Hurricane Irma

[21stamps]

@21stamps Do me a favor and just stop. It has not been a 100 years since the keys took a direct hit. Hurricanes Mitch, Georges, and Irene in 1998 and 1999 did a ton of damage to the Florida keys. Do not encourage complaceny. This has the potential to be a catastrophic storm that will cause death and damage. There are going to be people severely affected by this storm and the last thing any of them are concerned about is people making sure they get the MK for the fast pass for Splash Mountain. Let's all hope for the best, but expect the worse.

If you have to cancel or delay your trip the WDW you'll survive the disappointment. I'm not even going to finish the rest of that thought.

I have no idea what this post is about. I do know that it is WAY TOO EARLY for anyone to say that Orlando airports will be closed this weekend. They may be, they may not be. As the storm looks now they would most likely not be.. HOWEVER predictions change, and again it is TOO EARLY for anyone to pretend to know what this hurricane will do.

On the Keys- no the Keys have not had a direct hit (eta-from a major hurricane) in Most of our lifetimes.

 

[wdwjmp239]

I have no idea what this post is about. I do know that it is WAY TOO EARLY for anyone to say that Orlando airports will be closed this weekend. They may be, they may not be. As the storm looks now they would most likely not be.. HOWEVER predictions change, and again it is TOO EARLY for anyone to pretend to know what this hurricane will do.

If you have reservations anywhere in Florida - just call your travel agent, your airline, Disney hotels, Disney restaurants, etc.... they may not be able to give you an answer just yet. But just know that you may not be able to get down here with IRMA so close-by. If you have travel insurance, this would be a good time to just cancel/reschedule your trip. I'd rather have our visitors come down safe and have a good time rather than come down when there's a crapload of commotion going on (evacuations, debris on the road, power outages, etc...). Use your head guys and gals....call ahead. Take care of yourselves, your family, and friends. To everyone else in Florida....let's do this craziness.

 

[donsullivan]

Yep...even though we're in the 5 day cone....they won't get a good feel for this until Wednesday. Sit and wait. Might as well crack open a cold beer while we're waiting, huh?

I did my part to keep it from coming to the Orlando area by ordering a generator that will be delivered later in the week. During 2004 when we got all those storms, I never lost power at my house but I'm not going to tempt fate again and want to be prepared to at least keep the refrigerator, a couple of fans, one TV and keep the phones and laptop charged. I figure since I've ordered that the storm will go far away and I'll never need it.

 

[Clamman73]

We plan on it! I've been through a number of hurricanes. Before living in Florida, I was born and raised on Long Island where I saw:

Hurricane Gloria (1985)
Hurricane Bob (1991)

Florida:
Hurricane Andrew (1992) - Miami landfall - but cut across the state and made Naples pretty windy that day
Hurricane Charley (2004) - Well...2004 was just a busy year - we had a hurricane every other weekend that year. Mostly close calls
Hurricane Wilma (2005) - This storm broke my weather station - measured a wind gust of 155 mph and that was the end of that. Bye bye $850.00 weather station. Tried to reclaim it in an insurance claim along with other damage, but they didn't value it at $850 and what the insurance company was going to give me, it would've bought one of those cheap-o weather stations you see at Walgreens/CVS. LOL!
Hurricane Sandy (2012) - I happened to be in NY visiting family when she paid NY a visit.
Hurricane Matthew (2016) - We got side-swiped down here, but it got windy!
Hurricane IRMA (2017) - Might as well add this one to my list.

I'm sure there were others...but these are the most memorable.

I've been waiting for another Gloria to happen...(not really looking forward to this scenario and have to wait for what the European model starts showing since the GFS seems to be wacky far out in time)

 

[bclane]

I did my part to keep it from coming to the Orlando area by ordering a generator that will be delivered later in the week. During 2004 when we got all those storms, I never lost power at my house but I'm not going to tempt fate again and want to be prepared to at least keep the refrigerator, a couple of fans, one TV and keep the phones and laptop charged. I figure since I've ordered that the storm will go far away and I'll never need it.

Thanks for doing that! That's like when I decide to sell a stock...clear sign that it is time for everyone else to load up as it's going parabolic!

 

[wdwjmp239]

I've been waiting for another Gloria to happen...(not really looking forward to this scenario and have to wait for what the European model starts showing since the GFS seems to be wacky far out in time)
View attachment 226677

I don't think that one is IRMA. That might be the other Tropical Wave looking to develop right behind IRMA. Stay tuned for that one. Though, because of the outflow from IRMA, that might impede any further strengthening on the newly formed wave. But, it's one to watch.

 

[Clamman73]

I don't think that one is IRMA. That might be the other Tropical Wave looking to develop right behind IRMA. Stay tuned for that one. Though, because of the outflow from IRMA, that might impede any further strengthening on the newly formed wave. But, it's one to watch.

Right..it would be Jose.

 

[21stamps]

If you have reservations anywhere in Florida - just call your travel agent, your airline, Disney hotels, Disney restaurants, etc.... they may not be able to give you an answer just yet. But just know that you may not be able to get down here with IRMA so close-by. If you have travel insurance, this would be a good time to just cancel/reschedule your trip. I'd rather have our visitors come down safe and have a good time rather than come down when there's a crapload of commotion going on (evacuations, debris on the road, power outages, etc...). Use your head guys and gals....call ahead. Take care of yourselves, your family, and friends. To everyone else in Florida....let's do this craziness.

Apparently there's been some miscommunication. I don't need to call a travel agent, more than half of my life has been spent on the east coast of the US and in SoFla.

I was trying to give hurricane advice as I have seen many hurricanes in my lifetime, a few of them major devastating hurricanes. Be prepared, listen, watch, but no need to go in to panic mode this early on.

