Christine Hudnall

MERRY CHRISTMAS
from our home to yours!

May your days and nights be filled with joy, peace and love, whether it is filled to the brim with family or on your own. For those that have lost a loved one, their memories cannot be taken away, do something special just in their honor. If others know who it is for, great, if they don’t, what a wonderful way to share the memory by teaching them.

And speaking of memories, what a lasting memory it would be to do something for someone you do not know (or even if you do). It could be something small or something big, either way, it is always nice to pass it forward.

Have some extra gas left over from storm season, give it to someone who has run out of gas. See someone who is cold out on the street, I bet you have an extra coat or blanket that would be perfect. Live near a retirement home, I know a visit would be welcomed. See a family with children having dinner, you know it is not cheap, pay for it anonymously. Know someone or a family that is having hard times, buying an extra item or two at the grocery store for them, brings its own reward. Have a neighbor that because of health or physical reasons cannot get to the store, offer to take them or pick up what they need. Sometimes, even just a warm smile to someone you pass by can make the difference.

Giving isn’t about just buying the biggest and best gifts, it is about doing for others, and not expecting anything in return. So why not start a new tradition this year, and give, be it large or small.

MERRY CHRISTMAS
and warmest wishes to all during this holiday season.

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
Sebring, Highlands County, FL

Was coming in the driveway this afternoon from shopping, and as I’m pulling in, there right by my car (I’m in the Explorer), that has not been moved in at least 6 months - hence the tires going flat and cobwebs, is a small Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake. :D

So, I stopped the truck, jumped out to look at him (or her) and then remembered that I had my new small Canon PowerShot SD1100IS Camera in the side of my purse.. so I grabbed it to try it out.

Now, the quality of video is not that great, not because of camera, but because this is my first video and I wasn’t sure how to compress it, if I should compress it, what type of file to save it as, etc. This is a learning process for me. Video went from over 400MB to less than 20MB with compression. So, quality has absolutely been sacrificed while I learn. But still, I was thrilled when I saw the snake.

My Mom kept wanting to hurry and get him out from under the car, I wanted her to stop, so that I could get video! :)

I’ve never embedded a video before, so here is to trying another something new.

Tell me how the video works for you, is compression too much, did you have trouble opening because of file type, or any other problems with it. Thanks!

Image link will take you to larger version.
Taken in January, 2005, with Meade 2080 8″ telescope and Nikon Coolpix 5700.

Was taking my dogs out earlier tonight when I looked up at the moon, and there was a beautiful halo encircling it. So, after dogs finished their business, I ran and grabbed my camera, and out the back door I went, with no lights on.

By the time I got back outside, which was maybe all of 5 minutes (!), as I am standing there, getting the settings on the camera to what I want to try, I hear chewing. I look up and start peering into the dark, sure there is an almost full moon sitting right at zenith, with lovely light shining down, but it is still dark. Now, you have to understand, my backyard butts up to, well, nothing but woods. So, there are no lights. In the house I go, flip on the spotlights, even they don’t reach into the far recesses of my backyard, hook the leash back on to my big dog and out the backdoor we go. Again.

When we were outside earlier, she never alerted. But this time, she sniffed the air, walked off the porch, sniffed again, and stared straight into the darkness, then her hackles went up and she started a low growl. So, being the brave person that I am, back into the house we go, locked the deadbolt and switched off the lights, stowed camera away. *grins* Needless to say, I didn’t get the halo shot, but did search through my archives and brought you a shot that I took a couple of years ago instead.

You see, her reaction told me that it indeed was an animal in the yard somewhere, the four-legged kind of animal. That is all I wanted to know, to make sure it was not the two-legged kind, if you catch my drift. What kind of four-legged animal I didn’t want to find out, at least not tonight.

The last time I got surprised by a four-legged animal, I was out shooting astroimages with my telescope and about had a heart attack when I could see an animal sitting, watching me, maybe 15 feet from me. At that time, I had been out long enough that my eyes had adjusted to the dark, so it was very unnerving to say the least. Especially, when I flipped on the flashlights and the lanterns to see what it was.

