Hanna vs. Montauk, Ike on the way

My experience watching Tropical Storm Hanna make landfall on Long Island was everything I could have hoped for. My weather nerd gadget recorded max sustained winds of 29.5mph (and minimum pressure of 998mb), not quite as high as elsewhere around the island, but I would have rather been in Montauk than Coney Island. =)

The next storm is Ike, and the latest from the Gulf Coast is not looking good. Gov. Jindal has declared a state of emergency in advance, requested $160M in emergency federal aid for infrastructure repairs from Gustav ($60M over the limit allowed by law), something like 30% of gas stations across the state are still without power, meaning no gas for potential evacuations, and he's begging state workers in baton rouge to come back to work today to prepare for ike even though it was hardest hit by gustav and still mostly without power, houses damaged, etc. and many people in louisiana, based on times-picayune interviews, probably wouldn't evacuate anyway if another storm came in the next couple weeks. many of those that are most vulnerable are already out of money - dipping into savings for the gustav evacuation - and many of those with means have the perception that gustav wasn't really that bad anyway. what a mess. lets hope evacuations aren't necessary, at least for louisiana.

On to the pictures from this weekend.

Montauk beach with 6-8ft swells.
Surfers contemplating the rad waves.
Forecast: Tropical Storm!
Lawn chairs scattered by the wind.