Son of Timatollah

Sorry. When I lived in New England, the local "media" there treated every snowflake the way the local "media" here treats every tropical weather event. IN ALL CAPS!!!

Here's the latest from AccuWeather:

Here are the main impacts for Florida. We expect a 2- to 4-foot storm surge in the Keys east of Marathon up to the southeast coast near Key Biscayne and a 1- to 2-foot storm surge west of Marathon. There will be a southwest storm surge of 1-2 feet along the southwestern Florida coast late tonight and Wednesday morning. We expect sustained winds of 50-55 mph with gusts to near 65 mph as Ernesto makes landfall over deep south and southwest Florida tonight. As Ernesto tracks over land, the strongest sustained winds will decrease to 40-45 mph. These sustained winds will be mainly along and to the east of the storm's track with perhaps gusts to 50 mph mostly along and off the east coast during the daylight hours of Wednesday. Those strong gusts will also occur over higher buildings. Rainfall will average 3-6 inches with perhaps some higher amounts in places that get multiple rainbands. The heaviest rainfall will generally be east of a line from near Naples to Orlando to Daytona Beach. The highest amounts will probably occur closer to the east coast. There is also the potential for tornadoes to form to the east of the storm's track. That will impact eastern and southeast Florida during the day Wednesday.

Once Ernesto passes Orlando it will move to the coast near Daytona Beach, then off the coast between midnight and 3 a.m. early Thursday. We expect Ernesto to be a minimal tropical storm at this point....

We should get a lot of rain, which is a good thing. This tropical weather stuff is the natural order of things around here.

Here's a cool Google Maps / National Hurricane Center mashup.

More.... Mack reports that when he went to Costco to buy gas, because his truck needed gas, it was about like it was the other day. Nuts. Crazy Pulitzer-Prize winning human Dave Barry continues to report from South Florida, where they have been similarly girding for the storm:

Here in South Florida we are continuing to gird for Tropical Wave Tropical Storm Hurricane Tropical Storm Moth Fart Tropical Storm Potential Hurricane Ernesto. We are so girded that our loins ache. The TV people are already hoarse from standing outside gas stations, supermarkets, Home Depots, massage parlors, etc. informing us that we are all girding. On the fuel front, every man, woman, child and household pet in Florida currently possesses -- counting vehicle tanks, generators, and gas cans for generators -- at least 350 gallons of gasoline. God help us if anybody in this state lights a match. Here in Miami-Dade County school has been canceled until Halloween, just in case.

Meanwhile, my institution is shutting down at 11:45 a.m. tomorrow. The class I have to teach tomorrow? From 10:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. So it goes. See you on the I-4 in the rain.