot tub.

  11. 11.

    Ken

    @jonas: Wikipedia is on it.  There’s a bit in Charles Stross’ Saturn’s Children where after humanity’s extinction, the robots posthumans didn’t see much need to keep up the climate mitigation measures, but realized their mistake when the Gulf of Mexico came to a boil. The near-extinction of multicellular eukaryotic life put a definite crimp in their plans to bring back humanity.

  12. 12.

    Another Scott

    Stay safe and be prepared.

    There are lots of thunderstorm warnings going off in the DC area – “70 mph wind gusts and quarter-sized hail”…  One could hear the thunderstorm during the WH live feed before the press thing (now scheduled for 5pm ET).

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    Who will be the first media “expert” to pontificate “This could be New Orleans’ Katrina?”

    //

  14. 14.

    Elizabelle

    @Another Scott:   I love a good T storm.  Except when it like closes the pool, or hits the beach or something.  Or flying.  Or driving.  Watching from inside.  Is thrilling.

  15. 15.

    Origuy

    @trollhattan: I wonder how many of the Sacramento hospitalizations are of county residents and how many are from the surrounding counties. I was through the area a few weeks ago and it seemed like masking was sporadic. Some of those counties in the area don’t have a lot of hospital capacity. Sacramento has some huge hospitals.

  16. 16.

    Ken

    make non-revocable steps to activate your major hurricane courses of action

    What does “non-revocable” mean in this context?

  17. 17.

    Starfish

    This is fine. People will go to an evacuation center and give each other COVID. It will work out well.

  19. 19.

    trollhattan

    @Origuy:

    Good question. The Sac metro area comprises seven counties and we have most of the major hospitals.

    If we start turning patients away, where do they go?

  23. 23.

    Roger Moore

    @trollhattan:

    If we start turning patients away, where do they go?

    Probably to the Bay Area. It’s reasonably close by, and its hospitals aren’t being overwhelmed right now.  Southern California also seems to have some hospital capacity, though it’s obviously a lot less convenient.

  24. 24.

    mrmoshpotato

    @trollhattan:

    What if Biden’s Katrina isn’t named Katrina? 

    What if Biden actually helps Louisiana right away, unlike that sack of shit war criminal who let a great city drown?

  27. 27.

    trollhattan

    @Roger Moore: Probably that for now. Eastern county residents can probably go to Reno; Washoe County doesn’t present hospital capacity on their Covid pages, but does have a flashy 20% positive test rate.

  29. 29.

    Yarrow

    FYI, the GFS model is showing another storm right behind it, possibly aiming for Louisiana just after Labor Day. Could be a ghost storm but something to keep in mind. Long range forecast does pick it up.

  30. 30.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Yarrow:

    Could be a ghost storm 

    It should scare the other storm to death and eat its ghost.

    (h/t The Curse of the Cannibal Ghost of the Haunted House on Horror Hill)

  34. 34.

    Geminid

    @cmorenc: I don’t watch video, but from what I know about Herschel Walker and Georgia, the headline for Cillizza’s piece is correct. Walker would be a weak candidate.

  35. 35.

    zeecube

    Presently aimed to pass just left of my home by 60 miles.  Tracking models usually change between now and landfall, but looks like if it does, would curve closer to me.   Present plan is to stay in place versus travelling to other Covid hotspots.  Made a run to the store to pick up some provisions.  Still somewhat well stocked except only greens left on shelf is kale (blech).

    Not my first hurricane.  Been through Betsy, Camille and Katrina, just to name a few.

  36. 36.

    Steeplejack

    @Another Scott:

    Calm here in Threadkill Lane, but dark with rumblings in the distance. Kind of pleasant, actually. And the temperature dropped below 80°, also nice.

  38. 38.

    banditqueen

    Well, should it be necessary at least we can rest assured that Gov Abbot has a plan in place for ensuring the safe evacuation of patients in the ICUs of those hospitals in the track of this storm. Why, they can be transferred to inland ICUs–oh wait, there aren’t any that aren’t maxed out or close to it. Horrible human being.

  44. 44.

    Cermet

    @Another Scott: Northeast of Baltimore is enjoying interesting lighting activity and fair amount of rain. Pleasant, actually – cooled a bit from 92 to 84 F. Glad we aren’t California!

  46. 46.

    MomSense

    It’s all so sad.  The states that will likely be hit by this storm are all suffering a crisis of their own making.  It would have been so much better to skip all this COVID tragedy and just get their damn shots.  Life throws plenty of storms at us that are outside of our control.  Seems so foolish to create more for ourselves.

    Sending my prayers and love to all the jackals in harm’s way.  Please check in end let us know you are ok.

  47. 47.

    nclurker

    quite often,gulf storms end up here in nw n.c.

    as the remnants of fred knocked a tree thru my metal roof last week.

    the repairs are due to be completed two days after this storm hits the coast next week.

    hate to wish this on anyone else,but….

    i’ll be watching closely.

  50. 50.

    Ken

    The projections have Ida making a rightward turn after it makes landfall, and running the length of Tennessee, so a chance of more flooding there.

  55. 55.

    Gvg

    @Yarrow: This is pretty normal. All summer long most years there are tropical depressions forming in strings about 7 to 10 days apart. Most of them fizzle. In an active year like 2004 there will be several in a row. That year, they formed just of the west coast of Africa, and came across the Atlantic. When they got closer, they started taking different tracks, but the seeds of the storms all started along the same track, curiously evenly spaced. I have seen that pattern some other years too. It happens over in the pacific as well.

    But most of them fizzle, so don’t panic. You only know about them if the weather news pulls back and does wide angle views.

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