There in my yard, sitting next to the magnolia tree, was a panther. Had I not been so startled, I probably would have grabbed the camera off the telescope and shot some images, but first instincts were to get it out of the yard and back into the woods. Not because I was afraid it would hurt me (okay, it could kill me and no one would have woken up to hear my screams), but because I didn’t want it to become used to people and coming close. The more I thought about it since that time, I can only guess, that because I had all the lights off, it was curious. I don’t know if that was it or not, but about 3 weeks later, while out walking in the same woods, during the day, we saw a panther running down one of the dirt roads that cuts through. The one in my yard wasn’t as big, so I like to think that maybe there are more.

While we are on the subject of full moons - this Friday, the 12th, go outside at sunset and watch as the moon comes up over the horizon, it will be a spectacular site to behold!

So on Friday the 12th if you turn around and look toward the east just after sunset you will see a super huge full Moon just rising, the largest and closest full Moon of 2008.

Yup, we are having a full moon, on a Friday and it will be a big moon. Hopefully, we won’t be socked in my clouds, that would really upset me, because I love looking at the moon. But, even if we are, all is not lost, because on January 10th, 2009 (right around the corner), we will have the biggest and closest full moon again, this time for 2009! Not too shabby.

Okay, back to the weather, we are supposed to actually get some weather again tomorrow. Today, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and the panhandle of Florida got it! There was a confirmed EF-0 tornado in Northwest Georgia and a handful of wind reports. Yesterday though, between tornadoes, hail and wind, the southeast was mighty busy. Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina were all affected. Check out Dewdrop’s blog for more information, she always has the good stuff! :D

And speaking of Dewdrop, I have to say I am very proud of her for completing the NWS Jetstream quizzes. Kudos to you chica! :D And it is with you in mind, that I have sprinkled throughout this post, my merit certificates. I had completed the quizzes back in July, offline, and had found a couple of errors in answers. Well, I finally sent off note today to Dennis Cain, a.k.a. “Professor Weather”, with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, Texas. He got them all fixed, extremely quickly too! WooHoo! So, I went online and took all the quizzes, which really didn’t take long at all, since I had already studied everything, and printed out all the lessons. No, I’m not trying to show up Dew, and she knows that, I just had more time on my hands to do them all then she did today. *grins* I’m sharing them with you, because, it is something that I had been wanting to accomplish, and with her push, I did. So thanks!

I had spoken before about this great resource back in June. Go, check it out and see how you do with the quizzes!

  

 

Image link will take you to the full radar
image capture of Central Florida, November 30, 2008.

Well, what do you know, we got some weather that came through here in Highlands County today. Well, not just Highlands, quite a few places in Florida actually, a tornado was even reported! Yup, up in Osceola County, a tornado was reported as observed and some minor vehicle damage. As of this post, there has been 5 wind reports also.

I know here at my house the wind picked up, not too bad, I think the highest gust we had here was around 25. No limbs down, but a lot of the spanish moss is now all over the yard. The only thing that I was concerned about was when I took my dogs out, and the pine needles were flying off the trees. Those things hurt! It felt like someone was shooting needles at us. But, we survived.

I didn’t get any pictures, I did capture radar shot, and I did take some video. Now, I have to figure out how to get it from videocamera to here. *laughs* Yes, there are a lot of things that I know, but video, well, I am technically challenged as to how to work it. No, not the taking of the video, just what to do after I capture it. ;) Any advice would be great!

Not only did we have weather here today, but it is also the ending of the official hurricane season. Kind of like those animal crossing signs you see on roads, what I want to know is, how do hurricanes know that they are not supposed to form now? Think about it.

While driving down the road, at least here in Florida, you might see a panther crossing sign, or bear crossing and even gator crossing… and it usually gives so many miles for it. Example: panther crossing - next 15 miles. Now, I will admit that I think animals are a lot smarter than people give them credit for - BUT - I do not know of any that can read those signs and say.. oh.. this is where we have to cross. Nope, can’t cross over there, no sign.

