Tropical Storm Ida

Looks like I might have worried for nothing. 😆 Now that she came ashore she’s moving very slowly. She came on shore near Dauphin Island, Alabama. She’s out over Mobile Bay and should make landfall again soon (I’d imagine near Foley, Alabama). I’ve looked at the projected path on the National Hurricane Center’s Web site and she’s gonna slowly creep across the Florida panhandle, with the storm’s “center” being over Florala, Alabama, by midnight tonight. Top winds are down to 45 mph and further weakening is expected as Ida moves inland later today. We haven’t even had any rain for a few hours now according to hubby. Everything’s just overcast like any other rainy day. 🙂 We ended up not bothering with the hurricane shutters (and I’m glad for that). Only had a handful of neighbors who broke theirs out.

While this is my first “hurricane” living in the Florida panhandle, I’ve been through one before – Hurricane Opal – which caused damage all the way to the mid-Atlantic states before dissipating. It’s a bit different down on the beach though.

I will say I am quite glad that last year’s hurricane season and this year’s hurricane season have both been so quiet. Just means we really need to be ready for next year. We kept putting off getting our hurricane kit ready and I don’t want that to happen next year.

I’m sorry you’re getting the rain khat7. We could actually use the rain as we’re behind on our annual rainfall.

The only major effect I’m seeing from Ida is some road closures in the county – one due to sand on the road, the rest due to standing water. Luckily none of the affected roads are anywhere near me.

And now she’s not even classified as a tropical storm anymore. She’s a tropical depression.

As of 9am CST the center of Tropical Depression Ida was located about 30 miles east-southeast of Mobile, Ala., or about 25 miles west-northwest of Pensacola, Fla. (Means it’s about 50 miles west of me) Top winds have decreased to near 35 mph with further weakening occurring this afternoon.

Ida is in the process of transitioning to a non-tropical area of low pressure that will eventually become a sizeable ocean storm in the western Atlantic Ocean later this week.

The heavy rain associated with Ida slowly moves across the Southeast to the Mid-Atlantic states over the next two days. Rainfall amounts of 2 to 6 inches are likely from eastern Mississippi through the Carolinas by Wednesday night. Some locally higher amounts up to 8 inches are possible.