Fay Couldn't Get Enough of Florida

Before Fay had a name the system that was to become Fay was spotted some 600 miles east of the Lesser Antilles Islands around the 12th of August. Then moving generally west and passing Puerto Rico, Haiti and Cuba the system grew and acquired Tropical Storm status and was named Fay. Then by Monday morning August 18th Fay was located 70 miles southeast of Key West with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and moving north-northwest at 15 mph. Fay gave a pretty solid jab at Key West. The locals took Fay's punch in stride, hung tough and grumbled a lot, but knew it could have been much worse. After leaving Key West Fay took a northern course heading for South Florida. Then she made her way up the southwest coast along the Tamiami Trail and just south of Naples she took a northeast heading into the Everglades. Fay moved on a northeast path carrying winds of 60 mph and splitting the distance between Fort Myers on her left and Lake Okeechobee on her right. Then just north of the lake she made a feint to the right and headed toward Melbourne. After giving a good soaking to the area the storm popped out into the Atlantic just south of Cape Canaveral. At that point Fay couldn't make up her mind where to go next – so she just sat there a couple of days and moved ever so slowly toward Daytona Beach. However, before she reached Daytona Beach Fay made landfall again and moved west toward Florida's horse country and Ocala. She took another day wandering aimlessly around the bogs south of Gainesville. On Friday the 22nd Fay picked up her piddling speed and by Saturday morning she had moved to an area 20 miles southeast of Panama City, Florida carrying winds of 45 mph and at that point moving west at 7 mph. Alabama was next on Fay's agenda where she was called a tropical rainstorm and moving toward Mississippi.

Now I haven't done extensive research on the subject but I think one would be hard pressed to find a tropical storm or hurricane, logged in Caribbean storm archives, equal to Fay, one that hung around and harassed a single state for a solid week as she did. Fay turned out to be like the relative that came for a weekend and overstayed and abused her welcome in every way imaginable. But enough about Fay, we have Gustav on the horizon.

At 7:45 am EDT a hurricane warning for Hurricane Gustav was in effect for the Dominican Republic and parts of Haiti. Storm was located about 75 miles south southeast of Port Au Prince, Haiti moving northwest at 9 mph and carrying winds of 90 mph central pressure is about 28.97 inches of mercury. August 27th 11:00 am EDT Gustav has been reduced to a Tropical Storm. The center was located near the northern coast of the Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti, about 110 miles west of Port Au Prince. The storm is moving west northwest at 5 mph and carrying winds of about 60 mph. For updates on Gustav check in with www.weather.com

Report on August 1945 hurricanes.

On August 24th news coming out of the west reported a tropical depression had formed in the southern part of the Gulf of Mexico in the Bay of Campeche near the Yucatan Peninsula. It was an extremely slow moving storm, but eventually that fifth event of the season grew in intensity from tropical depression to become Tropical Storm V. The system made its way into the Gulf of Mexico and continued to churn north on a parallel course about a hundred miles off the east coast of Mexico. Then as it past east of Tampico it began gathering strength and when it moved over the warm gulf waters the storm winds increased in intensity to a Category 2 and it became known as Hurricane V. Then as it continued its northern course about fifty miles east of La Carbonera, over the warm Gulf waters, its wind speed increased to near 150 mph. Fortunately for the towns of Matamoros, Mexico, Brownsville, Kingsville and Corpus Christi, Texas they didn't get direct hits since the strong right front quarter of the storm stayed over open waters. However, there was plenty of wind and water damage along the coast caused by the storm surge. The slow moving storm lingered over the Texas Coast for several days before making landfall in the vicinity of Lake Jackson. The hurricane winds diminished but the storm continued to drop tons of water on Houston and East Texas. Hurricane V caused the deaths of three people and damage was estimated at 20 million dollars.

Hurricanes I saw up close -- some a bit too close. Now Florida has had its share of Hurricanes and I have personally witnessed at least five if you count the one at my birth in Fort Myers. Another I shared with you in my book The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.

I lived in Miami Springs during the late 50's, and only a stones throw from Masters Field, our old Hurricane Hunters base back in 1945. In 1957 a hurricane hit the Miami area and caused flooding similar to that churned up by the recent Tropical Storm Fay. My main recollection of the aftermath of that storm was dressing in my Delta Flight uniform, rolling up my trousers above the knees, carrying my flight bag in one hand and shoes in the other then wading out of the yard to the street.

Writers Corner:

This political season we hear the word change tossed around like a can of crabmeat left unopened to warm on the kitchen stove and eventually exploding. Don't try it. I've actually seen the after effects – it was a mess. Oh! Back to change. Here's the change. The spot formerly occupied by Writers Corner will change by half and now be called ‘Writers Notebook.'

Writers Notebook:

The next time you prepare to write a query or even an email use the mindset you put in place when writing a log line. Use the three T's as an anchor. Tight, Terse, Telling. You might also think of a slogan Thomas Jefferson used in his everyday writing. ‘The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.'

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter. Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
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