So, back to the question, how do hurricanes know that they are not allowed to form from December 1st thru May 31st?

:D

Okay, before I get mail explaining things to me… I am joking!!

Those of us on the east coast, especially those that went through Hurricane Andrew, know that hurricanes can form anytime the right environments are present. Why especially this area? Well, after Andrew came through, we (along with entire Eastern seaboard) got a surprise in March of the following year, 1993. There were several names that it was called, but one that seemed appropriate was… a white hurricane. Some of the other names were, No-name Hurricane, Storm of the Century, SuperStorm ‘93, and (Great) Blizzard of 1993.

And speaking of hurricanes, what ever happened to the Neutercane? Don’t know that name, well, keep reading.

A neutercane is a small scale low pressure system that has both tropical and extratropical cyclone characteristics. The name neutercane was first coined back in the early 1970s by Robert Bundgaard, after he participated in a research flight. You can read more about neutercanes here: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/A18.html.

The reason I bring it up is because of something I read on the page, in particular:

However, objections in the press to the term as possibly sexist led to NOAA management discouraging use of the term, and ordering Simpson to cease use of any further Government resources in conducting research on the phenomenon.

Please, someone, anyone, tell me how on earth, neutercane could possibly be called sexist? And how stupid can we be that because of that, Government funding of research was ceased. Are we really that simple-minded and idiotic?

Even now, it is hard for me to express just how stupid I think some decisions are, and some people too. Sad, very sad.

And on that note - I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Here at Scattered Branches Farm, okay, that really is not the name of our house, but it sounds good, right?, we had a wonderful time… I was getting over the flu, my grandfather was just getting out of the hospital, and one of my doggies was sick. :(

Let me tell ya, nothing like nothing going right, to really make you thankful that things weren’t worse! :-P

Stay safe and enjoy…

Cumulonimbus storm clouds over Highlands and Okeechobee Counties, Florida

It all started the week before last when I dragged my Mom out storm chasing with me. I was not able to get any structural shots of the storms, but I was able to get some cloud shots. We drove down some roads that we probably should not have and browsed on some that we look forward to going back to. We missed the hail in one storm we went through, and got caught in rain so thick in another that we had to turn around and find a different route.

There is one not so pleasant thing about chasing around my neck of the woods, it is not always easy finding roads that go where you need them to. Take east-west for instance, we can go south to 98 or 70 or north to 60 if we want to go east / 64 if we want to go west, but there are not other roads that take you all the way. And some of the back roads, well, I wouldn’t want to break down on them, especially not if Baby Firefly or any of her family could be around. ;)

Down in the tropics we had been watching some waves, some low pressure areas, a couple not doing much except dumping rain where they do not need any more rain, but others a little more persistent and turning into Tropical Storm Nana, Hurricane Omar and Tropical Depression Sixteen.

Cumulonimbus storm clouds over Highlands and Okeechobee Counties, Florida

Family wise, the one we were watching was Omar. A week ago this past Thursday we got a phone call from one of my cousins, her and her husband would be stopping the next day on their way down to Fort Lauderdale, to catch a cruise ship. Would just be stopping for late lunch/early dinner type thing. Where they were headed, in case you haven’t guessed it by now, is the Caribbean. Have a wonderful time, but keep your eyes on tropics, especially the area right below Puerto Rico and the islands. (My mom was able to meet them at Olive Garden, but unfortunately I wasn’t able, which stinks, it has been I think, 3 or 4 years! But I sent info about storms with Mom and of course, sent them newest updates as well as link to the National Hurricane Center.)

Of course, I went online and found the destination map for their cruise and what do we see, they are supposed to be heading to St. Thomas and St. Maarten as part of their stops. Sent off an e-mail on Monday, the 13th, not knowing if they would be able to read it (turns out yes, but no replies because it cost a small fortune to do e-mail on board they found out).

