Looks like we may be in for a wild & wooly weekend.
The supermarket shelves for bottled water are empty already….

/

Remarks:

SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE ITA, CATEGORY 3, is expected to continue moving in a general westwards direction towards the far north Queensland coast, while intensifying. GALES extend 220 kilometres out from the centre and may develop between Coen and Cooktown late Thursday and develop elsewhere between Cape Grenville and Cairns during Friday.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Ita poses a significant threat to communities along the far north Queensland coast and at this stage it is expected to approach the coast between Lockhart River and Cape Flattery and make landfall late Friday as a SEVERE CATEGORY 4 TROPICAL CYCLONE with VERY DESTRUCTIVE WINDS near the core and GALES extending some distance from the landfall location.

The sea may rise steadily up to a level which will be significantly above the normal tide between Cape Grenville and Cairns close to landfall on Friday, with damaging waves, strong currents and flooding of low-lying areas possible. People living in low lying areas that may be affected by this flooding should take measures to protect their property as much as possible and be prepared to follow instructions regarding evacuation of the area if advised to do so by the authorities.

Very heavy rain, which may lead to flash flooding, is expected to develop about the Peninsula and northern parts of the North Tropical Coast and Tablelands districts on Thursday and persist into Friday.

People between Cape Grenville and Cairns should consider what action they will need to take if the cyclone threat increases and listen to the next advice at 11pm EST.
- Information is available from your local government
- For cyclone preparedness and safety advice, visit Queensland’s Disaster Management Services website (www.disaster.qld.gov.au)
- For emergency assistance call the Queensland State Emergency Service (SES) on 132 500 (for assistance with storm damage, rising flood water, fallen trees on buildings or roof damage).

source:
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ65002.shtml

The US Navy seem to think it will turn south and follow the coast.

http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html

Good luck with it. Have fun whilst it’s happening.

:)

Jeez I hope not. Ex TC Oswald did that and caused a lot a trouble!

Michael V said:

Good luck with it. Have fun whilst it’s happening.

:)

lol

Aquila said:

The US Navy seem to think it will turn south and follow the coast.

http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html

!http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/atcf_web/image_archives/2014/sh232014.14040818.gif

Cool. We might get to have some fun, too! Fantastic!

:)

My hurricane fun:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Betsy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Isidore

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Lili

All three names have been retired.

MV,
Do hurricane catagories correlate with Australian cyclone catagories, in terms of intensity, size, wind speed etc.?

No. US categories have higher windspeeds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_cyclone_scales#Comparisons_across_basins

cheers

> The US Navy seem to think it will turn south and follow the coast.

US Navy did a much better job of predicting the path of Sandy than overseas weather services did – but that was a US hurricane.

Landfall in 2 days or so, we’ll have a much better idea of the track tomorrow.

I’ll go hang gliding over it, should be good :)

Aquila said:

MV,
Do hurricane catagories correlate with Australian cyclone catagories, in terms of intensity, size, wind speed etc.?

G’day Aquila. No and just to be different, the Yanks like to spin their blows the other way, as well.

Stay safe.

stan101 said:

Aquila said:

MV,
Do hurricane catagories correlate with Australian cyclone catagories, in terms of intensity, size, wind speed etc.?

G’day Aquila. No and just to be different, the Yanks like to spin their blows the other way, as well.

Stay safe.

G’day Stan, yes, that I learnt from Dr. Karl from his old thursday science show on triple J and I think they also mentioned the direction of water draining down a bath plug hole

Sort of, but the Coriolis Effect is very weak on bathtub water.

Thanks Dr. Divine

)

We are needing a few trees trimmed :)

As long as they dont become a roof ornament!

O.O

Peak Warming Man said:

I get asked a lot at bus shelters how a cyclone works so I drew this up.

That is awesome, MV

I’d imagine it’s starting to get a bit lively for our FNQ friends

Oh noes, they’re run out of baked beans!
https://twitter.com/EricTlozek/status/454069581988909056/photo/1

Ita’s Category 4 now.

Cape Flattery was named by Capt Cook:
We now judged ourselves to be clear of all Danger, having, as we thought, a Clear, open Sea before us; but this we soon found otherwise

Divine Angel said:

Cape Flattery was named by Capt Cook:
We now judged ourselves to be clear of all Danger, having, as we thought, a Clear, open Sea before us; but this we soon found otherwise

Bill’d be happy to know that the last Cook-named geographic feature is “Booby Island”

Michael V said:

Ita’s Category 4 now.

Err Cat 5

Peak Warming Man said:

Michael V said:

Ita’s Category 4 now.

Err Cat 5

Well there you go. It’s intensified dramatically, then.

It went from 3-5 in six hours.

The sea that day was angry, my friend

Bugger – I posted it two minutes before the BOM update…

Flattery flat.

