Sir Richard Branson has built a house within his house. He believes it is hurricane proof.

I hope he is okay if he did stay. I think people should be evacuated from these islands during this time of year if this is the dynamic that is going to occur.

September 6, 2017
By Natalie Evan, Steve Robson and Rachael Burford

...Earlier, (click here) business magnet Richard Branson revealed he has decided to remain on his private island in the British Virgin Islands during the storm.

The billionaire says he's survived two hurricanes on the island thanks to his specialised 'hurricane proof' buildings - but says "nothing can withstand" a Category 5 storm.

Branson wrote on his blog: "Generally speaking, we have one hurricane in the British Virgin Islands around every 10 years.

"Fortunately, most of them drift north of us, but this one is coming straight for us, with the eye of the storm heading straight for Necker, Moskito Island and Virgin Gorda....

How deep is the ocean there?

September 6, 2017

...The powerful storm (click here) heading towards Florida is so strong that it’s been picked up by machines built to detect earthquakes.

The Category 5 hurricane is reportedly generating winds powerful enough to disturb the earth at depths usually caused by seismic events. Irma reached the maximum storm level on Sept. 5 with winds surpassing 180 mph....

This is the depth of the Caribbean Sea. The continental shelf on the Atlantic side of the island is necessary to understand the effect of the central pressure depth.

This sea (click here) covers an area of approximately 2,754,000 km² (1,063,000 square miles). The deepest site in this sea is the Cayman Trench between Cuba and Jamaica at 7500 m below the surface, although average depth is 2200 m (Spalding et al. 2001)

The depth of the continental shelf in that region is most probably found on "ship wreck" location for divers. NOAA will have records as well. USGS will have some very unique surveys of the ocean basin in that region. 

...The Puerto Rico Trench (click here) contains the greatest measured depth in the Atlantic Ocean,...
...deep level within the earth. The generally accepted explanation of these diverse but apparently related phenomena is that a great linear fold of the earth's crust has buckled downward into the heavy subcrustal material. The resulting deep furrow in the ocean bottom roughly represents the upper surface of the downfold. The central belt of low gravity is explained by the mass deficiency of the downfold of light crustal material. The development of fractures associated with the bending of the crust accounts for the observed volcanism and earthquakes. The fractures have been...

A study of these dynamics should be conducted. There is a major fault in the region with fractures as well. The depth of which the central pressure is reaching should be known. It is probably disrupting Earth's crust.

The USA needs to dedicate itself to build safe structure on the Leeward Islands. It is the right thing to do.

September 6. 2017
2330.10z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of north and west hemisphere (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

My estimate has Hurricane Irma's eye landing over Cocoa Beach. That means nothing to Florida in that there will be torrential rain throughout the state of Florida.

I am going to stand by my estimate. Cocoa Beach and Melbourne. Closer to Cocoa Beach. 

I am sure the coalition of computer programs will faithfully deliver the hurricane's major impact. Kennedy Space Center needs to batten down the hatches. The evacuations need to go forward.

The jet stream is prominent northwest of the water vapor feed from Katia to the North Atlantic. It has been pushing really cold air over the North American continent. It has been my experience in that the jet stream is unable to retain it's influences when vortexes exist. If I maintain that perspective, the path of Irma is more northwest than Northwest-west.

Irma is a very strong storm. The oscillation that exists with the other storms shows growing strength of both Jose and Katia. They are both category one storms right now. Irma has a lot of support in the troposphere. It is in the Atlantic and has all the water it wants.

There is a shadow storm in the Carribean Sea close to Katia. I thought it was dissipating and providing energy to Katia, but, that is not the case.

September 7, 2017
0030.20z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

This is the best satellite to view the shadow storm. It looks like a slightly grey spot south of Cuba. It is what Harvey looked like before it entered the Gulf. It is very faint, but, it is connected to Irma.

It is unclear what will occur with it. Right now it is a feeder system to Irma, however, as Irma moves northwest will this shadow storm move parallel and move into the Gulf as Katia dissipates? 

That shadow storm is a strong entity. As Katia and Jose has obtained status of category one, the shadow storm oscillated, but, didn't dissipate. It is a structure. How it will resolve remains unknown to me. It might be the next named storm after Katia if it fills with water vapor as Harvey did. It is a complicated and dangerous troposphere. I don't want to hear anything different. This is a disastrous troposphere. It breaks my heart to hear the reports of the dead. The USA denied this problem and now people are dying. There is also a potential to another storm behind Jose. Oh, well.

