Hurricane Ernesto Heading to South Florida - Get Your Shutters Ready

I know that I said this yesterday…but what a difference a few hours can make. That seems ridiculous coming from a South Florida native that went through Hurricane Andrew, but it never ceases to amaze me how much the ‘cone’ and intensity predictions vary; virtually hour to hour in this case. Yesterday I was writing my friends in Tampa saying - get ready for a possible cat 3; and today Ernesto is a Tropical Storm and is coming for us in South Florida as a cat 1 (so far). See the map on the sidebar for the latest forecast info.

For those of us in Hurricane Country - we would really be sever best living by what The Palm Beach Post’s Storm Blogger, Bob King, refers to in his post today as McLean’s Law (for Olivia McLean - head of emergency management for the South Florida Water District):

1. If you’re in the cone, assume the storm is going to run right over you.
2. Assume the storm will be one category greater than the hurricane center is predicting.

By those standards, almost everyone in Florida should be preparing to be struck by a Category 2 hurricane.

This is EXCELLENT advice and it has inspired me to come up with “A Big Wind’s” Rule: All Hurricane information is uncertain so prepare today. Don’t Get Caught in a Hurricane With Your Guard Down.

The truth is that Hurricane predictions and forecasts are uncertain, especially when it comes to predicting the intensity. So now we are getting ready. There is no need to panic - but you should be getting ready too.

Our blog is full of information, but Mr. Wind will put up a post shortly with some other “getting ready” tips as well. If you don’t have hurricane shutters, then you will be faced with plywood. While the Hurricane force winds won’t be here until Wednesday - the Tropical Storm force winds will get here tonight or tomorrow. So the shutter installation needs to happen today. A Big Wind has plenty of hurricane shutter information on the site - just use the search bar at the top of every page to do a search for shutters - or just click here.

Nasa even cancelled the shuttled launch. Now it is time for you to batten down the hatches as well.