Hmmm it’s all go go go…

I did get the front nature strip mowed and it won’t take me long to get stuff inside.

I have however called CS and suggested that he may want to get home. Not concerned being here by myself (will have 1 or 2 for company) but I fully believe we will get destructive winds and I will require help with the aftermath :/

Love living in the tropics :)

Spider Lily said:

Hmmm it’s all go go go…

I did get the front nature strip mowed and it won’t take me long to get stuff inside.

I have however called CS and suggested that he may want to get home. Not concerned being here by myself (will have 1 or 2 for company) but I fully believe we will get destructive winds and I will require help with the aftermath :/

Love living in the tropics :)

Looks like you’ll get the edge only, so far..thankfully., strong winds

Dropbear said:

Spider Lily said:

Hmmm it’s all go go go…

I did get the front nature strip mowed and it won’t take me long to get stuff inside.

I have however called CS and suggested that he may want to get home. Not concerned being here by myself (will have 1 or 2 for company) but I fully believe we will get destructive winds and I will require help with the aftermath :/

Love living in the tropics :)

Looks like you’ll get the edge only, so far..thankfully., strong winds

crosses fingers

I still feel it’s going to keep swinging down… I’m not an expert but call it gut feeling. If I was in Cooktown I would be VERY nervous :/

Spider Lily said:

Dropbear said:

Spider Lily said:

Hmmm it’s all go go go…

I did get the front nature strip mowed and it won’t take me long to get stuff inside.

I have however called CS and suggested that he may want to get home. Not concerned being here by myself (will have 1 or 2 for company) but I fully believe we will get destructive winds and I will require help with the aftermath :/

Love living in the tropics :)

Looks like you’ll get the edge only, so far..thankfully., strong winds

crosses fingers

I still feel it’s going to keep swinging down… I’m not an expert but call it gut feeling. If I was in Cooktown I would be VERY nervous :/

Yeh gut feelings are always best to go with, and ignore scientists with their super-computer models and stuff :)

CAT 5 – doesn’t sound like my idea of fun.

party_pants said:

CAT 5 – doesn’t sound like my idea of fun.

It’s ok for speeds below 100 MHz.

Cat 5

:)

This may seem like a silly question but I’ve never been in a cyclone. How do they know when it’s made landfall?

Divine Angel said:

This may seem like a silly question but I’ve never been in a cyclone. How do they know when it’s made landfall?

The wind and rain give it away :)

Seriously it must depend on which bit of the cyclone you refer to as having made landfall.

pommiejohn said:

Divine Angel said:

This may seem like a silly question but I’ve never been in a cyclone. How do they know when it’s made landfall?

The wind and rain give it away :)

Seriously it must depend on which bit of the cyclone you refer to as having made landfall.

Be based on wind-speed I imagine.

It’s raining and windy in Cooktown now (judging from the pics on Twitter), I guess it just keeps getting worse?

You can see the eye on radar

I’m going camping up Bundaberg way this weekend… should be OK yes? maybe a bit of rain?

Probly not even that.

I’m trying to reassure my mum that we’re closer to Melbourne than we are to the cyclone.

Divine Angel said:

I’m trying to reassure my mum that we’re closer to Melbourne than we are to the cyclone.

Let’s hope your mum isn’t afraid of Melbourne.

Anthony Mundine got floored 5 times in a points hiding last night – shame :)

Woops Fred Wong, sorry.

I survived Yasi.

OCDC said:

I survived Yasi.

So did I, by being 4000 km away from it and staying put.

I haven’t confirmed this yet but apparently our hospital is getting evacuated!

Have only ever known that to happen once before, Yasi..

Doesn’t this weather event coincide with a king tide?

I was on the Esplanade around 6pm and it was very calm, virtually no wind and no rain.

The wind has increased slightly

Aquila said:

Doesn’t this weather event coincide with a king tide?

I was on the Esplanade around 6pm and it was very calm, virtually no wind and no rain.

The wind has increased slightly

http://tides.willyweather.com.au/qld/far-north/cairns.html

My wind chimes have ‘just’ started to tinkle :)

thanks…the tides look normal to me but I don’t know for sure (just texted a co-worker who fishes alot) to ask if the tides are normal or not.

The Cairns forecast for Saturday is looking a bit grim, BOM saying possible wind gusts exceeding 170 km/h

/
I hope is doesn’t track south along the coastline

SL, where’s Carmen at?

Remember the weather chap who used to post on SSSF, Ray someone, he was on Willis island I think when a cyclone blew all his instruments away.

Aquila said:

thanks…the tides look normal to me but I don’t know for sure (just texted a co-worker who fishes alot) to ask if the tides are normal or not.