The logic behind the joint bill is obvious. It isn't obvious?

Ryan passed a bill for billions of relief to the storm victims. Yes? Yes.

And in less than a month there won't be any money to fund the bill should it have passed into law.

Come on now. No one is thinking about the country, they have their heads in the partisan clouds hanging over head at The Capital. 

I can hear Nancy Pelosi saying in her chambers, "This is ridiculous, we just passed an emergency relief bill without viable ways to fund in come end of September."

Maybe President Trump actually does want to solve problems and unit the country.

He went to Texas twice. It probably made an impression. I also think it is prudent to add time to all the efforts going forward. I think the DACA legislation may take more time than six months and yesterday President Trump stated he would act on DACA if Congress can't or won't get the job done in six months. It's something.

Americans don't want their government deadlocked over problems the country is facing. They certainly don't want people suffering because of a storm.

I don't really care about the political motivation. I care about the country. Congress needs to solve problems and not create them.

I congratulate the Democrats and President Trump in reaching across the aisle to make it all happen.

Look, the brinkmanship has to end. The legislative process has to go forward. The legislative process has been held hostage by power players. Why is that tolerated? It should never be tolerated. It is grossly unethical to take the country hostage because of extremist demands. It is turning the country over to people who don't care. I don't want to hear how extremists willing to take the country hostage are great Americans, they aren't. Not even close.

September 6, 2017
By Amber Phillips

President Trump doesn't care about his relationship with Hill Republicans. (click here)

Exhibit, like Z, of this is a very public debate about how Congress should prioritize its massively hectic — and massively consequential — September of deadlines.

Lawmakers have to figure out how to raise the debt ceiling, and fund the government, and put an $8 billion down payment on aid for the damage Hurricane Harvey left in Louisiana and Texas, and reauthorize a whole bunch of federal programs, such as the National Flood Insurance Program.

As The Washington Post's Mike DeBonis, Kelsey Snell and Elise Viebeck report, in a meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday, Trump endorsed a Democratic offer to knock out the debt ceiling and Harvey aid in one vote. That was despite the fact that an hour earlier House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) had called that proposal “ridiculous and disgraceful.” The chamber Ryan presides over just passed a $7.85 billion aid package for Harvey victims tied to nothing....                         

This is unprecedented.

September 6, 2017
1130.18z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

Three major storms at once. There isn't any room for any more, is there? That is a major difference between the Pacific and Atlantic; surface area.

That means when there are three major storms in the Atlantic Ocean there is lots and lots of heat energy seeking relief to maintain the troposphere that supports life. Does anyone ever pause to realize how dearly precious Earth is? 

There is only one Earth and it has physics. Earth doesn't measure it's physics, it simply plays it out. The troposphere is very hot if there are three major storms in the Atlantic Ocean.

Katia (The storm near Mexico; nice name, mean girl)

22.40 -96.70 09/05/18Z 30 1008 TROPICAL DEPRESSION
22.20 -96.40 09/06/00Z 30 1008 TROPICAL DEPRESSION
22.10 -96.30 09/06/06Z 35 1006 TROPICAL STORM

Jose (The storm near Africa, but, headed east in the direction of North America.)

12.30 -39.10 09/05/12Z 35 1008 TROPICAL STORM
12.50 -40.60 09/05/18Z 40 1006 TROPICAL STORM
12.30 -41.70 09/06/00Z 45 1004 TROPICAL STORM
12.50 -42.80 09/06/06Z 50 1002 TROPICAL STORM

Sometimes I just wish the hurricanes would go in the opposite direction and end the stupid civil wars once and for all.

Irma (It doesn't need a description, does it? Everyone knows Irma.)

