IRMA???

Eleven months after Hurricane Matthew, I'm watching another Atlantic hurricane go full tilt boogie down near the Leeward Islands.  Irma could be a Category 4 hurricane at its peak, and if it hits the U.S., it may not be all that much below its peak.  Some models - computer models, not the models who wear designer clothes for display purposes and make teenage boys swoon - have shown a Category 3 storm hitting the Northeast.  I have decided, unlike during Matthew, not to show any such graphics here.  Following this storm online is scary enough.  

Irma is currently following the same course as Matthew, and while some projections have had it going out to sea by the time it reaches forty degrees latitude north, where Philadelphia is located, others have shown it hitting the Delmarva Peninsula, Philadelphia itself, New Bedford in Massachusetts - even New York City!  On September 11! 

If it affects the New York area, direct hit or not, this won't be Sandy Mark Two.  It will be exponentially worse.  We in the New York area were warned before Sandy that we were overdue for a cataclysmic tropical system.  Sandy was not it.    

I've looked at other storms that have followed the coastline and made landfall near New Jersey, along with the two that actually made landfall in New Jersey, Sandy and Irene - and the effects Irma could have if it follows the same course could be potentially devastating.  You know all about Sandy, and Irene was so bad for my area (even though I got through it without a scratch) that the name was retired in favor of . . . Irma. :-O

At this rate, the letter "I" will have to be retired because they're running out of reusable names that begin with it.    

I'm even seeing weird coincidences paralleling Sandy.  When Sandy approached New Jersey, my neighbors across the street were expecting a child.  As Irma threatens the East Coast, those very same neighbors are . . . expecting a child.  When Sandy approached, there was a remodeling job going on at a house two blocks away from me near a street called Harrison Street.  As Irma approaches, two new houses are being built two blocks away from me near . . . Harrison Street.  Hurricane Sandy hit on a Monday.  If Hurricane Irma hits here, it would likely be a week from today . . . Monday. :-O

September 11.

This coming week will be busy for me, and despite the fact that I have been blogging here daily for awhile, I may be blogging less frequently in the next few days.  And if it turns out that the storm is zeroing in on New Jersey, I will be putting this blog on hiatus and shutting down my Music Video Of the Week page temporarily, because while I may be able to post a new video on September 8, I may not get to post one on September 15 if the power goes out and stays out for awhile!  (This would be Outage #42 since November 2009; Outage #41 struck overnight this past Saturday going into Sunday, lasting for forty minutes, as a result of Harvey's remnants.  The next street over was spared.)  Even if Irma were to hit slightly to the south and west, like at Cape Charles in Virginia or the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and go inland, I can't be assured that we'll be spared any hardship.  Right now, computer models are shifting Irma farther south and west, with a potential landfall somewhere between South Carolina and Florida.  Chances of it going out to sea are now slim to none, so if those of us in the Northeast hope it won't hit us, we're essentially putting ourselves in the ethically dubious situation of hoping it hits . . . someone else.  But even this late in the game, all of the East Coast is still in play.

So here we go.  Hopefully things will work out all right.  But be prepared to see this blog black out for awhile, just as my house might.  Fingers crossed . . .