For all community members down in Florida —
Please check in if possible.
Be safe
Open Thread
Irma’s die is set
Life-threatening wind & storm surge impacts expected in the #FLKeys, especially the Middle & Upper Keys, Sat. night & Sunday. #Irma #FLwx pic.twitter.com/ezckf9Ce86
— NWS Key West (@NWSKeyWest) September 8, 2017
Be smart, be safe. If you are in south Florida, the window to start running north will be shutting down by day break
Open thread
Be smart down there
Holy hell, @NWSMiami: "Locations may be uninhabitable for weeks or months."
Hurricane Irma is the real deal, folks. pic.twitter.com/zQfVbXsHHu
— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) September 7, 2017
Be smart as you evacuate Florida. And if you can’t or won’t evacuate, be lucky.
Latest #HurricaineIrma watches and warnings. pic.twitter.com/oExQiSSjd8
— Track Hurricane Irma (@Track_Irma) September 7, 2017
Open thread
Irma — time to be smart
Hurricane Irma strengthens to Category 5, carrying maximum winds of 175 mph https://t.co/q90Ng0pim2 pic.twitter.com/S7DvFTVFcu
— CNN (@CNN) September 5, 2017
The Leeward Islands are about to get whacked hard by Irma. Puerto Rico is on deck and the Dominican Republican is in the hole.
The long range projections are still fuzzy as to where exactly Irma is going. There is a chance it ends up in the Gulf and goes through New Orleans. There is a chance it grinds all of the Florida Gulf Coast like a creep at the club. There is a chance is swings north just before running into Florida and wallops the Carolinas. There is still a lot of uncertainty.
Mainland US readers, we still have some time to get ready. Let’s use that time wisely.
Make sure you check the Florida Disaster planning list.
Make sure you have water. Make sure you have food. Make sure you have batteries. Make sure you are in a strong shelter. Make sure you have contact information for your friends and family. Make sure you check in on your neighbors and friends who need extra assistance. Make sure we take this seriously.
Open thread
Irma and time to prepare
Irma is still at sea. She is getting big and strong. Here is what Wunderground’s Bob Henson is saying:
Over the last day, there has been some convergence of two of our best long-range track models, the GFS and European models, toward a possible landfall in or near the Carolinas around Monday. Both models are consistent in bringing a strong upper-level trough across the United States and off the East Coast by this weekend. The models also suggest that a small weakness will be left behind, somewhere near the lower- to mid-Mississippi Valley. If so, this could help bring Irma toward the United States. However, the path of least resistance for Irma might instead be toward the large departing trough and out to sea into the Northwest Atlantic. These two scenarios have hugely different implications, but they depend on fairly subtle differences in the atmosphere that may not become clear for several more days to come.
We don’t know where Irma will end up. There is a reasonable chance that Irma brushes the coast and heads out to sea. There is a decent chance that Irma goes bowling at landfall. We don’t know.
We do have time.
To give you a scope of how much uncertainty there is with #Irma, here is a every spaghetti model available. No one is out of the woods yet. pic.twitter.com/ttgXDEI6gc
— Tropical Updater (@tropicalupdater) September 3, 2017
Use this time wisely. I’m starting hurricane prep today. I am doing things that if nothing happens, the only cost is time. I have filled six two-liter bottles two thirds full of water and put them in the freezer. That increases the family water reserve and builds thermal mass in case the electricity goes out so that the food can stay cold. I cleaned up the patio already and moved some furniture to the storage unit. I’ve pulled the camp stove and cook gear out of the storage unit. I am filling my son’s asthma prescription tomorrow instead of over the weekend. I am buying some extra bottled water and refried beans. I’ll pick up batteries and a gallon of bleach this afternoon. I’ll fill the gas tank.
If nothing happens, I just shifted purchases and actions I would have taken some time in the next two weeks forward. If Irma does come to North Carolina, we’ll be in good shape and not storming the stores on Thursday.
We have time, so use it and don’t panic.
And always bring your towel.
Bring out your problems
Good morning.
We have big challenges but we’re not going to focus on those in this post. Instead we’re going to focus on smaller, more solvable challenges in this series of posts.
Do you need to know if your deductible applies to a preventative visit?
Are you getting a ton of mail about Medicare Advantage plans?
What does redetermination mean for Medicaid?
Or any of the 1,001 other confusing things about health insurance that we have to deal with every day no matter what happens in Washington.
Let’s be a helping community for each other. Put your questions and situations in comments. We’ll try to solve them and I’ll recap a few at the end of the week.
We Were So Young and Innocent Then
Seems like only yesterday when the GOP was all upset because the Kenyan usurper had relaxed the dress code to feel more comfortable in his tribal attire:
CARD: I found that Ronald Reagan and both President Bushes treated the Oval Office with tremendous respect. They treated the Office of the Presidency with tremendous respect. And some of that respect was reflected in how they expected people to behave, how they expected them to dress when they walked into the symbol of freedom for the world, the Oval Office. And yes, I’m disappointed to see the casual, laissez faire, short sleeves, no shirt and tie, no jacket, kind of locker room experience that seems to be taking place in this White House and the Oval Office.
Life comes at you fast:
Why, I remember when salty language like that was left to the vulgar bloggers and could even get you banned from cable television (google Marci Wheeler and “blowjob.”).
Enough reminiscing, I have a long drive to the beach tomorrow.