Friday September 2nd 2016

This should be the last of a weeks worth of blogging about the tropical weather system that became hurricane Hermine. The bottom line is I survived hurricane Hermine. The storm came ashore 160 miles west of here with 80 mph winds about midnight last night, but the time had very little association with how the storm manifested here in Jacksonville.

I spent all day yesterday and most of the evening waiting for something to happen. About 6:30pm the first band of rain and wind associated with the storm came through the area. It got the TV meteorologists excited because there was some tornadic rotation in the band, but it had very little impact to my immediate area. Three hours later another band came through. This one brought more rain and wind and it never really let up until the storm had moved through.

Another 3 hours later, around 12:30, the next band came through. The weather alert radio went off with a tornado warning for an area north of here. Once I reset the radio, I went back to trying to get to sleep. It was not easy, but knowing that the radio would get my attention if another tornado warning occurred, I did get some sleep. Additional heavy bands went through about every 3 hours until noon today.

Clouds to the north after the storm.

The bulk of the wind came this morning. The Jacksonville airport, about 1.5 miles from here, had a peak gust of 46 mph just before noon. By this time the center of the now tropical storm was over 100 miles to the north. Strong winds continued all day, but the sun came out during the afternoon and warmed things up into the high 80s.

This evening I extended the motorhome slide out rooms and raised the satellite antenna. I had stowed these yesterday about 24hours earlier to limit the potential wind damage. I also took my bicycle back off it’s rack on the back of the car. Everything is back to normal.

I think this is the first time I’ve been on the right side of the storm path for a hurricane. This side of the storm is known for having bands of energy with rain, heavy winds and possible tornadoes. The left side of the storm, that I’ve experienced before in New England has heavier rain and less gusty winds and tornadoes. Between the bands on the right side it is possible to get a false sense of security. Prior to the time I got to sleep, I still heard jets passing overhead on their way in for landing at Jacksonville International Airport. I hope they were cargo planes and not passenger service.

Overall the storm didn’t have any physical impact on me or my property. It did cause some emotional turmoil in the form of self anger for not getting out of town when I could. I’d like to think I’ll run next time, but who knows.