The Cairns forecast for Saturday is looking a bit grim, BOM saying possible wind gusts exceeding 170 km/h

/
I hope is doesn’t track south along the coastline

SL, where’s Carmen at?

Hopefully landing at midday tomorrow…. I have beer in the fridge :D

Peak Warming Man said:

Remember the weather chap who used to post on SSSF, Ray someone, he was on Willis island I think when a cyclone blew all his instruments away.

Um, yeah. Him. Scratches head

Spider Lily said:

Aquila said:

thanks…the tides look normal to me but I don’t know for sure (just texted a co-worker who fishes alot) to ask if the tides are normal or not.

The Cairns forecast for Saturday is looking a bit grim, BOM saying possible wind gusts exceeding 170 km/h

/
I hope is doesn’t track south along the coastline

SL, where’s Carmen at?

Hopefully landing at midday tomorrow…. I have beer in the fridge :D

What?!
Geez, it bit risky innit?
I guess the airlines have their own weather guidelines

>>My wind chimes have ‘just’ started to tinkle :)<<

Oops, something you forgot to take down and put inside!

Aquila said:

Spider Lily said:

Aquila said:

thanks…the tides look normal to me but I don’t know for sure (just texted a co-worker who fishes alot) to ask if the tides are normal or not.

The Cairns forecast for Saturday is looking a bit grim, BOM saying possible wind gusts exceeding 170 km/h

/
I hope is doesn’t track south along the coastline

SL, where’s Carmen at?

Hopefully landing at midday tomorrow…. I have beer in the fridge :D

What?!
Geez, it bit risky innit?
I guess the airlines have their own weather guidelines

Have a stopoff at Townsville. If I have to, I’ll drive the rest of the way.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Aquila said:

Spider Lily said:

Hopefully landing at midday tomorrow…. I have beer in the fridge :D

What?!
Geez, it bit risky innit?
I guess the airlines have their own weather guidelines

Have a stopoff at Townsville. If I have to, I’ll drive the rest of the way.

)

It’s pretty wow on the windmap:

http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-225.55,-28.41,526

buffy said:

It’s pretty wow on the windmap:

http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-225.55,-28.41,526

WoW

O.O

buffy said:

>>My wind chimes have ‘just’ started to tinkle :)<<

Oops, something you forgot to take down and put inside!

Not forgotton Buffy just not necessary at this stage, the deck is the last part to be cleared

That’s a pretty speccy map you linked to then :)

buffy said:

It’s pretty wow on the windmap:

http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-225.55,-28.41,526

It’s like it’s sucking in the air from hundreds of km al around.

Spider Lily said:

buffy said:

>>My wind chimes have ‘just’ started to tinkle :)<<

Oops, something you forgot to take down and put inside!

Not forgotton Buffy just not necessary at this stage, the deck is the last part to be cleared

That’s a pretty speccy map you linked to then :)

Try it like this, then…

http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-212.26,-15.34,1831

party_pants said:

buffy said:

It’s pretty wow on the windmap:

http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-225.55,-28.41,526

It’s like it’s sucking in the air from hundreds of km al around.

Thousands even

jjjust moi said:

party_pants said:

buffy said:

It’s pretty wow on the windmap:

http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-225.55,-28.41,526

It’s like it’s sucking in the air from hundreds of km al around.

Thousands even

*chuckle

)

It’s very still and quiet at the moment….

Stay safe in FNQ, lovelies

So my 0915 flight from the middle of nowhere to Townsville, the arriving in Cairns at 1200 has turned into a 1055 arriving at 1520. Thanks Qantas, and the good news is that the flight “hasn’t been cancelled yet”. :/

Good luck to all of you, and take care. If you take care, it should be fun.

:)

Real interesting how the system is kilometers high, yet a few hundred meters of land can funnels the winds so well…

http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-209.00,-12.98,2612

Michael V said:

Good luck to all of you, and take care. If you take care, it should be fun.

:)

+1
stay safe Qlders

Cairns Regional Council shutting down the city at midday…

Why am I still at work? All child care centres closed so all parents are home on a paid day off…

Spider Lily said:

Cairns Regional Council shutting down the city at midday…

Why am I still at work? All child care centres closed so all parents are home on a paid day off…

It’s discrimination.

Looks like I will have fun getting into Cairns. My flight has been cancelled, but the 1705 flight (landing in Cairns when the cyclone does) is apparently still flying, but I doubt it will be for long.

stumpy_seahorse said:

Michael V said:

Good luck to all of you, and take care. If you take care, it should be fun.

:)

+1
stay safe Qlders

I’m all good, thanks :p

Divine Angel said:

stumpy_seahorse said:

Michael V said:

Good luck to all of you, and take care. If you take care, it should be fun.

