Irma made landfall over Cuba.

September 9, 2017
0103,19z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

It is approximately Punta Alegre at Parque Nacional Caguanes. The storm is a perfect circle, which it hasn't been.

September 7, 2016
By Mimi Whitefield

With hurricane warnings (click here) in effect for four central Cuban provinces with northern coastlines, Cubans completed last-minute preparations and evacuations Thursday in advance of Hurricane Irma.

Irma’s current path keeps the massive storm offshore and models don’t show it making landfall on the island. But the hurricane could still churn up storm surges of 5 to 10 feet and waves reaching as high as 13 to 20 feet, causing flooding in low-lying ares, said Cuba’s Institute of Meteorology.

Irma-induced swells were expected to begin in eastern Cuba around 7 p.m. Thursday and affect the north coast all the way to Havana in coming days....

September 9, 2017
0130.19z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of the north and west hemisphere (click here)

Katia has moved inland. Jose is adopting a path similar to Irma.

A mandatory evacuation was met with work and while he was there he may as well hurricane-proof his house. How did this happen?

9 September 2017
By Ophelia Buckleton

A Kiwi living in Florida (click here) has described scenes of desperation as people rush to prepare for deadly Hurricane Irma.

Chad Bennett, originally from South Auckland, will face the worst of the weather alone after his wife and 1-year-old daughter evacuated Lighthouse Point, a coastal city near Fort Lauderdale, earlier this week.

Despite a mandatory evacuation of the area, Bennett had to stay behind for work and to hurricane-proof his house. He said it was too late to leave now.

"My main concern was that my wife and baby were safe. I had to stay for work and I was like 'get out and go now, don't wait for me'," he said....

I think there is an expression that goes something like this, "The devil lives in the air between my words and your ears." It s more poetic than that.somewhere out there.

The difference between a storm surge and a tsunami is the source of the energy causing the height of the ocean waters.

A tsunami is caused by land displacement and storm surge is caused by the wind PUSHING water in front of the edge of the wind.

Waves are what is caused by the size of the body of water. A lake has a wave motion far more contained than the Pacific Ocean. Waves are caused by the sloshing around of water in the WATER BASIN. It is more complicated than that because there are waves caused by the rotation of Earth. 

TIDES are gravitational caused by the moon.

So there are many impacts of water caused by Irma. There are the 'normal waves,' the tides and the storm surge AND IF there is land displacement all that can be complicated by a tsunami.

...Newton’s law of universal gravitation states (click here) that the gravitational attraction between two bodies is directly proportional to the product of their masses, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the bodies (Sumich, J.L., 1996; Thurman, H.V., 1994). Therefore, the greater the mass of the objects and the closer they are to each other, the greater the gravitational attraction between them (Ross, D.A. 1995)....

When the National Hurricane Center (NHC) looks at the potential storm surge it is with the knowledge of the entire movement of water on Earth. They are not trying to create confusion. The experts at the NHC actually have simplified, even as it looks confusing, the actual storm surge as they know it. They don't say a lot of the numbers involved. They apply the physics and math and settle on the storm surge.

Also, they are looking at EVIDENCE where Irma has already passed over. WHERE AND WHEN IT IS POSSIBLE.

Part of what occurs in the reporting of the experts of these storms is ASSESSMENT. Today, assessment is called, "Continuous Quality Improvement." The knowns of the storm before actual measurements are available (hurricane planes) are calculated and then that calculation is measured against REAL TIME DATA.

The 'ideas' of modern society with internet connections that are supposed to be innovative are actually old paradigms. That is not bragging, that is fact. So the calculations and it's assessment of facts as they become available is long lived and long before digital computers were available.

HURRICANE IRMA FORECAST/ADVISORY NUMBER 39

NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL112017

2100 UTC FRI SEP 08 2017...

...A STORM SURGE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...

* SEBASTIAN INLET SOUTHWARD AROUND THE FLORIDA PENINSULA TO VENICE

* FLORIDA KEYS

A STORM SURGE WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR...

.* NORTH OF SEBASTIAN INLET TO THE FLAGLER/VOLUSIA COUNTY LINE

* NORTH OF VENICE TO ANCLOTE RIVER

* TAMPA BAY

There is nothing unclear about that warning. Where it becomes unclear is when society rejects the warning for it's own interpretation. That is not a scientific problem, that is a social problem.

