Thursday September 22nd 2022

Today is the first day of fall, but we also had near record high temperatures in the area. The temperature reached 95 in Tallahassee. It was in the low nineties here to the southeast of the capital. At my campsite under the trees it was a comfortable day.

The longer term weather is more of a concern to me. The tropical storm season is ramping up after being relatively quiet for most of the summer. The area of concern the forecasters are talking about is still off the northeast coast of South America, but the weather models call for it to enter the Gulf of Mexico toward the beginning of next week. Today the various tracks from the model runs are showing my current location in Florida’s Big Bend right in the middle of the area of concern.

It is early to make decisions to avoid the storm’s track, but I need to continue to monitor the forecasts. Apparently the water in the Gulf of Mexico is very warm which would allow the storm to strengthen quickly. I spent some time today researching my options. Right now I don’t know what direction to move. I’ve checked availability at various locations in many directions. My guess is I will have to move Tuesday or Wednesday. Currently, I’m booked here until Wednesday, but will move if necessary regardless. I just need to know which direction. Strangely enough the right direction may be deeper into the southern part of the Florida peninsular. The problem with that is my options are limited should the next wave of storms coming off the coast of Africa head for Florida.

I have had to do react to storms before. I am concerned, but not worried at this point. As of now my next reservation is at the end of October for the entire month of November. Between now and the end of October I expect to move a lot to stay out of the various storm paths. If the tropics are quiet I’ll stay in one place longer. While they are active, I will remain flexible.

Other than weigh my options I spent most of the day doing various chores and getting a little reading done. The computer I’m writing this blog entry on also got some attention. I have had Microsoft updates paused while I was away from a strong Wifi connection. At this KOA, I have a good Wifi connection so everything is getting updated. Maybe it will run better tomorrow.