Hurricane Isabel - September 2003

an impressive shot of the eye of the storm taken by the crew on the International Space Station

you can easily note the counterclockwise rotation of the winds and the spiral pattern -- hurricanes are extremely low pressure storms, as measured by a barometer

the eye is an area of relative calm

this was one of the last transmissions of the Avalon Fishing Pier cam located on the beachfront at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina -- it stopped activity at about 01:49h and only showed that view for at least a day

links at Avalon Fishing Pier and at a North Carolina news web site

this is a view of when the storm made landfall on 18 September 2003 on the Outer Banks

the red X in this and other views is more or less where I am located near the south-east corner of Pennsylvania / Central New Jersey

although the eye of the storm was several hundred miles to the south, you can see that I was affected by relatively high winds and some rain -- the wind was sort of strong, but I had experienced much stronger in the past -- and the rain was not a torrential downpour

you can see just how extensive the effects of Isabel were, with the precipitation and wind patterns being felt as far north as Canada

It was a really monster hurricane, in terms of size, but it began to lose strength, as usual, as it neared land

most of the damage, as expected, was on the beaches that the storm surf pounded on -- some deaths were attributed to the hurricane, most probably due to stupidity

these storms are seasonal, and always have been -- as long as people continue to build along the exposed beachfronts, there will always be damage -- DUH!

an uncle in Virginia sent me this pic of about the only actual damage on his property -- an obviously rotten tree fell due to the wind -- apparently a family of squirrels lived in the tree -- two babies were squeeking and mommy squirrel came and took them to a new home somewhere

on the 18th I decided to take a ladder out and trim some rotten branches off of a tree at the sidewalk near where I park the Jeep -- got out an old chain saw which I had not used in at least 10 years, but could not get it to work! I banged at a couple smallish branches with a long-handled tree trimming tool and got them to fall off and I moved the car forward from its usual parking spot just in case

the night of the 18th the winds were sort of strong and we had more rain -- the lights went out three times in the early hours of the 19th, according to the Power Failure Reports of my FAX machine -- 01:26, 02:09 and 04:58 -- after the first blackout I decided to crawl into bed

as you can see, the storm had moved inland, and was rapidly losing strength -- downgraded to a tropical storm -- not anywhere near the amount of rain that had been so-called predicted, which was a blessing for Pennsylvania and some other areas because they already had a lot of rain

on the 19th I went to a Sam's Club south of me to get much needed cat food and other things, including a new chain saw -- took my digital camera along to get shots of any damage -- NOTHING! The only thing I noted was that a couple traffic lights were not working not too far from Trenton, and there were policemen at the major highway directing traffic, both when going and returning a couple hours later

Sam's did not have a chain saw -- the lady said it was a seasonal item! Loads of golf and Christmas stuff, but no bicycles -- got cat food and litter, salmon, a crock pot for slow cooking, and some CD-R disks because I want to get into burning Cds

the more active parts of the dying hurricane had now entered into Pennsylvania brnging 2-3" of rain instead of the predicted 8-9"

when I went to Sam's it was sunny and above 80 degreesF

the devastation was not nearly as severa as it was hyped by the media -- but, I suppose, it could have been -- maybe -- at least there was a boom in plywood, bottled water and duct tape sales -- all offset by the copious disaster aid that comes out of tax $$$ revenues! It's all a game with even wider, more disasterous effects than any hurricane could ever be!

[back to YES 2003]

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	an impressive shot of the eye of the storm taken by the crew on the International Space Station you can easily note the counterclockwise rotation of the winds and the spiral pattern -- hurricanes are extremely low pressure storms, as measured by a barometer the eye is an area of relative calm
	this was one of the last transmissions of the Avalon Fishing Pier cam located on the beachfront at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina -- it stopped activity at about 01:49h and only showed that view for at least a day links at Avalon Fishing Pier and at a North Carolina news web site
	this is a view of when the storm made landfall on 18 September 2003 on the Outer Banks the red X in this and other views is more or less where I am located near the south-east corner of Pennsylvania / Central New Jersey although the eye of the storm was several hundred miles to the south, you can see that I was affected by relatively high winds and some rain -- the wind was sort of strong, but I had experienced much stronger in the past -- and the rain was not a torrential downpour
	you can see just how extensive the effects of Isabel were, with the precipitation and wind patterns being felt as far north as Canada It was a really monster hurricane, in terms of size, but it began to lose strength, as usual, as it neared land most of the damage, as expected, was on the beaches that the storm surf pounded on -- some deaths were attributed to the hurricane, most probably due to stupidity these storms are seasonal, and always have been -- as long as people continue to build along the exposed beachfronts, there will always be damage -- DUH!
	an uncle in Virginia sent me this pic of about the only actual damage on his property -- an obviously rotten tree fell due to the wind -- apparently a family of squirrels lived in the tree -- two babies were squeeking and mommy squirrel came and took them to a new home somewhere on the 18th I decided to take a ladder out and trim some rotten branches off of a tree at the sidewalk near where I park the Jeep -- got out an old chain saw which I had not used in at least 10 years, but could not get it to work! I banged at a couple smallish branches with a long-handled tree trimming tool and got them to fall off and I moved the car forward from its usual parking spot just in case the night of the 18th the winds were sort of strong and we had more rain -- the lights went out three times in the early hours of the 19th, according to the Power Failure Reports of my FAX machine -- 01:26, 02:09 and 04:58 -- after the first blackout I decided to crawl into bed
	as you can see, the storm had moved inland, and was rapidly losing strength -- downgraded to a tropical storm -- not anywhere near the amount of rain that had been so-called predicted, which was a blessing for Pennsylvania and some other areas because they already had a lot of rain on the 19th I went to a Sam's Club south of me to get much needed cat food and other things, including a new chain saw -- took my digital camera along to get shots of any damage -- NOTHING! The only thing I noted was that a couple traffic lights were not working not too far from Trenton, and there were policemen at the major highway directing traffic, both when going and returning a couple hours later Sam's did not have a chain saw -- the lady said it was a seasonal item! Loads of golf and Christmas stuff, but no bicycles -- got cat food and litter, salmon, a crock pot for slow cooking, and some CD-R disks because I want to get into burning Cds
	the more active parts of the dying hurricane had now entered into Pennsylvania brnging 2-3" of rain instead of the predicted 8-9" when I went to Sam's it was sunny and above 80 degreesF the devastation was not nearly as severa as it was hyped by the media -- but, I suppose, it could have been -- maybe -- at least there was a boom in plywood, bottled water and duct tape sales -- all offset by the copious disaster aid that comes out of tax $$$ revenues! It's all a game with even wider, more disasterous effects than any hurricane could ever be!