I'm going to start updating on Fay now. She kind of came out of nowhere and seems to be taking a quick path to the west coast of Florida. I also want to say that the National Hurricane Center messed up the spelling of Fay. Just ask my good friend Faye from college. She'll tell you the right way to spell it (Hurricane names are always fun).

8/22/08 7:30 am CDT: Quick update from the NHC

Storm is just west of Gainsville and still dropping a bunch or rain. I'm looking for specific rainfall amounts that are inpressive, but nothing seems to be up on the chat rooms just yet.

Here's the latest on the storm statistics:
Max Winds: 45 mph
Tropical Storm Force Winds Extend up to 140 miles from the center.
Current Pressure: 996 mb
Moving Direction: West
Speed: 6 mph.

8/22/08 6:30 am CDT: Fay has begun to move.

The storm now appears to be right around Gainsville, FL which should make any Ohio State fan happy (yes, that's me taking a shot at the university that can't win a championship). The storm is expected to remain mostly over land, but its going to be a close call tomorrow afternoon. That is my question at this point. If it does move over land it could easily become much stronger and make its fourth landfall somewhere else.

Someplaces have seen up to two feet or more of rain. There have been unconfirmed reports of three feet of rain too. That's unbelievable! Flooding has been the biggest concern for a few days now. I haven't seen many reports for damage other than trees down.

Here's the latest on the storm statistics:
Max Winds: 50 mph
Tropical Storm Force Winds Extend up to 140 miles from the center.
Current Pressure: 995 mb
Moving Direction: West
Speed: 6 mph.

8/21/08 8:00 am CDT: More Proof about Fay's Strength.

This is not an update from the NHC, rather I did some research into what is happening.

Just logged into a chat room with the National Weather Service in Melbourne, Fl and found a few reports. First of all, the storm is being reported as stationary and just off the coast of Volusta County, which is in Northeast Florida of course. The rainfall reports are very impressive as well. Just got one of 13.47 inches in Cocoa Beach from the entire storm. WOW! There are scattered but unconfirmed reports of 17 inches of rain from Cocoa Beach to Cape Canaveral. Any way you cut it, its impressive.

8/21/08 7:00 am CDT: Fay starting to move.

The National Hurricane Center has started to notice some movement in Fay but it seems to have stopped again. The speed will slowly pick up to the northwest later today. Because it is stuck the rain will just continue to fall and not let up. I looked for a few reports, but found nothing interesting that has happened in the past few hours.

Here's the question I have at the moment: What if Fay takes a bigger right turn than expected and ends up over the Gulf of Mexico. That could cause it to get stronger. Then where will it go? Any time it is in the gulf and near the shore it may be effecting the oil production or many big cities along the coast. Just something to watch over the next few days.

Here's the latest on the storm statistics:
Max Winds: 60 mph
Tropical Storm Force Winds Extend up to 150 miles from the center.
Current Pressure: 994 mb
Moving Direction: Stationary
Speed: 0 mph.

8/21/08 4:00 am CDT: Fay: The Little Storm That Could

Really, Fay has never been that impressive from the stand point of wind, pressure or even from a satellite, but this storm continues to impress. Rainfall is amazing as there have been reports of over 20 inches of rain reported. It has once again stalled and we're still waiting for it to make the big left turn into the Northeast Florida Coast.

Here's the latest on the storm statistics:
Max Winds: 60 mph
Tropical Storm Force Winds Extend up to 150 miles from the center.
Current Pressure: 994 mb
Moving Direction: Stationary
Speed: 0 mph.

8/20/08 10:00 am CDT: Fay gets stronger, now over open waters.

Just a small update here. There are two significant changes. One, the storm is over open waters for the moment and is expected to start to make that turn back towards the coast within 24 hours. Current direction has it moving north at nearly 3 mph (whoa, watch it Mario!). The second development is that all HURRICANE watches have been dropped. There are multiple tropical storm warnings along the Georgia and Florida coasts, but it appears that the National Hurricane Center is forecasting the storm to not be a hurricane at any point. Rain still appears to be the biggest threat. There have already been reports of 16 inches of rain near Melbourne, Florida.

Here's a few statistics on the storm:
Max Winds: 50 mph
Current Pressure: 995 mb
Moving Direction: North
Speed: 3 mph

8/20/08 7:00 am CDT: Fay baffles everyone, won't go away.

I decided not to blog on Fay yesterday thinking that it wouldn't make hurricane status or even be significant much pass yesterday afternoon. However, after making landfall as a tropical storm it actually got stronger and looked healthier than ever before. Typically landfall will kill a tropical storm but this time it didn't. My theory is that the everglades were moist enough to help the storm. Regardless the track of this storm is about to become even more amazing.

The system is going to move back over the waters of the Atlantic where some strengthening is expected. However, it is not expected to become a hurricane. It will start pushing the envelop as winds are expected to reach 70 mph. Right now the storm is near Cape Canaveral, FL and the winds are at 45 mph. It is still taking its sweet time moving with a speed of only 5 mph and to the north.

What will happen here is a big question. If she sticks over the waters long enough, she could become a hurricane. However, that is not what is forecasted. Once she makes landfall she cold got back over the gulf and restrengthen there. Regardless, after what she's already done, we'll just keep watching.

8/18/08 7:00 am CDT: Fay strengthens, still a tropical storm.

The storm has now crossed Cuba and is continuing its track to the North at a snails pace. Current speed is 12 mph. Pressure is down to 1002mb and current winds are at 60mph. Tracks continue to take the storm into the west coast of Florida somewhere near Fort Myers early tomorrow afternoon. Tropical storm force winds extent out to 105 miles from the center of the storm.

Florida will already start to feel Fay's wrath with some storms already coming on shore that could bring tornadoes. Also, in the Keys there will be storm surges of 2 to 4 feet. Once the storm has passed, current projections have the storm dropping local amount of 12 inches of rain, but most will be in the 4 to 8 inch rain.