2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season Running Thread

Trump says Biden was “asleep” while storm was hitting. SC Republicans praise federal government response.

Biden gets praise for federal response to Helene, but SC leaders beg for action on port strike

 

I'd like to praise the people of the region who have come together in a great time of need and devastation to help their neighbors.
Any form of help and relief is appreciated beyond compare. Many have done lots because that's their job. Many more have sacrificed of themselves because that's the hearts.

Thank you.

 

Mountain people take care of their own.

 

NASCAR playing a big role in relief efforts. Several tracks, including Bristol and Charlotte, are being used as collection points for supplies. Bristol opened its campground to house evacuees.
Hendrick Motorsports and Gibbs Racing have sent helicopters and haulers filled with supplies.
And then there's former driver Greg Biffle, who is personally flying a helicopter to drop supplies and rescue people.

Greg Biffle headlines many NASCAR figures assisting with Hurricane Helene aftermath in Western North Carolina

 

Talladega is in on this too as a collection point. And more than once when catastrophe has struck in these parts, they’ve raised money by letting people donate in order to take their daily driver out on the track to turn laps.

 

We've got Hurricane Kirk and TS Leslie moving around out in the Atlantic, but they should both be fish storms.
The NHC isn't paying much attention to that system in the western Caribbean. TV meteorologists are. No one seems to be worried about it spinning up too much. They all say it will be a Gulf rain maker.

 

I was checking a couple of the models last night and that seemed to be where they all are right now. In fact, for Sunday, one or two of them had rain covering the entire Gulf and not one bit of land. It looked weird, like someone had purposefully colored that whole part of the map green and made sure to stay inside the lines.

 

Infuriating story here.
Guy is flying his helicopter into the mountains to rescue people and comes across a stranded couple near Lake Lure. He has to take the wife and leave the husband (and his own son, who was co-piloting) up on the mountain. When he lands, an assistant fire chief says to respect his auth-or-i-tah and threatens him with arrest if he goes back to retrieve his son and the husband. Pilot offers to leave as soon he brings back the other two (it's only a three-minute flight), but the fire chief keeps swinging his dick around and says the pilot will be arrested if he doesn't clear the area immediately.

The pilot goes back for his son but has to leave the husband stranded and separated from his wife. Thankfully, the husband was able to shamble down a cliff and was rescued a short time later by another rescue crew who had to take him across a raging river on ropes. He and his wife are safe and have been reunited.
The city manager says the arrest threat was a matter of trying to coordinate rescue efforts, although no flight restrictions were in place and the pilot was asked back to help again the next day.

 

As of this morning, Kirk is a Cat 4 fish storm. Leslie is still a TS but should become a hurricane on Saturday. The cone graphics aren't especially detailed yet having it go on a NWerly pattern. The models have it turning more northward and following Kirk up the middle of the Atlantic.

 

The only thing I'm concerned about right now is the low (possibly 2 lows) in the Caribbean, which are supposed to go into the Gulf of Mexico but then appear to run smack into a cold front swinging down from the Plains next week.

 

It's highly unlikely to have another hurricane follow the same track in the same season, although it's happened before. HOWEVER, what's really bad about this system is the possibility of drenching rainfall all along the west coast of Florida, where the beaches got hammered from Helene's storm surge and more flooding only adds to the problem of digging out from all that sand.

They just got Bradenton Beach open for residents yesterday, let alone getting in any shape for us snowbirds in two months.