:)

+1
stay safe Qlders

I’m all good, thanks :p

i hear KK has been named as the official evacuation centre… :P

Divine Angel said:

I’m all good, thanks :p

Now why do I not believe that?

(She’s not the Messiah; She’s just a naughty little girl.)

Cloudless sunny skies here, top of 30 degrees. I think this cyclone business is just made up to sell newspapers.

Michael V said:

Divine Angel said:

I’m all good, thanks :p

Now why do I not believe that?

(She’s not the Messiah; She’s just a naughty little girl.)

Ita is slowly getting a more easterly component so now will pass over me as a tropical low.

Divine Angel said:

Cloudless sunny skies here, top of 30 degrees. I think this cyclone business is just made up to sell newspapers.

Of course, as previously mentioned, Brisbane is closer to Melbourne than it is to the cyclone…

Tamb said:

Ita is slowly getting a more easterly component so now will pass over me as a tropical low.

That’ll get The Millstream going. Is your pump out?

Michael V said:

Tamb said:

Ita is slowly getting a more easterly component so now will pass over me as a tropical low.

That’ll get The Millstream going. Is your pump out?

Well & truly. Been out since January. We’ve had enough rain to not need any water from the Millie.
Bought fuel for the generator yesterday.

Tamb said:

Michael V said:

Tamb said:

Ita is slowly getting a more easterly component so now will pass over me as a tropical low.

That’ll get The Millstream going. Is your pump out?

Well & truly. Been out since January. We’ve had enough rain to not need any water from the Millie.
Bought fuel for the generator yesterday.

At 11 am today

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Looks like I will have fun getting into Cairns. My flight has been cancelled, but the 1705 flight (landing in Cairns when the cyclone does) is apparently still flying, but I doubt it will be for long.

As I boarded the flight, we were told that all flights to Cairns had been cancelled and our luggage would appear on the carousel. Landed in Townsville, no luggage. :(

Turns out a mid-afternoon flight has magically appeared. The plane is sitting on the tarmac, but the crew are on their way from elsewhere which is the reason for the delay.

still spinning at a 5 then….

I just read Cape Flattery as Cape Flannery.

Is there a potential typhoon forming east of the Philippines?

http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/overlay=temp/orthographic=-225.55,-28.41,458

The woods. And the darkness… and the howling wind! Will the snows never cease? They seem to reach back forever…

furious said:

The woods. And the darkness… and the howling wind! Will the snows never cease? They seem to reach back forever…

Looks like we’re going to get a cat 1 here.

Tamb said:

furious said:

The woods. And the darkness… and the howling wind! Will the snows never cease? They seem to reach back forever…

Looks like we’re going to get a cat 1 here.

When was the last time you had a cyclone in your neck of the woods?

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Tamb said:

furious said:

The woods. And the darkness… and the howling wind! Will the snows never cease? They seem to reach back forever…

Looks like we’re going to get a cat 1 here.

When was the last time you had a cyclone in your neck of the woods?

Larry & Yasi were the big ones. Cat 4/5. We also had Tasha in 2010.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Tamb said:

furious said:

The woods. And the darkness… and the howling wind! Will the snows never cease? They seem to reach back forever…

Looks like we’re going to get a cat 1 here.

When was the last time you had a cyclone in your neck of the woods?

Larry & Yasi were the big ones. Cat 4/5. We also had Tasha in 2010.

You’re up in the tablelands, tamb?

Normally blown out a bit by the time they get to you?

Tamb said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Tamb said:

Looks like we’re going to get a cat 1 here.

When was the last time you had a cyclone in your neck of the woods?

Larry & Yasi were the big ones. Cat 4/5. We also had Tasha in 2010.

Sorry for the double post.
The BOM MetEye is quite good too:

Thankfully it’s a rather small system. If it was the size of Yasi there’d be trouble

Dropbear said:

You’re up in the tablelands, tamb?

Normally blown out a bit by the time they get to you?

Sometimes. But we’re only 60km from both Tully & Innisfail so we get theirs at almost full strength.

Tamb said:

Dropbear said:

You’re up in the tablelands, tamb?

Normally blown out a bit by the time they get to you?

Sometimes. But we’re only 60km from both Tully & Innisfail so we get theirs at almost full strength.

Ahh ok. Well good luck tomorrow mate. This shouldn’t be nearly that bad

Dropbear said:

Tamb said:

Dropbear said:

You’re up in the tablelands, tamb?

Normally blown out a bit by the time they get to you?

Sometimes. But we’re only 60km from both Tully & Innisfail so we get theirs at almost full strength.

Ahh ok. Well good luck tomorrow mate. This shouldn’t be nearly that bad

The BOM sat cat 1.
MetEye link is: http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/meteye/

Tamb said:

Tamb said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

When was the last time you had a cyclone in your neck of the woods?