TD Nana is the one between Africa and Lesser Antilles - moving W-NW @ 7mph. TD Fifteen (if it keeps up - soon to be TS Omar) - is the one that is causing problems over the islands right now. It is below PR, but is causing Flash Flood Warnings since yesterday - moving NW @ 2mph (it is just drifting as of right now).

I read the map again of where they are heading and what stops, for how long, etc., and see now that they should have left one island and heading toward St. Maarten, I switch over to the Hurricane Center site, then pull up the satellite loop. Hmmm, it is now Tuesday, and TD 15, has not only become Tropical Storm Omar, but surpassed it turning into Hurricane Omar. Luckily their ship has a bridge cam, so of course we would check it, and finally, it showed that they had turned around and were heading to Grand Turk, which was on their list, but as last stop before heading home. (Stop by Dewdrop’s blog and you can see all the satellite images that she grabbed and I forgot to as I was watching - Duh!)

Thankfully Hurricane Omar buzzed right by the islands on a course for the Atlantic, could almost hear the sigh of relief from those that live in the Caribbean as it squeezed on by. So, off I go to look at the bridge cam again and now they have them down at Ocho Rios, Jamaica. So, I go and look at the satellite loop again, gee, isn’t that Tropical Depression Sixteen sitting out there? It really did make me wonder about who makes the decisions as to change course on the ship, when I next saw that they were over at Grand Cayman.

Here is what my cousin had to say about the cruise, in e-mail to me before reaching home:

Cost a small fortune to do email on board! So Frank paid bills, and I stayed off the computer. LOL!

All is well. We disembarked this morning about 9:30 and are now about 50 miles south of Savannah.

Cruise was great. We changed course (a very smart move!) just south of the Turks and Caicos as our itinerary had us heading straight for St. Thomas and St. Maarten - right into the storm. We were supposed to visit those two islands, then circle around and visit Grand Turk on our way back to Florida. Things got a bit bumpy (not real bad, we just all looked drunk as we tried to walk - LOL!) before the powers that be granted us permission to change course to avoid Omar. (duh)

We headed back to Grand Turk and made that our next island. (Our first was Princess Cays - a very small island on the southern tip of Eleuthera, owned by the Princess Cruise Lines.) Grand Turk was a lovely beach, small shopping area, but only 4 hours because of our change in itinerary made our stay all too short.

Next we visited Ocho Rios in Jamaica. Crowded. Seedy. Overrun with people hawking anything and everything. We hadn’t scheduled a tour (as we weren’t prepared for that island) so stayed close to port. Margaritaville does serve the best margaritas that I’d ever had, so the island wasn’t a total loss! Actually, we’d like to go back - perhaps only once - but to book a tour to see what else the island has to offer. We may be disappointed, but I’d hate to base an opinion on what little we saw.

Then on to Grand Cayman…. LOTS of shops - too many to visit with as hot and humid as it was that day. We did “go to Hell” and found they didn’t even have hand baskets! But the coral there looks like cypress knees sticking out of the water. Blacker than the ace of spades, but white inside where it has broken off. Definitely not lava, as lava is black in its entirety. I did take pictures and will post as soon as I have a little more time. We also went to the Tortuga Rum factory. Never had flavored rum before but it was delicious. Will definitely add it to our holiday stash.

We left Grand Cayman about 6 pm Friday, and arrived back in Ft. Lauderdale at 6 am Sunday. Saturday was just a nice relaxing day at sea - or it should have been if we’d not had to have our suitcases packed and outside of our room by 6 pm - BEFORE we went to dinner! Yikes!

Yes, I was busy keeping up with the storms, but also, worrying about Dewdrop (see link above), because she had a procedure done on her back, but there had been no relief yet, even after she finally started to rest. So, of course she has been on my mind and in my prayers. And then one of my sisters decided to drop by for a mini vacation and as I’m trying desparately to get out a blog post (this one) that I started back on the 9th of October, I am waylaid once again.

Between family, storms and things not working like I wanted them to inside the blog, this post is now coming to you today, 12 days after I started it! Gee, could I get any slower.

