Heeerrrreee Comes Wilma!

[manda]

The sky is darkening, you can smell the moisture in the air.The wind is increasing, and the damp cold penetrates your clothes to settle in your bones...

The Bible-thumping grannies are pulling out canes, ready to beat each other over the best looking bread at teh grocery store, and the weather stations are whipping up a new batch of mass hysteria by blanketing the maritime region with wind and rain warnings....

Wilma is hitting as a sub-tropical storm today


Personally, I am more afraid of venturing out to get a jug of milk than I am of the winter.... those little old ladies' dentures hurt when they sink into your arm over the last loaf of bread. Gentle old women, my ass!

I invite all maritimers to this tread to talk about the storm, be it the one the media creates, the Tornados in shopping centers, or, oh yes! The actual weather conditions that hit.

What have you done to get ready for Wilma? I went shopping yesterday with the kids to avoid the madhouses today.

 

[Ocean Breeze]

Forecasters say Wilma will skirt Atlantic Canada
CTV.ca News Staff

Atlantic Canada may be spared a direct hit from the remnants of Hurricane Wilma as it dashes toward the northeast, forecasters say.

"Indications early this morning are that Wilma may race by well south of Nova Scotia," the Canadian Hurricane Centre said in a public advisory, noting Wilma is expected to become a large post-tropical storm south of the province.

"We still expect inclement weather conditions associated with a developing extra-tropical low near Long Island, but may not experience the 100 km/h wind gusts advertised up till now.

At 9 a.m. AT, Wilma was 500 km northwest of Bermuda, moving northeast at 83 km/h.

Earlier, forecasters were warning Atlantic Canadians to brace for hurricane-force winds, pounding surf and heavy rain as the storm raced north.

But the storm weakened as it moved to the northeast and combined with a low pressure system centred over Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Still, wind and heavy rainfall warnings are in effect for the region.

"Those conditions will include northeast winds gusting probably around 80 km/h through the day in Nova Scotia and heavy rains, up to 70 millimetres in central and southern New Brunswick," the hurricane centre's Chris Fogarty told The Canadian Press.

He added that the area of circulation for the system remains large, which means the rains and strong winds could eventually reach Newfoundland as well -- though Wilma is expected to track well south of the province.

"We know that weather systems like this are unpredictable," Ernest Fage, Nova Scotia's minister responsible for the Emergency Measures Act said earlier.

"The best way to keep our families safe is to be prepared."

Fage issued a statement encouraging residents to prepare for the coming storm by securing property and putting together an emergency kit, including food, water, clothing, blankets, medication, a flashlight, battery-powered radio, extra batteries, and a first aid kit.

"Nova Scotians are also being reminded not to endanger themselves by going to coastal areas to watch the storm," the statement said.

Meanwhile, a search is underway to find a sailboat that left Liverpool, N.S. last week, headed for the Boston area.

Mike Bonin of the Search and Rescue centre in Halifax told CP that if the 10-metre vessel with one man on board is on schedule, it could be headed into the teeth of the storm.

Wilma reached record intensity as it plundered across the Atlantic last week, before pounding Mexico's Yucatan peninsula as a Category 2 hurricane over the weekend.

Then, in its turn north, the storm intensified again to strike Florida as a Category 3 early Monday, flooding large sections and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.

Before it made landfall in Florida, Wilma roared ashore in Mexico, devastating resort towns along Mexico's Yucatan Coast.

 

[manda]

We have wind warnings still in effect and heavy rainfall...but like I said, the real danger is in the panic of local residents

 

[missile]

All I did to prepare for it was to fill up my thermos with coffee and roll a few more smokes[just in case!] You're right about the little old ladies: used to work at Sobey's & just a mention of an impending snowstorm would bring them in hordes to stock up on the essentials;i.e.catfood.

 

[manda]

So the worst was not the finest that Nature had to offer; our children are off to school, and here I sit at work, looking out upon a gray and soggy day.

The winds whipped a few Waste Watch carts around, and there is a multitude of shameless naked trees on the Island, but no serious power outages, nor trees down on the road, especially not in front of my place of employment.

Dang it!

I've been ripped off! We haven't had a decent thunderstorm in over 2 years, and I'm sick of blizzards in the winter.

So, as the grocery store sit eerily void of grannies squeezing bread or buying up cat food at an alarming rate, citizens of our fair Isle rise and mope for what could have been a day off to spend with the family.

Alas, it was not to be

 

[missile]

Relax Mandy Just think of the many "snow' days you'll have with your kids..soon The schools, at the drop of a snowfake or two.,close for the day.

 

[manda]

Relax Mandy Just think of the many "snow' days you'll have with your kids..soon The schools, at the drop of a snowfake or two.,close for the day.

Therein lies the problem Missile, i'm sick of snow days...I'm looking for flashes crashes and booms!, Wind whipping and all of that great stuff.

It's much easier to shovel

 

[Jo Canadian]

Relax Mandy Just think of the many "snow' days you'll have with your kids..soon The schools, at the drop of a snowfake or two.,close for the day.

:lol: Yeah, the people here have closed schools on just forcasts alone...some of which never came true. I personally like the snow, but that just goes without saying.