The weather

[Lanier_Lurker]

Rained much of the night here, and continues this morning - with more heading this way according to radar.  It seems to all be tracking NNE.

Dan, you are indeed resourceful if you are on high ground down in that area.  I'm sorry to hear about all the problems.  Heavy rains in low (and flat) areas can be disastrous.  Growing up in the vicinity of several Kinchafoonee Creek floodplains, I have seen this many times.  If I were forced to live in a floodplain I'd have my house on top of 15ft concrete pilings!

Danny, I imagine that you were so dry down there, and your soils types are fairly porous, and the rate of the rainfall is slow enough, that the water is getting soaked up nicely.

Yep, Gustav looks like he may be a problem.

[Warbird]

Gustav?  Oh man.  There's another one already?  Guess I better turn on the TV.

[DanG]

Dan, you are indeed resourceful if you are on high ground down in that area. 

More lucky than resourceful, I'm afraid.  This little area is quite hilly by Florida standards.  I'm located on the crest of a little ridgeline, and my elevation is 300'.  I'm not worried at all about being flooded, but I could easily be cut off from any towns, or even stores of any kind.  I just gotta stock up on canned goods and drinking water.  We have a gas stove, so an extended power outage won't be a big problem.  Yep, I'm one of the lucky ones!

[Lanier_Lurker]

Yep, the lower Chattahoochee valley is a much hillier place than many people realize.  There are even upland species of plants like mountain laurel that range naturally down into that area.

[SwampDonkey]

This little area is quite hilly by Florida standards.  I'm located on the crest of a little ridgeline, and my elevation is 300'.

Yep, I'm one of the lucky ones!

I'm not all that much higher up than you Dang, only around 800 feet here, well that is quite a bit higher when your at a base of a TV tower looking straight up I suppose. Be a Dang tall tower, eh?  :D :D ;D

[Mooseherder]

Received a Phone Camera pic from friends who are passing thru Helen Georgia.
There has been a little flooding for the tourists.  Hope all is well in North Georgia.

[Lanier_Lurker]

Yep, the Helen area and the rest of the northeast corner of Georgia has gotten a lot of rain.

(The info on this link will change, but as of 10:15EDT on 08/26/2008 it is quite revealing)

http://radar.weather.gov/radar_lite.php?rid=ffc&product=NTP&loop=no

Here is a snapshot of what it currently looks like.

[Lanier_Lurker]

Now this is what we have been waiting for!   8)

And it is not over yet.  We got a lot of rain in the upper part of the Lake Lanier basin (see the red area in my previous post) that will be another day or two before reaching the lake.

============================================

Lake Lanier Georgia Statistics
Last Updated on 08-27-2008 at 9:05 AM

12:00 AM Pool Level 1054.91 MSL (up 15.36" since yesterday)

6:00 AM Pool Level 1055.13 MSL (up 17.28" since yesterday)

Full Pool Level 1071.00 MSL (-16.09' deficit at 12:00 AM)

Inflow 20501 CFS

Outflow 623 CFS (19,878 CFS surplus)

[scottr]

Lanier_Lurker, I'm just tickled to death to hear that you're finally getting some rain! 8) 8)  BUT, I really wish this thing would go away.  We had another 3 inches of rain today and there is more coming, all from the trailing bands of T.S. Fay.  Right now, I think we've had 14 inches of rain since Friday!  My place is a total quagmire, and we're at the top of the hill!  Worse than that, these trailing storms are far worse than the actual storm was.  Right now, there is a series of tornadoes that are tracking up from far western Florida, and extending three counties deep into Alabama.  The local TV weathermen are still on the air, even at 3am!  I will be real surprised if we don't wake up to learn of some real devastation in those areas.