And for those that have looked and kept seeing a locked post (passworded), this is the post, nothing secretive, just wasn’t ready to be seen by all. Happy now Chris?! ;-)

Updated: 12:06AM - 093008 - added image by James Reynolds of TyphoonFury below.

The tropics and Atlantic have been busy, as well as the Pacific - so get ready for a long post!

Let’s start in the West Pacific where they have been getting hit hard by storm after storm. The latest to hit was Super Typhoon Jangmi, which is now listed as a Severe Tropical Storm. There is also Tropical Storm Mekkhala and Tropical Depression Twenty-one out there too.

Just yesterday (can that really be?) Tropical Storm Jangmi was Super Typhoon Jangmi, that by Atlantic Basin standards had gotten up to Category 4, with 155 mph winds. (Do typhoons get rated the same as hurricanes - hmmm, something to look up and learn!) It crossed over Taiwan, north of Hualien. It is now back over water, and according to the history on Wunderground, after it became a tropical storm, it actually hit category 1 again, before going back to tropical storm. Scroll down and look at the coordinates. Nothing is showing that it will return to a typhoon again, but I do wonder, since it is headed back toward warmer waters. Click on the satellite image to get larger image.

Then there is Tropical Storm Mekkhala - forecast is not showing that Mekkhala will become a typhoon before landfall, latest information is showing winds at 45mph. With the high sst’s, it might just pick up a little more, we shall keep watching.

Also worth watching is newly formed Tropical Depression Twenty-one (TD 21) - located at 8.7N 131.6E, winds at 30mph.

The following section has been updated.

Want to know and see more about our hurricane cousins, typhoons, then head over to TyphoonFury, website of James Reynolds. With luck, I will update this post later with small image that James took of surge coming into Hualein harbor. Absolutely amazing! Just am waiting to hear back if I have permission or not. Keep your fingers crossed. Received reply back from James, he is such a sweetie!

Hi Christine.

Thanks for the email. Please feel free to download that pic and any other and put it on your website and thanks for offering to link the image too! I love your website, it great to see typhoons being featured.

Take care and if there’s anything else I can help you with please let me know.

Cheers,

James.

Isn’t that the nicest! First, thanks for looking, and second thanks for saying yes! :) Will only use the one image for now, but people should absolutely go and look at the video - amazing! YouTube video by James of Super Typhoon Jangmi. All copyrights and usage terms belong to James for his image, all his rights are reserved. I asked and received permission to use, you need to do the same.

Onto the Atlantic:

I haven’t posted anything but honestly we did have a Hurricane Kyle out there, he is now post-tropical according to Environment Canada, which is where he is right now. From looking at satellite image, if he had a center, it would be located over Anticosti Island in Southern Quebec. Kyle had just weakened to a tropical storm as he made landfall last night at 9:30PM, just north of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

Sub-tropical Storm Laura is located, as of 5:00AM, at 37.2N 47.3W, winds at 60mph. From satellite images, she looks to be heading WNW, but is forecast to start her turn toward the north east. It will be interesting to see if she will be upgraded sometime today, even as she is heading toward cooler waters.

Here on the homefront we are listed at 70% of showers likely for today with 40% 50% (I just love when they change it while typing) chance for thunderstorms tonight. Would it be wrong to say, please, please, please - I need more lightning shots! :-D

Okay, now for some kudos to go out. Dewdrop has been giving out awards on her site to others, myself included in the receiving. Well, I figured it was my turn to give out some, even if noone reads my blog, but for the Dew. I stand corrected, not only does the Dew read it, but the Milkman does too! ;-)*laughs* That’s okay, I read other sites and I have listed 5 that have helped me or inspired me. That’s not to say that many others don’t, I just had to narrow it down and 5 was a nice number. :D

I won’t repeat the list here, but will send you to the newly formed Kudos page, located in the top links of the blog. Don’t want to scroll all the way back up, that is okay, I wouldn’t either, so here you go, a handy-dandy quick link to the Kudos page.