#5744 Postby typhoonty » Thu Sep 29, 2022 3:29 pm
typhoonty wrote:I've always been interested in weather, but Charley made this my lifelong passion. We had to evacuate our house just NE of Sanibel Island with hurricane force gusts present. I wanted to learn all I could to prevent that harrowing experience from happening again to everyone.
And now I'm here, 18 years later, with seemingly the same situation. However, Ian is MUCH more dangerous due to it's size. And today I saw meteorologists that we were "all good" because Fort Myers is (still) out of the cone. It makes me sick to my stomach. I've always had a landfall point north of Fort Myers and south of Cedar Key.
The cone needs to change, we can try and explain what it actually means until we're blue in the face. People still think the cone means danger and outside of the cone means no danger. So we need to widen the cone by increasing the % chance that the center is in the cone or do dynamic cone sizes.
This morning, Orange Beach Alabama was in the cone, and Fort Myers wasn't. And exactly 0 degreed meteorologists would be able to come up with a reason that anywhere in Alabama had a higher threat level than Fort Myers.
I just hope the panic level I see tomorrow in Fort Myers doesn't give me PTSD.
/rant
I know that I'm quoting myself but dang if it doesn't feel prophetic now. I posted this Sunday night during the one advisory when the city of Fort Myers was (barely) not in the cone. I am so sick for Sanibel, Lee County. The people I have grown up with and known and loved for the last 27 years. I have never had the amount of pride that I do in my hometown.
I thought the panic would be Monday but I was wrong, it was Tuesday when evacuations started. We failed in my mission that I made my north star when I started studying tropical meteorology. People did not take this storm seriously. I can show you posts of people that thought it was too late to evacuate Tuesday and didn't even though they had to move two miles. I can't stop crying.
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FSU Meteorology student, opinions are mine, 20 years experience covering TC's, consult NHC/Local officials when making decisions.
Gabrielle '01, Michelle '01, Charley '04, Frances '04, Dennis '05, Katrina '05, Rita '05, Wilma '05, Fay '08, Isaac '12 Hermine '16, Irma '17, Michael '18, Eta '20, Elsa '21, IAN '22, Idalia '23, Debby '24, Helene '24