Larry & Yasi were the big ones. Cat 4/5. We also had Tasha in 2010.

Sorry for the double post.
The BOM MetEye is quite good too:

Nice! Thanks: bookmarked.

:)

Track 18 on my playlist is Cold Chizel’s – Ita

…I’m currently listening to track 12 – Breakfast At Sweethearts

Spent the afternoon prepping the yard, finally sat down for a beer and the rain starts.

Good timing.

Captured by the Weipa radar

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Spent the afternoon prepping the yard, finally sat down for a beer and the rain starts.

Good timing.

A chunk of King Island Black Label Cheddar, the very last of the Smoked Cheddar and a cider… our work is done, now is the time for the cyclone relax before the storm :)

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Spent the afternoon prepping the yard, finally sat down for a beer and the rain starts.

Good timing.

So Quantarse got you home after all?

Michael V said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Spent the afternoon prepping the yard, finally sat down for a beer and the rain starts.

Good timing.

So Quantarse got you home after all?

They put on a special flight I think. The plane wasn’t very full, but a good chunk of the passengers were flight staff from Cairns.

Downgraded to Cat 4.

3mm of rain so far.

Divine Angel said:

Downgraded to Cat 4.

That’s because it is hovering off the coast – poor Cooktown is fnerked.

Divine Angel said:

Downgraded to Cat 4.

Woot!

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Michael V said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Spent the afternoon prepping the yard, finally sat down for a beer and the rain starts.

Good timing.

So Quantarse got you home after all?

They put on a special flight I think. The plane wasn’t very full, but a good chunk of the passengers were flight staff from Cairns.

Good stuff!

Michael V said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Michael V said:

So Quantarse got you home after all?

They put on a special flight I think. The plane wasn’t very full, but a good chunk of the passengers were flight staff from Cairns.

Good stuff!

I thought it was Quaintarse?

bob(from black rock) said:

Michael V said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

They put on a special flight I think. The plane wasn’t very full, but a good chunk of the passengers were flight staff from Cairns.

Good stuff!

I thought it was Quaintarse?

There are those who may well say so. I of course, could not possibly comment.

Awesome news. It’s down to a 4 before hitting the Coast

Dropbear said:

Awesome news. It’s down to a 4 before hitting the Coast

And heres me buying banana futures.

Skunkworks said:

Dropbear said:

Awesome news. It’s down to a 4 before hitting the Coast

And heres me buying banana futures.

Sell sell sell

Everybody watching the TV news?

bob(from black rock) said:

Everybody watching the TV news?

No.

I assume it’s a bunch of reporters wearing raincoats trying to keep their balance as they talk to the camera.

Just got a gust of wind blowing through the trees.

Just went outside for a look before it gets to dark, it’s rather calm, just some occasional light breezes.

Looking up at the sky I can see low steamy cloud clinging to the top of the ranges and the whole sky appears to be slowly rotating..

Aquila said:

Just went outside for a look before it gets to dark, it’s rather calm, just some occasional light breezes.

Looking up at the sky I can see low steamy cloud clinging to the top of the ranges and the whole sky appears to be slowly rotating..

And so the fun starts…

Take care whilst you are having fun.

:)

In a small system with a tight eye, is it actually possible to see the clouds rotate? (Obviously not tonight…)

Michael V said:

Aquila said:

Just went outside for a look before it gets to dark, it’s rather calm, just some occasional light breezes.

Looking up at the sky I can see low steamy cloud clinging to the top of the ranges and the whole sky appears to be slowly rotating..

And so the fun starts…

Take care whilst you are having fun.

:)

cheers, MV

I think I’ll watch a movie….“American Hustle”

Err, no wonder it feels humid, it’s not raining and it’s 93% rh :D

Divine Angel said:

In a small system with a tight eye, is it actually possible to see the clouds rotate? (Obviously not tonight…)

I just went outside for a look before it gets to dark and it did appear that the sky (cloud) was slowly rotating, I was using my peripheral vision also

Champagne opened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUONdYMPbXs

Now i have computer, champagne and chocolate…. life is complete for a cyclone :)

Spider Lily said:

Now i have computer, champagne and chocolate…. life is complete for a cyclone :)

Quite prepared. Good luck SL.

lucky I’m wearing my smiley underpants for the weekend

Yes hold onto your roofs up there, just in case.

Bubblecar said:

Yes hold onto your roofs up there, just in case.

To be honest Bubbles I really wouldn’t mind the roof going. I would then finally get this fucking roof leak fixed!

Just a shame that if that did happen it would destroy so many other internal items.

;)

Spider Lily said:

Bubblecar said:

Yes hold onto your roofs up there, just in case.

To be honest Bubbles I really wouldn’t mind the roof going. I would then finally get this fucking roof leak fixed!