 

[21stamps]

Thanks for doing that! That's like when I decide to sell a stock...clear sign that it is time for everyone else to load up as it's going parabolic!

This was funny. Lol

 

[monothingie]

On the Keys- no the Keys have not had a direct hit in Most of our lifetimes.

Please stop.

Hurricane Irene 1999

Hurricane Georges 1998

 

[21stamps]

Please stop.

Hurricane Irene 1999

Hurricane Georges 1998

The eye of Irene did not make landfall in the Keys.

Georges, yes. Sorry that was my fault for wording- major hurricanes.
I don't mean to lesson the impact of Georges by any means, but it was not an Andrew or a Wilma and it was definitely not the worst of hurricanes that the Keys has seen.

If the current storm follows it's path and passes thru the Keys, it will be the worst that we have seen in decades. I am hopeful that does not happen.

Again, Orlando is a long way always from the tip of the Keys, there's no reason to cancel yet unless you want to go on another week. But there is nothing at this point that shows Orlando will not be a safe place to be.. that's why people follow storms, because they develop- and change course. Some of us have experienced that. One area can call for evacuations a couple hundred miles south, then next thing you know the place you evacuated to is now under a mandatory evac.
There's no way to predict these things this early in the game.

 

[21stamps]

@monothingie I'll add a correction, I was speaking from memory, not Google. I mixed up the 2 above in reverse order on which had landfall.. here ya go

http://www.keyshistory.org/hurricanelist.html

Hurricane Georges (pronounced Zhorzh) was a classical Cape Verde tropical system. He traveled westerly from just off the west coast of Africa to strike the Keys; well almost, as NOAA says the eye’s center was 12 miles south of Key West. Landfall was mid-morning of September 25 with maximum winds of 104 mph. From NOAA, the maximum sustained 2-minute wind at Key West was 55.2 mph at 8:53 A.M. with a peak wind gust of 88 mph. The highest wind gust recorded in the Keys was 110 mph at Marathon. Sombrero Key reported a sustained wind of 94 mph with a gust of 106 mph. Storm surges were reported from 4 to 6 feet in the Lower and Middle Keys. Key West recorded 8.38 inches of rain.

1999 – The preliminary NOAA report for Hurricane Irene indicates she reached hurricane status crossing the Florida Straits. On October 15, her eye passed over Key West at 8:00 A.M. Irene made landfall again near Cape Sable later that day at 3:00 P.M. Most of her hurricane force winds were confined to her east at the Lower and Middle Keys. There were eight indirect deaths related to Irene, all on the mainland. Florida’s damage is estimated near $600 million.

 

[kadybat]

I have a trip scheduled to start 9/10 and we’re sorta just... waiting. Don’t have travel insurance, didn’t think about it and now it’s too late. Hoping that if it comes to it and we need to reschedule we won’t have any difficulty.

Kind of a bummer. This is the first time I’ve been able to go in a decade and I’ve really been looking forward to it. All that pre-trip anticipation has been replaced with a ton of anxiety and it just sucks. I’ve got family in Tampa and Tallahassee, too - I’m worried about them more than I am about my trip.

I know we won’t know for certain until Wednesday - I know that too well, I’ve been staring at meteorology forums for like two days. I’m gonna try to just stop until we know more. The anxiety and uncertainty are the worst part. If it’s gonna happen, and we get the warning, great, we reschedule and deal with it that way. If it’s not gonna happen, awesome, we get to go. As it is, it’s just staring at spaghetti models praying our trip’s okay and our family doesn’t get hurt. It just sucks.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Again, Orlando is a long way always from the tip of the Keys, there's no reason to cancel yet unless you want to go on another week. But there is nothing at this point that shows Orlando will not be a safe place to be.. that's why people follow storms, because they develop- and change course.

As of now, many different models are showing the storm turning up Florida and stores around Orlando are already starting to run out of water.

 

[JenniferS]

I do have trip insurance, but not planning on using it.

Arriving Wednesday morning. Unless our flight is cancelled, which I don't see happening, we'll be there before noon.

I do plan on packing an extra book and maybe a deck of cards just in case we're stuck in the room for a day or two.

We have a rental car and always stop at Publix on our way in anyway. Hopefully bottled water is still available. We'll probably pick up a few boxes of protein bars/breakfast bars, and if we don't need them, even better.

I'm sorry for everyone who will be forced to cancel. We'll be in before Irma hits, and not leaving until a week later. A couple of days of wind and rain is the worst I'm hoping for.

 

[21stamps]

As of now, many different models are showing the storm turning up Florida and stores around Orlando are already starting to run out of water.

Which is exactly why you should be prepared no matter what. Stock up on supplies. Water is the first to go.

 

[NearTheEars]

We're among the Central Fla. residents nervously awaiting each updated track. Mostly nervous because we recently bought a house. Hoping it turns away like Matthew did.

 

[21stamps]

We're among the Central Fla. residents nervously awaiting each updated track. Mostly nervous because we recently bought a house. Hoping it turns away like Matthew did.

Good luck to you! Hopefully it misses Fla completely.

 

[ToyStoryMiss]

I do hope Irma decides to go back to sea at some point. Our trip starts on 9/12 with a flight leaving at 7am and I'm extremely worried that it (and most likely our trip) will be cancelled due to this storm. We don't have traveller's insurance either..

I hope everything works out in the end..

 

[DisneyCane]

If the Governor decides on mandatory evacuations, WDW will close and no CMs will be riding out the storm. I can assure you of this as I was part of 3 ride-out crews for MK.

Evacuations of Orlando vicinity? The mandatory evacuation areas are typically the coastline where storm surge is an issue. Inland is batten down and stay indoors normally.