The real question about why people die unnecessarily due to storms has to be assessed and rarely is it because there was not sufficient warning. Not in the year 2017. I suggest an examination of the lies made to the American people, existing corruption, cheating by those that can and ordinary suffering of the people might bring them to conclusions about the agencies of it's government are not to be believed or trusted. In the case of their scientific organizations that is not an issue. All the scientists I know, which are many (inside and outside the government of the USA), there is not one interested in falsehoods.

The defendants of the Flint poisoning are receiving resistance to the government payments.

If there is funding to be withdrawn it should begin with Governor Snyder. The current defendants were a result of uncontrolled power out of the Governor's office. There aren't suppose to be dictators in the USA.

The same Michigan State Congress members complaining now about the cost of the attorneys and otherwise, were the same people that voted for the revised "Emergency Manager's Law." The original law was suppose to support school systems in Michigan cities with troubled economies. This new law was written by the very people that are playing politics with the payment of defense attorneys.

When are the charges to the Governor going to come down the pipeline? He is the one person completely responsible for the deaths and injury to the people of Flint. WHEN DOES THAT HAPPEN! Snyder knew full well what he was doing and NEVER stopped to ask if he should be doing it!

Snyder is guilty of 10 counts of manslaughter. He is guilty of the crime of killing a human being without malice aforethought, or otherwise in circumstances not amounting to murder.

September 8, 2017
By Ron Fonger

Flint, MI -- An attorney for a former director of public works in Flint is calling for state Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich to retract comments he made Thursday, Sept. 7, in an MLive.com story.

Attorney Alexander S. Rusek of White Law PLLC made his request in an email to MLive-The Flint Journal.

Rusek represents Howard Croft, former Flint Department of Public Works director, who has been charged with false pretenses and conspiracy to commit false pretenses for his role in allowing the Flint water crisis to occur.

Special prosecutor Todd Flood has also informed Croft and Genesee District Court that he intends to add a charge of involuntary manslaughter against Croft -- also related to the water emergency....

..."The right (click here) to have legal counsel is a bedrock principle of fairness in this country, and Senator Ananich's comments only serve to inflame and prejudice a potential jury. They are inappropriate and should be publicly retracted."...

Even being close to Cuba with a majority of it's storm clouds and winds over Cuba, it is still oscillating.

Irma

20.90 -71.10 09/07/18Z 150 922 HURRICANE-5

21.30 -72.40 09/08/00Z 145 920 HURRICANE-5

21.70 -73.80 09/08/06Z 135 925 HURRICANE-4

22.00 -75.30 09/08/12Z 130 927 HURRICANE-4 

22.10 -76.50 09/08/18Z 135 925 HURRICANE-4

This is a nightmare storm. It has it's own rules. There is nothing here that says the predictions of storm surge and winds are wrong. With a storm this unpredictable and powerful no one should be playing the odds.

Please value your own lives more than any point that can be made about defying the government warnings.

September 8, 2017

Soldiers remove debris from a partly collapsed municipal building after an earthquake in Juchitan, Oaxaca state, Mexico, Friday, Sept. 8, 2017

...Mexico's civil defense chief, (click here) Luis Felipe Puente, says the death toll has risen to 58.

The quake hit minutes before midnight Thursday and was strong enough to cause buildings to sway violently in the capital city more than 650 miles away. As beds banged against walls, people still wearing pajamas ran out of their homes and gathered in frightened groups.

CBS Dallas/Fort Worth reporter Jeff Paul was in Puerto Escondido when the quake hit. He said he watched his house sway and the motion of the earth caused waves in a nearby swimming pool.

"It was one of those experiences where it kind of left you shaking there for a while," he said....                        

September 8, 2017
By Amy B. Wang and Alex Horton

Sir Richard Branson, (click here) the billionaire founder of the Virgin Group who said he would ride out Hurricane Irma on his private Caribbean island, has emerged from his fortified wine cellar unscathed.

“All of the team who stayed on Necker and Moskito during the hurricane are safe and well,” Branson said in a blog post Thursday, which he explained was transcribed with a satellite phone after the storm brought down all lines of communication.

“We took shelter from the strongest hurricane ever inside the concrete cellar on Necker and very, very fortunately it held firm. Our thoughts go out to everyone affected by the disaster elsewhere in the [British Virgin Islands], Caribbean and beyond,” he said....                  

Katia and Jose are still gaining strength.

September 8, 2017
0730.20z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

Irma is tracking more west than north.