Just a shame that if that did happen it would destroy so many other internal items.

;)

Ha, my leaky bathroom roof is still leaky too, after 4 or 5 attempts by local handymen to fix it. Their verdict seems to be “tell your landlady she needs to buy a new roof”.

Hello Holidayers. We have etten nachos. The salsa was home grown cherry tomatoes and chopped up avocado. Yum.

I hope your shoes are all in their safe places Spider Lily…

:)

Spider Lily said:

Now i have computer, champagne and chocolate…. life is complete for a cyclone :)

I’d tell you the Jamaican way, but what happens in Jamaica stays in Jamaica.

;)

Shirly Cyclones that hit at night would be less energetic than those at a quarter past 3…

Also King tides are determined after the event, and also not at this time of the year.

Aha, so buffy was indeed talking to herself earlier :)

Whoops….Mr buffy hadn’t logged out and this page doesn’t tell you what name you are logged in as.

:)

It was Mr buffy stirring me earlier.

buffy said:

Whoops….Mr buffy hadn’t logged out and this page doesn’t tell you what name you are logged in as.

:)

It was Mr buffy stirring me earlier.

Ah. Welcome to the forum Mr buffy :)

kryten said:

Hello Holidayers. We have etten nachos. The salsa was home grown cherry tomatoes and chopped up avocado. Yum.

I hope your shoes are all in their safe places Spider Lily…

:)

You know me well :D

Shoes are in my water tight barrel along with all my other important bits and pieces :)

Spider Lily said:

kryten said:

Hello Holidayers. We have etten nachos. The salsa was home grown cherry tomatoes and chopped up avocado. Yum.

I hope your shoes are all in their safe places Spider Lily…

:)

You know me well :D

Shoes are in my water tight barrel along with all my other important bits and pieces :)

The minds boggles at the number of barrels required…

poikilotherm said:

Spider Lily said:

kryten said:

Hello Holidayers. We have etten nachos. The salsa was home grown cherry tomatoes and chopped up avocado. Yum.

I hope your shoes are all in their safe places Spider Lily…

:)

You know me well :D

Shoes are in my water tight barrel along with all my other important bits and pieces :)

The minds boggles at the number of barrels required…

nods
Boggling indeed.

Shoes are in my water tight barrel along with all my other important bits and pieces :)
———————————————————————

You do realise that barrels float better than shoes…

She’s weighed down the barrels with….oh, I don’t know, her gold bars? – and tethered them to the house stumps.

She’s weighed down the barrels with….oh, I don’t know, her gold bars?
—————————————————————————

A decent barrel can displace 500 ltrs.

Whats the address…

8.5mm so far. No wind, no real rain to speak of.

Aquila!!

What a shame we didn’t think to get together for this evening…. it’s rather nice out on the back deck with The Tenant and Junglenut..

looks at watch

You still have time :)

Ita reached land at 9 pm as a Category 4. Onshore wind in Cooktown, Cairns and Port Douglas, so watch out for storm surge and local flooding. Luckily Cairns and Port Douglas seem as though they will miss the strongest wind. The situation in Cooktown is still uncertain, it won’t be pleasant there.

mollwollfumble said:

Ita reached land at 9 pm as a Category 4. Onshore wind in Cooktown, Cairns and Port Douglas, so watch out for storm surge and local flooding. Luckily Cairns and Port Douglas seem as though they will miss the strongest wind. The situation in Cooktown is still uncertain, it won’t be pleasant there.

Looks like it as been unpleasant all day, and just going to get worse. Poor buggers.

Poor Cooktown :(

http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-207.67,-13.05,3000

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Poor Cooktown :(

http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-207.67,-13.05,3000

Meh it dodged it quite nicely.. They reckon the town has superficial damage only

Bit of fizzer

Good. Fizzer is good.

buffy said:

Good. Fizzer is good.

Yes, definitely.

But, i bet the price of bananas goes through the roof again.

Cyclone Wookiemeister brewing off Fiji

Looks like minimal damage expected in both Port Douglas and Cairns. No reliable news stories yet this morning from Cooktown.

Will just drop some rain , will be good to fill the dams

Possibly limited news from Cooktown because they had a major loss of electric power.

“Portable power station headed to Cooktown via truck after major power failure. Outages approx 1-4 days.”

Ita won’t bring any much needed rain to the interior of Australia like Yasi did.

In Cooktown, the West Coast Hotel and a house have had their roofs blown off but other major structural damage appears to have been kept to a minimum.

We woke up to our roller door having come out of it’s tracks, now fixed.

Rain, rain and more rain :D

Spider Lily said:

In Cooktown, the West Coast Hotel and a house have had their roofs blown off but other major structural damage appears to have been kept to a minimum.

We woke up to our roller door having come out of it’s tracks, now fixed.

