Hurricane Isaac: Top 10 Facts You Need To Know

1. Isaac Originated Off the West Coast of Africa

isaac path

Sometime around August 15th or 16th Mother Nature threw a tropical wave towards Africa’s western coast and within a few days it had developed into a “tropical cyclone”, according to the National Hurricane Center. By August 21st it had reached flight-level winds of 51 mph and been upgraded to Tropical Storm Isaac (yep, sh*t just got real), as it made its way across the Atlantic.


2. The Death Toll Has Been Minimal So Far

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At this point, Tropical Storm Isaac has been blamed for 10 deaths so far. All fatalities up to this point have been in the Caribbean region with 2 in the Dominican Repbublic, 8 in Hati, and one indrect death in Puerto Rico after an elderly woman fell from a balcony while preparing for the storm.


3. Miami and the Florida Keys Take a Pounding… Again

keys, isaac

Tropical Storm Isaac didn’t reach hurricane status on its way through the Florida keys, despite storm force winds of 205 mph, but it still gave southern Florida enough of a pounding to ruin people’s weekend. More than 15,000 people were without power in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and 600 flights were grounded at both Miami and Ft. Lauderdale airports. Bring out the booze!


4. The Threat of Death is Never Enough to Spoil an Opportunity for Fun for Some People

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Just like any hurricane or tropical storm that hits the Gulf, hundreds of surfers and windsurfers took to the surf for the larger than normal waves. “Watch out for that flying Prius, brah!”


5. Louisiana Could Get Hit By Hurricane Isaac Late Tuesday

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The U.S. National Hurricane Center has predicted that Isaac will hit as a category 2 hurricane along a range of shoreline from Morgan City, LA all the way to Destin, FL by late Tuesday or early Wednesday morning. Board up the house and grab some beer, it’s about to get wet, LA.


6. Wednesday Also Marks the 7-yr Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

katrina

If Isaac hits the Louisiana coast on Wednesday it will be almost 7 years to the day that Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the NOLA area. The hurricane was the costliest natural disaster ($81 billion) in United States history and one of the five most deadly hurricanes to hit U.S. shores. Over 1,800 people lost their lives as a result of Katrina. Let’s hope Isaac plays nice and leaves quietly.


7. Isaac Could Wash the Republican Convention and Lynyrd Skynyrd Out to Sea

skynyrd

Today was supposed to be the start of the pep rally for the Republican party to formally nominate Mitt Romney as a Presidential candidate, but that won’t be happening, at least not until Isaac calls it quits. The GOP convention, which is being held in Tampa, FL was forced to cancel its Sunday night activities because of Isaac’s domination of the news, not to mention those 200+ mph winds. Skynyrd also had to cancel their concert at the convention. “Freeeeee bird!”

There’s also the probability of having split-screen telivision images of the storm’s havoc, along with the convention hoopla.


8. Forecasters Aren’t Really Sure Which Way Isaac is Going

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You’d think with today’s technology forecasters would be totally confident with a storm’s direction, but Mother Nature’s a wacky broad. Two of the U.S. National Hurricane Center’s best computer models have the storm moving in opposite directions. One computer has Isaac moving east, while the other predicts Isaac will be going west.

According to smart guy Keith Blackwell, a meteorologist at the University of South Alabama’s Coastal Weather Research this sorta thing is pretty unusual.

The models are being fed the same data, but are producing divergent paths. One model is predicting Isaac will make landfall somewhere between the Florida Panhandle and Mississippi, while the other model is forecasting a landfall in Mississippi or Louisiana.”


9. Isaac is a Middle Marker for the Hurricane Season

hurricanes

The Atlantic Hurricane Season began on June 1st, and runs through November 30th, so there’s still plenty of time for more tropical wind and wave destruction after Isaac’s had its moment in the spotlight. In fact, we’ve already had 10 tropical storms so far this year, most just haven’t been worthy enough to make much press coverage or never touched land. Bring it on, Nature!


10. States as Far North as Iowa Could Feel Isaac’s Impact

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Now granted that impact might just be some rain, but keep in mind those rain drops falling on your corn fields came all the way from Africa’s western coast. Yep, Isaac gets around.

Via Huffington Post, Wikipedia

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