To top that off, there is a new storm, Gustav, that is bearing down on us.  If it comes this way, we will be in a real bind!  Our ground is saturated(we don't have the sand that most of Fla has), our creeks and rivers are already overflowing, and we have yet to recieve all the water that is falling in Georgia.  Boats are already plying the streets of Tallahassee, evacuating people from homes in low-lieing areas.  Holding ponds are overflowing now, and they are designed to hold the water until it can soak in.  They have no outlet.  The only highway from here to Tallahassee that is open is I-10.  I went that way today, and the Ochlocknee River is only a few feet below the bridge, where it is normally about 30 feet.  There are major road closings.  I'm not talking about little back roads, either.  US90 is closed in at least 2 places, and US27, US319, and US98 are all blocked at one point or another, and the water is rising.

Now, we can handle all this with just a little inconvenience, but if Gustav comes this way, we gonna be in a whole heap of trouble!  I'm going to Bainbridge, Ga. tomorrow to stock up on supplies.  I'm fortunate(and smart  ;D ) to be located on high ground, so I can stick it out ok, but many thousands of people are not so lucky.

Dan, I noticed the bands of rain coming out of the gulf going over your neck of the woods when the storm was over in Mississippi. Ever put one of those tall rain gauges out to measure the rain?

[DanG]

Nahh Scott, I got tired of buying rain guages, so I just set a coffee can out and dip a ruler into it.  If it looks like we will be getting a lot of rain, I'll set out two of them. ;D

[Tom]

That rain gauge thing is all a  marketing scam anyway.  Everyone of them that I ever bought would eventually fill up.  I got tired of buying the fool things too. ;D

[SwampDonkey]

Well I have a 1 gallon pale under the gutter pipe. So I figure if it's over flowing with water, we must have plenty of rain.  ;D

[Slabs]

 



Can you believe it?

[beenthere]

Can you believe it?

believe what?

[Radar67]

Two active storms coming this way and two more possibles behind them.

[Slabs]

Thanks Radar

Two storms are headed THIS way so far as NHC can forecast presently.  The disturbance in the bay of Campeche probably has no chance to affect  the northern gulf. (GOM)  That system just coming off the coast of Africa is another matter.  It's already a "well defined" system (practically still onshore) and has the whole Atlantic to strengthen.  Something that strong in the eastern Atlantic could well be a serious threat. 

www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo_atl.shtml    is the source of the pics.  Place the cursor on the event for information of each.  Click on the named storms will give you the projected track that the TV forecasters show.

[DanG]

Shades o' 2005, eh?  Let's just hope that some of them turn north and go up through the Atlantic.  If they don't, they're gonna wreck a lot of lives, at least the lives of those who still have a life.  I've heard that Gustav has already ended 50 lives, and he ain't even a Hurricane.

[IMERC]

http://www.stormpulse.com/fullscreen/tropical-storm-gustav-2008

[SwampDonkey]

You fellows getting all those storms and water down there, has made it dry up here for close to 3 weeks.  ;D

[thecfarm]

Finally get some relief from the rain we had just about all summer.Now fall is in the air first thing in the morning.

[SwampDonkey]

Been hot here, for the north, all week and humid. Every morning is in the 50's just like July. We aren't going to get rain 'til Sunday and  not as much as along the coast. The cursed fog is starting to get bad though in the morning between 5:30 and 7:00 am.

[thecfarm]

Set a record here today,88°.No frost in sight according to the 7 day forecast.Everything in the garden is dying back or drowning back from all the rain we had.Looks like the rain will hit here on Sat.

[Mooseherder]

I have been really worried about Ike for a few days now.
It reminds me of Andrew.  The computer models cannot figure out where it is going to go right now.  That is the worst part because if and when it decides where it is going, it could be too late.

http://www.stormpulse.com:80/hurricane-ike-2008

[SwampDonkey]

First frost here this morning, it was 31 F at 7:00 am. Some areas as low as 22 F such as Stanley. She was 60 F this morning in the house, time for a smudge to take the dampness out. The windows have a lot of condensation running down. Had to take some rags to soak that mess up.  :

[Warbird]

Fairly good frost when we got up this morning.  The autumn colors are already starting to recede.  Thought I'd post a couple pics.  Might post a couple more later.  These are taken through a window right by my desk.  Unfortunately, the mountains are not visible in the distance.