Rain, rain and more rain :D

It’s obviously windier at your place. Our greatest trauma was having to shut the bedroom window at 4AM when a gust blew some rain in.

55mm in the gauge.
Rollerdoor retracked, breakfast et.

mollwollfumble said:

Possibly limited news from Cooktown because they had a major loss of electric power.

“Portable power station headed to Cooktown via truck after major power failure. Outages approx 1-4 days.”

Ita won’t bring any much needed rain to the interior of Australia like Yasi did.

All the essential and emergency services will have back-up power generation that comes on (either automatically or after a quick change-over process) within a few seconds. If there’s no news yet, it’s because the command and control is camera shy.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

55mm in the gauge.
Rollerdoor retracked, breakfast et.

Bloody roller doors…

(glad to hear you guys are OK)

Not sure how well the rollerdoor tracks were installed in the first place.

Had some decent rain since that last update, 70mm now in the gauge. Another 20mm and our pool will be overflowing.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Not sure how well the rollerdoor tracks were installed in the first place.

Had some decent rain since that last update, 70mm now in the gauge. Another 20mm and our pool will be overflowing.

*Nods *

It wont hurt the pool to overflow, but it will be diluted. As a protective measure, I would feed it a couple of kg of bicarb soda, 250g of dichlor, and an alum tablet in the skimmer to help the filter trap the dust.

Rule 303 said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Not sure how well the rollerdoor tracks were installed in the first place.

Had some decent rain since that last update, 70mm now in the gauge. Another 20mm and our pool will be overflowing.

*Nods *

It wont hurt the pool to overflow, but it will be diluted. As a protective measure, I would feed it a couple of kg of bicarb soda, 250g of dichlor, and an alum tablet in the skimmer to help the filter trap the dust.

Rain is starting to kick in big time now. Not sure if it is cyclone influenced or just normal Wet season stuff.

god told me to build a box to escape the flood

wookiemeister said:

god told me to build a box to escape the flood

It will have to be a circular box otherwise it isn’t an arc.

Tamb said:

wookiemeister said:

god told me to build a box to escape the flood

It will have to be a circular box otherwise it isn’t an arc.

:)

Tamb said:

wookiemeister said:

god told me to build a box to escape the flood

It will have to be a circular box otherwise it isn’t an arc.

Very clever

G’day folks,

High and dry here, with increasing rain squalls this morning. Still have power here, but likely to go down with our long feeder SWER line. Genset is ready, fuel stocks good, A bit apprehensive after the Yasi blow but this Ita is fading quickly whilst over land.

CS Your roller door tracks should be 50 mm wide. The ones supplied by most installers are 25mm wide and don’t allow for the door flexing in or out under wind load. A horizontal stiffener attached to the door near / about the door lock height is also a good investment.

Tamb, the new NQ border would be betterer just south of TSV otherwise we’d go broke pretty soon. :-)

Tejay said:

G’day folks,

High and dry here, with increasing rain squalls this morning. Still have power here, but likely to go down with our long feeder SWER line. Genset is ready, fuel stocks good, A bit apprehensive after the Yasi blow but this Ita is fading quickly whilst over land.

CS Your roller door tracks should be 50 mm wide. The ones supplied by most installers are 25mm wide and don’t allow for the door flexing in or out under wind load. A horizontal stiffener attached to the door near / about the door lock height is also a good investment.

Tamb, the new NQ border would be betterer just south of TSV otherwise we’d go broke pretty soon. :-)

If Tsv became the capital we’d be in the same SE corner situation.
Most of the mining, money & tourism are north of Cardwell.

110mm of rain since yesterday afternoon.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

110mm of rain since yesterday afternoon.

Only about 50mm here but lots more in the hills. Every waterfall on the block is raging.
I’ve just come in from clearing my drains in anticipation of Ita’s arrival tonight.

Tejay said:

CS Your roller door tracks should be 50 mm wide. The ones supplied by most installers are 25mm wide and don’t allow for the door flexing in or out under wind load.

50mm tracks, I just don’t think they were fixed properly and flexed too much.

130mm of rain so far.

The creek behind our house – before and after.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

The creek behind our house – before and after.

I’m getting slightly worried.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

The creek behind our house – before and after.

Shopped.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

The creek behind our house – before and after.

!https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/q71/s720×720/10151162_10201824059423331_1895643583306371417_n.jpg

Any fish in it?

party_pants said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

The creek behind our house – before and after.

I’m getting slightly worried.

The neighbor is fine, but it is more than 3/4 the way to ending up in our back yard and we haven’t had the serious rain yet.

Bubblecar said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

The creek behind our house – before and after.

!https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/q71/s720×720/10151162_10201824059423331_1895643583306371417_n.jpg

Any fish in it?

