Hurricane Ike taking away our beach!

With Ike in the Gulf, our seas are very rough. Offshore, swells are exceeding 25 feet with seas 8 to 12 feet in shore. Seas aren’t expected to come down until Sunday.

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I was at Treasure Island Condominiums earlier and there is no beach between the building and the water. The surf is crashing up against the building and lapping at the pilings of beach homes. After Gustov, we had a little erosion, but we were told at the TDC meeting Tuesday that it would build back naturally. We’ll see after this system moves through. The dock by my house was almost completely covered and boats at a local marina are looking a little high.

Stay tuned to pcbdaily.com for all updates for Hurricane Ike.

What Were They Thinking?

	I don’t know what these two were thinking. I saw them enter the water near the Rick Seltzer Park. They tried very hard to make it out, but couldn’t even get past the first breaking surf line. It didn’t take much time at all and they were already out of the water. It looked like they had enough and were calling it a day.
	See, even locals can make some bad judgments at times. Well, who could blame them.
	Do you know it is only a single red flag day?
	Other pictures: Anyone from the area who has some interesting pics, send them to me at cdurta@att.net. I would like to get some from the other areas around the county.

First Light – Hurricane Ike Update

Well, it is 6 a.m., which is right about high tide. I am awakened to the roar of the waves and can tell without even looking that the situation has changed significantly overnight. It is still a bit dark, but from what I can see the water is covering most of the beach and moving fast. It appears that some has even come passed our fence line and into our “yard”. The surf is very rough. The buoy south of Panama City that I reported as recording 10 feet wave heights yesterday, is now showing over 24 feet.

Ike Surface Wind Field

The 4 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricance Center read in part,

AT 400 AM CDT…0900Z…THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IKE WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 25.2 NORTH…LONGITUDE 87.6 WEST OR ABOUT 620 MILES…995 KM…EAST OF BROWNSVILLE TEXAS AND ABOUT 285 MILES…460 KM… SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

IKE IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 9 MPH…15 KM/HR. A GENERAL WEST-NORTHWESTWARD MOTION OVER THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN GULF OF MEXICO IS EXPECTED TODAY AND FRIDAY. ON THIS TRACK THE CENTER WILL BE APPROACHING THE NORTHWESTERN GULF OF MEXICO COAST LATE FRIDAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 100 MPH…160 KM/HR…WITH HIGHER GUSTS. IKE IS A CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE…AND IT COULD INTENSIFY INTO A CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE OVER THE NEXT DAY OR TWO.

IKE IS A LARGE TROPICAL CYCLONE. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 115 MILES…185 KM…FROM THE CENTER…AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 255 MILES…410 KM.

AN AIR FORCE HURRICANE HUNTER PLANE REPORTED A MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE OF 946 MB…27.94 INCHES.

COASTAL STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 3 TO 5 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS…ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES…CAN BE EXPECTED WITHIN THE TROPICAL STORM WARNING AREA. ABOVE NORMAL TIDES OF 2 TO 4 FEET ARE EXPECTED ELSEWHERE ALONG MUCH OF THE NORTHERN COAST OF THE GULF OF MEXICO DURING THE NEXT DAY OR SO…BUT WILL BE INCREASING ALONG THE WESTERN GULF COAST AS IKE APPROACHES.

We’ll see what the day brings and update later.