Wx Hazards this weekend?

[ricki]

Thanks to Hurricane Gustav and a system to the north we have a nice pressure gradient across Florida and wind to go with.


From: http://sun-sentinel.com/

Those are feeder bands spreading out from south to north up the Florida peninsula from Gustav. You can see embedded squalls in the bands. You can also see an eye forming in Gustav and that is TS Hanna moving in from the east, joy.



From: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mfl/radar.php
Here are some of the squalls moving in to Ft. Lauderdale and Key Largo. Key West has been getting some strong storms blowing through since last night.


It also shows up in the above intellicast.com radar but in poorer resolution. I would recommend using the NWS radar for closer work.

So, lots of squalls and maybe some wind. If you decide to go out, (may be a day to sit out especially for new kiters), check the radar, having one at the beach isn't a bad idea either. React well and early to incoming hazardous weather, get in fully secure early . Down in the Keys and Southern Florida the holes may be a lot smaller and less frequent as the day wears on. We'll see. These are not easy conditions and have built in hazards.

Be careful out there. Don't want any repeats of the TS Fay debacles.

There are lots of weather planning resources for consideration for the various parts of Florida in stickies like:
http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=6733

[The Kite House]

Hello Rick and everyone, i hope you all get good wind and not to much storm, if so please again, dont go out .....your 12 doesnt depower that much!

Just a note i am in Ecuador and Peru traveling, huge swell around 3 meters....sorry and i have been in remote spots and people see kiteboarding and go ...in spanish ..."you know this guy in florida"? People are wll informed and know he says on a show here that he is an instructor and would do it again....they think we are stupid....anyway, not good internet , havent read all the forums, but it scares me, as i am in south america and people know this sport now because of this and think this happens alot.....ahhh the press...

Anyway hope all is well and be safe, season is on the horizon......come on october fronts....

[ricki]

Hey Paul,

Good to hear from you. Glad things are going well down there. Yes, the Ft. Lauderdale lofting is a global event, amazing. Lots of guys were out that day too. Luck goes around it just doesn't always come around when you need it. All else fails, use good sense and practice. More on the way too looking to the east, sigh. Hurry fronts is right!

Have you heard from Mike on Grand Cayman? Hope he is fairing well with Gustav.

Have fun down there and bring back some pictures!

[ricki]

Gustav has lost some strength over night down to 125 mph but could regain even stronger winds on Monday before landfall. They are also predicting a bad storm surge at present, 18 to 25 ft.. Hope the reality is much lower.

Feeder bands will likely rake over Florida for today dragging dangerous squall lines inside them. The holes between squalls may be larger today in some areas. Then again if the bands fragment later on the clear holes between squalls could shrink. There currently is a nasty feeder band being ripped SE to NW across South Florida and will likely make its way up and across Tampa and further north later on. There is another feeder band forming behind it to the south and to follow raking counter-clockwise across Florida as the center of Gustav tracks to the NW. The bands may continue to form and cross Florida while Gustav is still around.

So, challenging to dangerous conditions in many areas of Florida today, don't get into trouble in this one. There's going to be a high gust range of 10 to 15 kts. perhaps more even outside of squalls. Having the right sized kite up and being comfortable with it is key if you are going to ride in some of the clear holes. There are ten foot swells predicted for the west coast, big for that area, right? New kiters should sit this one out and even experienced ones if they aren't up for the hassles of gusty conditions, big seas in some areas and avoiding squalls.

Definitely don't want more readily avoidable injuries or bad press!