Spends 11 months of the year dry, so no. But apparently there are freshwater crabs according to Charles next door.

Current damage report.

1 roller door – kaput!!

Just blew in making a hell of a racket, flapping around like a bed sheet. Flapping around on top of the car but luckily not enough to damage the bonnet.

Spider Lily said:

Current damage report.

1 roller door – kaput!!

Just blew in making a hell of a racket, flapping around like a bed sheet. Flapping around on top of the car but luckily not enough to damage the bonnet.

Sorry to hear that, Spider Lily. They were saying roller doors are particularly vulnerable.

Lunch: beef, tomato & onion sausages with a leafy salad, WDW cab merlot.

Sorry that was for chit-chat.

We have closed up the front windows and doors as the gusts are becoming very strong.

Just out on the back deck (which is awash from rain coming in from every direction) checking out the bend in the trees and a massive crack is heard. The very large poinsettia in the middle of our back yard just lost a large branch, it is now sitting in another tree across the other side of the yard…

Trees were due for a trim :)

I’ll bet there are a few stinkhorns coming up in the mulch. :)

Spider Lily said:

We have closed up the front windows and doors as the gusts are becoming very strong.

Just out on the back deck (which is awash from rain coming in from every direction) checking out the bend in the trees and a massive crack is heard. The very large poinsettia in the middle of our back yard just lost a large branch, it is now sitting in another tree across the other side of the yard…

Trees were due for a trim :)

Looks like it’s going to go right over Cairns, wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t go out to sea and intensify again and then come down the coast.
It’s hot and humid enough in Brisbane to entice a cyclone.

Getting reports of power outages around town… Aquila has lost his and so has Teleost, I fear it is just a matter of time for us too.

Spider Lily said:

Getting reports of power outages around town… Aquila has lost his and so has Teleost, I fear it is just a matter of time for us too.

So far so good here but Ita isn’t due at Mareeba until 3am so it will be a bit later here.

Garage door buggered in Yasi is buggered again. Of more concern is the beer running out….. May have to move to wine……

Teleost said:

Garage door buggered in Yasi is buggered again. Of more concern is the beer running out….. May have to move to wine……

I like you thinking.

I was wondering about that tree SL :)

Time to panic! Mrs T informs me there’s no wine!

Bloody poor planing.

I knew I shouldn’t have gone to work yesterday.

Teleost said:

Time to panic! Mrs T informs me there’s no wine!

No sympathy. They tell you over and over to make these preparations well in advance of the storm season.

Teleost said:

Time to panic! Mrs T informs me there’s no wine!

Bloody poor planing.

I knew I shouldn’t have gone to work yesterday.

Complain to the UN. That is tantamount to Teleost-cleansing.

Signing off to save batteries.

Be safe :)

Teleost said:

I was wondering about that tree SL :)

Yes which is actually a Poinciana (I always get them mixed up) Our roller door being fixed as I type but just saw the latest update and Ita is going to come straight over the top of us…. oh fun fun fun tonight.

Oh and as for moving to wine (safety wine of course) you will never look back… CS opened a beer not long ago :D

The worst has happened. Genset refuses to start. Beer run out. Wine finished.

I’m going outside, I may be some time…..

Teleost said:

The worst has happened. Genset refuses to start. Beer run out. Wine finished.

I’m going outside, I may be some time…..

Nice knowing you.

It would appear to be over Cairns as we speak, yeah?

180mm of rain since yesterday afternoon, but otherwise it is just a rainy night with no wind to speak of. Hard to believe there is a cat 1 cyclone only a few dozen km away.

Expecting a shit-filled fan any minute now.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

180mm of rain since yesterday afternoon, but otherwise it is just a rainy night with no wind to speak of. Hard to believe there is a cat 1 cyclone only a few dozen km away.

Expecting a shit-filled fan any minute now.

Stay safe!

Mrs T: “Are you sitting in the car to read?”

Me: No, it’s got aircon.

Actually charging my phone :)

Well, Ita has sneaked down to the west of us, and there is no more than the occasional strong breeze outside.

Thinking of calling it a night.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Well, Ita has sneaked down to the west of us, and there is no more than the occasional strong breeze outside.

Thinking of calling it a night.

No worries – good luck tonight.

dumping water all along the coast, good.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

After a couple of strong gusts in the afternoon (10 minutes of stuff that Cooktown had been experiencing continuously for the last 24 hours) it was a rather pleasant night with the occasional breeze. Despite being only a handful of kilometers from the eye, we only got 30mm of rain overnight. (bringing the total to 200mm)

Handing her over to you, Townsville!

Currently off Mackay, heavy rain from Yeppoon to Bundaburg (unless the Gladstone weather radar is playing up).

Very little rain in the western side of the Great Dividing Range at all from Ita.