jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 21,891
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Sailing is all about the Weather.
Big into the exploration of Atlantic Hurricanes since Katrina came uninvited into his world, James (Jim) Gurley (JamesG161) has followed every Tropical Storm birthed in Atlantic, Gulf and Caribbean waters since. Being a boater, he knows that we often need more time to prepare than we get from the TV weather folk. Jim relies on the science of storm development to share early warning info with friends and fellow boaters.
Early in 2018, Jim and John Shepard, (JSSailem) started to chat about the weather data available. John asked Jim to help forecast Pacific NW storms, and this morphed into discussions on weather forecasting.For John, sailing in the PNW is sometimes hit and miss. One day is ugly, then a string of beautiful days but no wind, followed by a series of blue-sky days and 12 knot breezes. Being ready for those great sailing days means you need to look to the Pacific Ocean and what is brewing. John has been into Pacific NW Weather since the 1970’s when his first PNW November storm hit bringing more than 40 days and 40 nights of continual rain.
Together we want to share information, new APPs, safety, and thoughts about letting the weather help you. Identify some of the resources for sailors and help prepare you for your next sailboat outing.It is far better to go out on the water knowing what to expect in weather terms, than to be out on the water and see dark ominous clouds suddenly appear, unprepared.
PTC SIX --> TS Francine --> Hurricane Francine
- Thread starter JamesG161
- Start date
John,
This storm was really uneventful for us. No damages to home nor boat.
I am located approximately 90 miles NE of location that Francene made landfall as a Cat 2 storm. By the time it approached my vicinity,
close to NE shore of Lake Pontchartrain, the storm had diminished to a minimal Cat 1 hurricane. We were approximately 30 miles east
of storm's path. Experienced 30 mph sustained winds with gusts up to 50mph; rainfall accumulation was 6 inches over same time period,
with total accumulation of 10 inches over entire event. We have good gravity drainage (no levees or pumps) in my locale for rainfall.
Storm surge in Lake Pontchartrain as well as Lake Borne / Breton Sound was approximately 6 feet. Water covered my finger pier, but not
main dock. Water level was a bit too high yesterday to get aboard boat safely to get power back on, but should be OK today. Problem
with lake is that it fills & once winds shift out of West, the water stacks up at the two passes on the East side of lake ( Rigolets & Chef Pass) and slows the outflow. In this case it will take 24-36 hours for the water level to return to normal. Lots of power outages in area;
we were lucky with power remaining on. Folks in South Central La were affected more severely with some flooding of homes and roof damage; however, nothing catastrophic as previously seen in stronger storms. Thanks for checking in.
Six more weeks until we are out of most vulnerable part of hurricane season!
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