The past thirty hours Irma has moved 2 degrees north while traveling 7 degrees west in that same time frame. The movement is easily visualized on satellite. The two views are 12 hours apart.

20.00 -68.30 09/07/06Z 155 921 HURRICANE-5
20.40 -69.70 09/07/12Z 150 921 HURRICANE-5
20.90 -71.10 09/07/18Z 150 922 HURRICANE-5
21.30 -72.40 09/08/00Z 145 920 HURRICANE-5
21.70 -73.80 09/08/06Z 135 925 HURRICANE-4
22.00 -75.30 09/08/12Z 130 927 HURRICANE-4

September 8, 2017
1930.19z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite

There is another more recent view.

Irma's 'eye'/center of circulation is far closer to Cuba in the 2030 view compared to the 1930 view.

The feeder system for Irma is south of the storm.

The 0730 shows a very different center circulation. It is more contracted. That is sometimes followed by change in direction and/or increased velocity.

If Irma is going to jump Cuba it will look dissipated and even fractured, but, that won't be the end of the hurricane.

The next few hours will dictate the tract further.

Florida should already be receiving the outer bands now.

Jose is beginning to tap into the equatorial feeder system and adding water vapor to it's content

The outer bands in Florida can be discerned in this visible satellite to the right.

September 8, 2017
2030.20z
UNISYS Visual Satellite of southeast USA (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

People need to be in a safe place now.

The outer bands of any hurricane are dangerous. They carry tornadoes and will through things like lawn furniture around, so that makes them projectiles.

It is time for the Florida Governor, Rick Scott, should have all lanes from the Florida Keys going north by now.

There is about 70 thousand residents of the Keys. There are visitors in addition to that.

I-75 may be a better route out of Florida.

Interstate 10 westbound (click here) closed Wednesday morning (Aug. 30) near the Louisiana/Texas state line because of flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey.

The Louisiana State Police said the closure started at 7:30 a.m. at milepost 4. The Facebook post below details officials' suggested detours....

The DACA citizens need to be brought into the country as legitimate residents. They don't have to have full citizenship, rarely are immigrants given full citizenship. DACA citizens don't have the usual baggage that many immigrants have. They grew up in the USA and know no other reality or culture. There is no reason for them to be deported.

The difference between DACA and the Wall is the USA Treasury. DACA citizens contribute to it while "The Wall" depletes it.

DACA is a moral issue. How does the USA treat people that have come to live in allegiance to it's sovereignty? There is just no question here. The DACA citizens are as American as any other. These people didn't ask to be a part of the USA, but, they are exactly that.

September 2, 2017
By Anthony Faiola 

Bogota, Colombia — Colombia’s largest guerrilla movement (click here) sowed a half-century of fear through kidnappings, bombings, extortion and killings. But in a new era of peace, the battled-scarred leftists are launching a charm offensive — trading their guns and fatigues for the soft-lit ads and sport coats of 21st-century politics. 

The former fighters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, decommissioned the last of their weapons in recent weeks, under a historic accord ending Latin America’s longest-running guerrilla war. Now the Marxist-Leninist guerrillas are taking a page from corporate playbooks and trying to rebrand themselves....

The Wall? It is a national security issue. The national security issue at the southern border of the USA are the drug cartels. No wall is going to stop that when every country south of the USA has sovereignty issues because of the cartels. The USA prides itself on a stable Columbia, SA. What about every other country including those between Columbia and the USA southern border?

September 8, 2017
By Michael Tomasky

Washington — Suddenly, (click here) Washington is awash in talk about deal-making. On Wednesday, President Trump agreed with the Democrats on a plan to increase the debt limit and fund the government until December, enraging his Republican allies. This sudden thaw sets up the possibility of an even bigger deal: In exchange for making the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program permanent law, the Democrats would agree to maybe a couple of billion for the president’s beautiful wall on the border.

Should the Democrats accept such a deal? A part of me would like to say they should. Hey, it’s an actual compromise, just like Washington politicians used to make!

But alas, no, the Democrats should not. The reasons reflect both Americans’ views on these two policies and, more broadly, a brutal truth of our polarized politics today.

The simple fact is that voters support the “liberal” position on DACA. In one recent poll, 58 percent of respondents said the program’s participants, known as “Dreamers,” should be allowed to stay and have a path to citizenship. An additional 18 percent favored letting them become legal residents, but not citizens. Only 15 percent opted for deportation.          

The USA Congressional Freedom Caucus are racists.

