A few thoughts about what inconveniences the GOP will suffer due to Isaac.

[Ganja Ninja]

When I went out for breakfast this morning in Clearwater, I overheard another diner telling a waitress that all the beach hotels are planning on kicking out their customers on Friday and closing down.

So it's likely that upon arrival in Tampa they will have to scramble over to find a room in Orlando. That's a bus ride of 60 miles one way in a driving wind and heavy rain. Good Luck with that especially if there is an evacuation order for the beaches.

Since the storm is suppose to hit a Monday night it's possible that all the bridges and causeways between Tampa and the beaches in Pinellas County will be closed because of high winds all day on Monday and Tuesday.

And anytime we have a storm that passes to the west the wind comes up from the south/southwest. It's a hot, muggy wind that is extremely uncomfortable.

So all in all, it sucks to be them.

[mahina]

1. Hope all will be safe.

[Ganja Ninja]

4. Weather Channel says only a catagory one.

Lots of rain, some flooding in low level areas but not much wind damage.

[dawg]

2. It would be a shame if President Obama had to send in FEMA to assist them.

We built that!

[hamsterjill]

6. Brilliant!

Sending proper kudos to you!!!

[Scuba]

15. Sweet justice.

[Ganja Ninja]

18. Could you imagine seeing them trapped by a hurricane in a sports arena in a flood zone?

Talk about Karma.

[Scuba]

19. "... in the aftermath, all had to admit that they would have perished if not for ....

... the Aqua Buddha making sure that cooler heads prevailed.

[Blue Meany]

3. Perhaps there will be armed law enforcements officers blocking the bridges

around the section of Tampa in which the Convention is being held.

[Ganja Ninja]

17. If they close the bridges and causeways the State Troopers will block all the on ramps and the ..

roadways themselves at the last possible exits. In addition the Tampa Bay Times Forum where the convention is being held is in a flood zone and will be closed if wind speeds reach a category 2 speed of 96 mph.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

5. that likely won't come to pass

the storm is pushing farther and farther west. right now (I know we're 6 days out) it is projected to be over 100 miles off the west coast of FL...will be no issue for the convention...

sP

[hamsterjill]

7. And can you imagine what the Repukes will be saying?

They will be saying that they "prayed" it away.

No matter the other poor smucks that may be harmed in the direction of the hurricane. But the GOP will take credit if the storm doesn't hit Tampa.

[CabCurious]

9. Actually, it will curve back to the east once in the gulf...

And it will become unpredictable at that point.

The real question is whether it will get stronger or not.

[B2G]

11. Once it makes landfall, it will weaken rapidly.

It looks like Panama City is now ground zero, but we have a long way to go.

Even if it moves east, Tampa will be well south of the center. Most likely affects will be heavy rain and some thunder boomers...maybe some TSF winds. Not city closing stuff, IMO.

[Ganja Ninja]

12. Thats kind of what I'm thinking too.

If it stays off shore as it moves north it will strengthen. If that's the case then even 100 miles away it will still cause flooding and tropical storm force wins along the beaches. It's still likely the beach hotels will close down and some of the causeways and bridges will be closed at some point.

It's still too early to tell but if we look at the track of the storm out in the Atlantic, it's being pushed to the east by the front that's been sitting over Tampa and North Florida all week. So I expect Isaac to curl just like that storm and hit north of Tampa in the Cedar Key area. I'm just basing that on past experience with how storms move around Tampa.

Then again it could just wind up to a category 4 and turn and clobber us.

[CabCurious]

8. Unless this becomes a Cat3 and hits Tampa directly, this is all media flatulence

As people in that area know, there are already DAILY thunderstorms.

[B2G]

10. Agreed. And Isaac is currently tracking west of Tampa

and into the pan handle.

Nothing is going to be shutdown. Issac will be lucky to make it to a cat 2.

[Ganja Ninja]

13. If it stays out in the gulf it could build quickly to a category 3 or 4.

If it stays near shore it won't build past a 2 if it builds at all.

I live about 30 miles north of Tampa and about 35 miles from the gulf. Believe me this track makes it even scarier for people on the west coast of Florida.

[B2G]

14. Have you been to Storm2k.org?

It's a great site for monitoring hurricanes. A lot of pro mets post there. If you live in a hurricane prone area, you should definitely check it out.

Link to their main forum:

http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=59

[Ganja Ninja]

16. I get my Satellite views from intellicast.

http://www.intellicast.com/Storm/Hurricane/CaribbeanSatellite.aspx?animate=true

They also have views of the Atlantic with animated loops.

http://www.intellicast.com/Storm/Hurricane/AtlanticSatellite.aspx?animate=true

And I use the local ABC Hurricane Center for checking the latest predicted tracks. They seem to have the best local radar too.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/subindex/weather/hurricane

[NCarolinawoman]

20. CNN just described the scenario you gave.

....and this is now Friday.

They mentioned the problem with flooding and the storm surge. All of this is made worse by the fact that the ground is already saturated from past rains.