The Official Cottonball.org Hurricane Ivan Journal - All efforts will be made to update the site at the top of every hour as long as there is both electricity and DSL service.
6:48 PM - September 22, 2004
Soooooooo, its a good thing I'm such a slacker. I'm sitting here watching the Simpsons (a staple for me if you weren't aware) and what should occur, it seems we are under a tropical storm warning from.........IVAN!
Here's a projected path image.
Clearly I am to blame for this because I called it lame.
More later.
8:25 AM - September 16, 2004
Well, its over. It was pretty lame actually. As you've probably figured out, we lost power sometime between 9:30 and 10:00 last night. It kept coming on again but by 10:00 it was off for good. After an hour and a half of boredom I went to bed. I woke up around 2:15 in the morning to a house lit up like a Christmas tree so I got up turned the lights off and went back to bed.
The rain we got was so minor, I can't measure the tiny amount collected in my rain gauge. And if that's not bad enough, I'm going to need to water all the plants and lawn because they're so dry.
I'm going to clean up outside and go for a bike ride. I'll take the camera so I can get some pictures from around the area. Below are the pictures I took around my house this morning. My favorite is the picture of the paper sign stapled to the telephone pole. For all the wind we had, it didn't budge.
9:05 PM - September 15, 2004
Its a driving mist!
8:35 PM - September 15, 2004
Woohoo! Rain!
8:05 PM - September 15, 2004
The winds have died down again. Still no rain. And despite the citywide curfew the number of people roaming the streets in cars, on foot, and bicycle, has increased.
7:33 PM - September 15, 2004
S***! Jinxed it! The wind has picked up surprisingly fast. We had a gust of 40.6 MPH just moments ago. It made a eerie noise outside, but I can't find anything wrong on my property.
Also, its dark now, JOY!
7:15 PM - September 15, 2004
Well, not only has it still not rained, but the wind really hasn't increased either. The radar shows a storm seemingly only a couple miles away. The TV news is showing crazy conditions only a 20 minute ride from here. What do I get? A nice sunset...
Also, a 4.34 MB video in AVI format.
6 PM - September 15, 2004
New hurricane model graphics here.
I'm sorry about the lack of pictures, but its too dark to get good pictures. With the flash they're washed out, without, they're too dark.
Strong winds, still no rain. The worst should be here around midnight.
I've just finished a pot of coffee, and for the first time since 5:30 this morning have switched the television to another station. I'm watching the Simpsons.
Something just made a rather suspicious noise outside, so I'm off to investigate.
5 PM - September 15, 2004
Radar update...
4:22 PM - September 15, 2004 (Interim Update)
Power just went off for about 3 minutes. Just long enough for me to shut my computer down before the UPS lost power.
If you would like to monitor wind, rain, and temperature information for my area, you can follow this link.
4 PM - September 15, 2004
Its still not raining, but if you look at the radar you can see that it will start any time now.
The winds have picked up a bit. Now there is a constant "breeze" with some stronger gusts.
The projected track has been updated...
Here's the latest radar loop...
I'm off to go take some more pictures before it starts raining. It's getting kinda dark too.
3 PM - September 15, 2004
Amazingly, it has not rained yet. The winds are about the same. The check book is balanced. I paid some bills, unfortunately I can't mail them.
Some of the dead branches are starting to fall from my neighbor's live oak...
And, you know you live in New Orleans when a hurricane brings trash to your front gate...
Here's the latest radar loop...
2 PM - September 15, 2004
Oops. Almost missed this post. Nothing new happening. I'm just balancing my check book.
Here's the latest radar loop...
1 PM - September 15, 2004
I've removed the live radar, but I will insert animated gif files of the radar at the time I post. If you'd like to see the live radar, go to wwltv.com.
The winds are a smidge stronger now and the live oaks out front are starting to drop their leaves as seen in the following pictures...
Also, I thought you might like to see the front of our house...
Yes that is an old door.
Well, the curfew kicks in an hour, so I'm stuck here no matter how tame the storm is. I've got some friends accross town who are also sticking it out, but none of us want to risk being arrested for being out and about.
12 PM - September 15, 2004
The 10 AM track update showed that Ivan was heading for Mobile, AL and Louisiana was no longer in the "cone of uncertainty."
Around 10:45 AM the wind started to pick-up. It's not constant but their stronger than winds we would normally experience.