October 20, 2017
By Drew DeSilver

...The 36 identified (click here) Freedom Caucus members had an average score of +0.659, more than a third higher than the average score for all other House GOP members (+0.455); the least conservative Freedom Caucus member (Steve Pearce of New Mexico) is still more conservative than the average non-Freedom Caucus House Republican....

The Freedom Caucus members have come out making statements that are highly inflammatory and anti-American regarding DACA.

The stated things like, there are 8 billion people in the world and everyone wants to come to the USA. The fact there are only 800,000 Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals in the USA means nothing. The Freedom Caucus likes to 'talk big' to make the impression there is something to fear. There is no intelligence or facts to their inflammatory rhetoric. They are fear mongers.

The Freedom Caucus members went on to imply if the country allows 'these people' in their families will follow and the entire population of the USA will be affected. Pray it does with slime like this that actually makes it into the seats of power of the USA.

That seething hatred of other people is toxic and lacks any governance. The Freedom Caucus does not believe in freedom or the USA. I don't know who they pledge allegiance to, but, it isn't the red, white and blue. It is most likely where most of the White Supremacists gather.

September 8, 2017
1130.18z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

Irma is beginning to run into resistance as it travels through the island chain. It is still oscillating in its central pressure. There is plenty of energy in the storm. When the waves hit the land it produces water vapor as much as it receives it. There is still plenty of fuel and some might say an excess of it to continue the high velocity still existing with Irma.

Irma

17.40 -61.10 09/06/00Z 160 916 HURRICANE-5
17.90 -62.60 09/06/06Z 160 914 HURRICANE-5
18.20 -64.00 09/06/12Z 160 918 HURRICANE-5
18.80 -65.40 09/06/18Z 160 914 HURRICANE-5
19.40 -66.80 09/07/00Z 160 916 HURRICANE-5
20.00 -68.30 09/07/06Z 155 921 HURRICANE-5
20.40 -69.70 09/07/12Z 150 921 HURRICANE-5
20.90 -71.10 09/07/18Z 150 922 HURRICANE-5
21.30 -72.40 09/08/00Z 145 920 HURRICANE-5
21.70 -73.80 09/08/06Z 135 925 HURRICANE-4

The open ocean.

Jose

14.80 -49.10 09/07/06Z 80 986 HURRICANE-1
14.90 -50.60 09/07/12Z 80 986 HURRICANE-1
15.50 -52.40 09/07/18Z 105 966 HURRICANE-3
15.60 -53.90 09/08/00Z 105 966 HURRICANE-3
16.00 -55.30 09/08/06Z 110 957 HURRICANE-3

Katia is a solid Cat. 1 storm, but, it is receiving fuel yet. Katia's original central pressure in becoming a Cat. 1 hurricane was 992 millibars. It is a very strong storm for being so close to land.

Katia

21.50 -94.50 09/07/06Z 70 989 HURRICANE-1
21.60 -94.60 09/07/12Z 70 980 HURRICANE-1
21.60 -94.60 09/07/18Z 70 980 HURRICANE-1
21.50 -95.10 09/08/00Z 75 982 HURRICANE-1
21.30 -95.40 09/08/06Z 80 977 HURRICANE-1

September 8, 2017
1130.18z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of the north and west hemisphere (click here)

I know this had nothing to do with the earthquake.

September 8, 2017

The Mexican government on Thursday (click here) said it had declared the North Korean ambassador to Mexico persona non grata in protest at the country's nuclear tests, an unusually firm step that moved it closely into line with Washington.

In a statement, the government said it had given Kim Hyong Gil 72 hours to leave Mexico in order to express its "absolute rejection" of North Korea's recent nuclear activity, describing it as a grave threat to the region and the world.

Mexico has traditionally sought to steer clear of diplomatic ructions, but in the past few months it has adopted robust language to condemn the governments of Venezuela and North Korea as they descended into increasing international isolation....


September 8, 2017
By Renee Duff

Hurricane Katia (click here) will continue to unleash dangerous and life-threatening impacts across eastern Mexico into the weekend.

Katia, currently a Category 1 hurricane, has stewed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico since the beginning of the week, triggering rough surf and enhanced downpours across eastern Mexico over the past few days.

The storm continues to strengthen as it feeds off of the very warm water in the Bay of Campeche, potentially becoming a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 96–110 mph (154–177 km/h) prior to making landfall.

Katia will likely move inland between Tuxpan and Veracruz, Mexico, on Friday night, according to AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski....