16.70 -55.60 09/05/00Z 120 943 HURRICANE-4
16.60 -57.00 09/05/06Z 130 937 HURRICANE-4
16.70 -57.70 09/05/06Z 150 929 HURRICANE-5
16.80 -58.40 09/05/12Z 155 931 HURRICANE-5
17.10 -59.80 09/05/18Z 160 926 HURRICANE-5
17.40 -61.10 09/06/00Z 160 916 HURRICANE-5
17.90 -62.60 09/06/06Z 160 914 HURRICANE-5

I would expect these numbers are familiar already, but, just to clarify. The number to the far right; in this case 17.90 is the latitude on Earth where Irma can be found. The next number is the longitude to EXACT the location of Irma along latitude 17.90. The next set of numbers, 09/06/06Z, is the date and time. The date is September 6th. There is no need for the year because this information is filed under the year 2017. 06 is the time of day. Military time. 06 is 6 AM, 12 is noon, 18 is 6 PM and 00 is midnight. The next number is wind speed in KNOTS. In this case it is 160 knots or 184.1 mph. The next number is the storms central pressure in millibars (abbreviation mbar). Most people have barometers in their homes that measure in mmHg (millimeters of mercury). Usually, the barometers read 30 when the weather is nice. Right? Well, with hurricanes the numbers on the barometer falls toward 29 or 28. Lower pressure systems where there is turbulence because low pressure invites air into it's circulation to EQUALIZE it's pressure. That is what makes hurricanes so dangerous. The air surrounding has higher pressure than the center of the hurricane. Physics. The extreme of that dynamic is tornadoes. Tornadoes are low-pressure centers. The next expression is the classification/categorization of the destructive ability of the storm. Irma is now a Hurricane that falls into the category of five. It is highly destructive. The categorization is really for the public to understand. It has a scientific basis, but, interprets the destructive nature of the storm into terms the public can relate that is then interpreted into action, Yes? The public takes action based upon the category of the storm. The category system was set up to benefit the public and allow for an understanding of all the silly numbers scientists examine.

The science of predicting the category is a consistent range of destruction known to scientists because they visit the site and know their category system is still correct and accurate. All this happens to protect life on Earth. There was a time when hurricanes would kill thousands of people at a time. I think we are doing better now.

The failure of Katrina speaks for itself. The hurricane reporting system works if all pay attention to it. Let's keep Irma's destruction of life to a minimum, okay?

The investment by the USA into science has a benevolent purpose. Saving lives is a benevolent nature of the USA. It is important to have a moral face on the USA.

Their roofs hold? There is no shelter for these people to go to?

This is not that difficult. Even Halliburton can get it right. Rebar and concrete. The only thing that survives a storm like this are rocks. Bricks. Concrete. Roofs are an optional. This is crazy. These folks are praying to survive a category 5 storm. There are children that live on those islands.

September 6, 2017
By Andrew deGrandpre

In Puerto Rico, (click here) some residents are preparing to be without electricity for between four and six months.

In St. Thomas, part of the U.S. Virgin Islands, people are praying their roofs hold.

Throughout these American territories and on other Caribbean islands in Hurricane Irma's path, there was widespread fear Tuesday night and early Wednesday, even in the face of preemptive emergency declarations, that this ferocious and possibly historic Category 5 storm will bring with it a devastating storm surge, destructive winds and dangerous flooding and lead to a long, painstaking journey back to normalcy....

I AM SICK OF POVERTY!

The only way I know for people to survive such storms is to huddle in solid buildings with doors open. Watching the wind pass through the building is all they can do. Irma is moving so their residency in such buildings/homes will be limited to hours and not days.

This is not minor advice. This is a testimony to me from people in Guam that have survived 200 mph winds. Terrifying? Of course. Survived? Yes, with children. A disaster to life's assets? That is a question?

The USA has a responsibility to it's neighbors. We responded to an earthquake in Haiti. We need to respond to the islands. We need to INVEST in the lives of these people to be sure there is no prayer of survival that is not answered!

This is so typical of the USA's lack of oversight to societies so very close to our borders. Poverty is not to be tolerated anywhere in the western hemisphere. If our neighbors are strong, we are strong.

These islands is a primary example of how Wall Street investment is only partly successful in providing for the needs of people. These islands are a vacation hot spot for Americans. While Americans see only happy faces in those that work in vacation resorts, there is profound poverty among the people. That is also and especially true of Bermuda. It takes government investment to have outreach and improve the lives of the people. The politics in these islands are silly. Governance is so easy if there were simply enough change in the lives of the people. Their lives can be automatic and without worry while living in some of the most beautiful places in the world. Kindly make island communities in the USA an election issue. Be real. Have ideas that will work and push for improved lives for these folks. Mistakes are not allowed. I love efficiency without sacrifice of life, wellness and quality of life. Think about it. There are lots and lots of volunteers in communities on these islands. They are hungry for quality of life and better futures for their families.