Hurricane Blog #1

A few of you might want to know what's going on with those of us here in Houston, so I've provided a bit of a "hurricane primer". Just in case you care. Which you probably don't, since you're in L.A. or Boston or somewhere that doesn't get hurricanes. But I don't live on a freakin' fault line, so I guess it all evens out ...

I've taken this Texas coastal map, based on The Weather Channel's projected path as of this afternoon, and added some landmarks that you might be hearing about on the news. (Click on it for a larger version.) Right now, the center of the projected path is Matagorda Bay, which is about 120 miles southwest of Houston. That means that if the eye of the hurricane makes landfall at Matagorda Bay, Houston is in the northeast quadrant of the storm -- and the northeast quadrant is the one that packs the most rain and wind.

Dr. Neil Frank is a local weathercaster, and formerly was the director of the National Hurricane Center, so when a hurricane is on the way, he's the one I listen to. He just told us that we could see 100-MPH winds as far north as Conroe (45 miles north of downtown Houston) and as far west as Katy (25 miles west of downtown).

I live five miles from downtown.

Our evacuation plan is that as of tomorrow afternoon, if the eye of the hurricane is still projected to hit Matagorda Bay or north of there, we're getting the heck out of Dodge.

Flooding is not going to be much of a concern more than 10-15 miles in from the coast, so we're not likely to see any flood damage. The wind is the dangerous part. Karen and I are half-hoping that the wind will take away our crappy old carport, so that the insurance company can buy us a sparkly new one. But, we shall see.

More later ...