September 8, 2017
By Jonathan Belles and Brian Donegan

Hurricane Katia is expected to continue to strengthen and may be near major when it makes landfall in eastern Mexico by this weekend.  A major hurricane is a Category 3 or higher with maximum sustained winds of 111 mph or greater.

Katia is moving to the west-southwest very slowly in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico just over 150 miles east-southeast of Tampico, Mexico....

September 7, 2017
7 p.m.

Katia is stationary (click here) and isn't expected to move Thursday night. A slow west-southwest motion is expected by early Friday and Katia will likely approach the coast within the warning area Friday night or early Saturday.

Maximum sustained winds are near 80 mph with higher gusts. Some strengthening is forecast and Katia could be near major hurricane strength at landfall.

5 p.m.

The storm is forecast to turn southwestward and approach the coast within the warning area late Friday or early Saturday.

Maximum sustained winds are near 80 mph with higher gusts. Some strengthening is forecast during the next 36 hours and Katia could be near major hurricane strength at landfall....

The gods are angry.

There is no modern day history of any relationship between air turbulence and land movement. Until now?

No reports out of California? The fault involved ends very near the Baja Peninsula where Tropical Storm Lidia occurred for four long days.

There is some research that is interesting, to say the least. The question is what came first the chicken or the egg. Hydrologic pressure can occur when water seeps into cracks in the earth.

The death toll will depend on the population within the shake zone.


September 8, 2017
By Doreen McCallister

..." 'The house moved (click here) chewing gum and the light and internet went out momentarily,' " said Rodrigo Soberanes, who lives near San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, a poor, largely indigenous state popular with tourists.

"Chiapas Gov. Manuel Velasco said that three people were killed in San Cristobal, including two women who died in San Cristobal when a house and a wall collapsed. He called on people living near the coast to leave their houses as a protective measure.

"There is damage to hospitals that have lost energy," he said. "Homes, schools and hospitals have been damaged."

"Civil Defense in Chiapas said on its Twitter account that its personnel were in the streets aiding people and warned residents to prepare for aftershocks.

"In neighboring Guatemala, President Jimmy Morales spoke on national television to call for calm while emergency crews checked for damage.

"We have reports of some damage and the death of one person, even though we still don't have details," Morales said. He said the unconfirmed death occurred in San Marcos state near the border with Mexico."...

An aspect of research that has yet to be encouraged is isostatic rebound. It is the pressure placed upon the continent by ice. The ice on continents that connect with the seas is believed to be static. It is not. Over the millennia ice waxes and wanes and has a direct effect on the stability of cratons.

April 22, 2013
By Colin Schultz

In August 23, 2011 (click here) a rare magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit Virginia. The shaking cracked the Washington Monument, toppled part of the National Cathedral and shook around a third of the U.S. population. Later that week, Hurricane Irene moved into the region, wiping out power, downing trees and, according to new research presented at the meeting of Seismological Society of America, says Nature, triggering more small earthquakes in the recently ruptured fault....

In order  to secure such research a direct relationship has to be drawn between seismic activity and 'ice extent' (click here). There may or may not be enough information accumulated to complete these conclusions. It really needs to be researched further. It is a chronic missing piece. 

Glaciologist records may fall short of complete ice inventory. Glaciologist concern themselves with 'mass balance' to realize the stability of glaciers. However, when ice melts on the continent there is an increase in sea ice. That is a direct correlation between the extent of ice on land and the runoff to the sea.

The beauty of a complete assessment of the ice is to talk to the people who live on or near it or encounter it. For the earthquake of 2011 there are still residents of the north that will recall the challenges of fishing and living with the ice that contacted the North American continent. Greenland and it's people are probably a wealth of information regarding changes in ice from year to year.

Seth Stein, Frank Pazzaglia, Anne Meltzer, Emily Wolin, Alan Kafka, Claudio Berti 
  These earthquakes (click here) are interesting because of where they happen. Most of the world's earthquakes occur along the boundaries between plates, like the San Andreas Fault. That's because earthquakes happen when forces in the earth make faults move. Plate tectonics explains the faults that are part of the boundary between plates and that the force to move them comes from the motion between the plates on either side. Earthquakes inside plates are rarer because the movements between plates are much faster than motion within plates. If plates behaved perfectly there'd be no motion within them, and earthquakes wouldn't happen there. That's almost, but not perfectly, true. Earthquakes do happen within plates, including along the east coast.

Virginia quake seismic waves march across the US