The South Florida heat can cause heatstrokes

It is no surprise that the weather in South Florida during the summer months is hot. It is very important for anyone in South Florida to take caution if they are going to spend a lot of time outdoors. Heatstrokes are caused by heavy work in hot environments without enough water. According to the Mayo Clinic older adults, people who are obese and people born with an impaired ability to sweat are at risk of heatstrokes. Other risk factors include dehydration, alcohol use, cardiovascular disease and certain medications.

Here are some symptoms or signs of a heatstroke

• Personality changes to confusion and coma
• Rapid heart beat
• Rapid and shallow breathing
• Elevated or lowered blood pressure
• Cessation of sweating
• Irritability, confusion or unconsciousness
• Fainting, (This may be the first sign in older adults)

If you or anyone you know is experiencing these symptoms, get out of the sun and into the shade or an air conditioned area.

Just how hot does your car get.

Most people can agree that it is hot in South Florida during the summer. But just how hot is it? The weather report every evening gives us a temperature of how hot it was that day but it never seems to be right. How many times have you gone to the store and when you went back to your car it felt like the air coming out of your car, when you open the door, was going to burn you. I decided to do a little experiment to see how hot it really got in my car.


For this experiment I took a cooking pot and put 4 cups of water in it. I then let the pot sit on the counter over night to get to room temperature. At about 11:30 a.m. I placed the pot in my car and closed the doors and windows. My car is painted black with black leather seats. It does have tinted windows though.

At 3:30 p.m. I went to the car to take the temperature. I opened the car door and then got in the car, sat down and closed the door so that I would not loose any heat. I turned the thermometer on (it was an electronic one) and placed it in the water. I noticed that there were bubbles under the water at the bottom of the pot that were not there before.

It took only a few seconds for the thermometer to be in the water till it exceeded its range in temperature. The highest reading that I could get was 109.8 degrees Fahrenheit, after that it just showed an "H" which meant the temperature was too high. When I went to reset the temperature I took the thermometer out of the water and tried turning it on. Once it turned on the temperature reached 107.6 F. This reading was the temperature of the air that was in my car.

The temperatures recorded that day were between 82 and 90 F for the area where I conducted this test.

Pictures I have taken of past hurricanes

I like to take pictures of Hurricanes during and after the storms. I have taken pictures of hurricanes Frances, Jeanne and Wilma. It is very easy to observe the destruction of hurricanes through the media, but I find it more interesting to go find it for myself. Since I work at a hardware store I usually try to get to the store as soon as I can after the storm. There is normally a lot of cleaning to do and I know that the store needs to get opened soon so that people can get what they need to repair their homes.




HURRICANE FRANCES




This is a picture of a tree that was up-rooted during the storm. The winds were so strong that they blew the tree out of the ground. I could not believe that a tree of this size could be blown over until I saw this.








As I drove East on Lantana Road. I noticed one of the most amazing sites I have ever seen after a hurricane. This gas station is located along Lantana Road. I have never seen anything like this. I could not believe that the entire roof just fell over. What I find to be strange about this incident is that the roof appears to be good condition other than the fat that it fell over.







This is a picture of a metal roof wrapped around a tree. I could not believe that wind could be powerful enough to bend metal around a tree. This picture was also taken on Lantana Road.

HURRICANE JEANNE

This is a trailer that goes on the back of a semitruck. This trailer was parked behind the building where I worked. Normally this trailer would be facing vertical along the picture rather than horizontal. The wind from hurricane Jeanne blew the trailer over then turned it around. This picture was taken shortly after the storm had passed Palm Beach County.




This street sign was hanging on an intersection over the road Forest Hill Blvd. Not only did the force of the wind bend the sign but it began to rip it as well.























These pictures were both taken in Wellington. (Left) A picture of a traffic light that was blown through the intersection to the side of the road. (Right) Is a picture of what the intersections in Wellington usually looks like after a hurricane. Stop signs need to be put out due to their not being any power and the traffic lights falling.









Down power lines are not an unusual site after a a hurricane. These lines are very scary. It is normally a good idea to wait a while after the storm has passed before you go outside. The local fire departments usually will be driving around making sure that the roads are safe. This line was not live but if it was I could have been seriously injured if I came in contact with it.





HURRICANE WILMA




This is a construction trailer that was blown several feet from where it had originally been. These trailers are usually the office for the construction site where work is being done. I find it amazing how the wind just rolled this huge trailer through the parking lot.











This is a very common site after a hurricane. Stop signs are usually twisted and bent, facing in a direction which they were not facing before the storm. The thing I found unusual about this stop sign was that it had been severed. You normally don't get to see this done to stop signs.





This picture appears to be a picture of just a cloudy sky, it is actually a picture of the most dangerous part of the storm, the eye. The eye of a hurricane is the center of the storm and is usually calm. One of the most dangerous parts about it is that the winds will suddenly pick up without notice to top wind speeds of the storm. That is not a lie. As I was walking around taking pictures I noticed the wind beginning to blow. I started walking back to my apartment and almost suddenly I was in the middle of about 60 mph winds. It was a good thing I got back to my apartment quickly or I could have become another statistic.






Another picture taken during the evening in Wellington, this intersection had all of the traffic lights blown right off. Notice how calm and peaceful the sky looks after Wilma had hit earlier that day.

Things you need when a hurricane comes

Here is a list of some of the basic things one will need to have in the event of a hurricane if they are going to stay home and not evacuate.

• Bottled water (about three gallon for each family member)
• Canned food and snacks. You should have enough to last you for three days because you never know what will happen.
• A non-electric can opener
• Toilet paper
• Some clothes set aside for each family member
• A first aid kit
• Blankets
• Books and games to keep busy
• Paper and pencil
• Medicine(s) you usually take
• Flashlights (A few battery powered lanterns are very helpful)
• Batteries (make sure that they are the right sizes for that you are going to use them for.
• A battery-operated radio

A generator is something that is not a necessity for everybody but it is nice to have. Here are a couple of things to remember if you get one.

• Make sure that it is working properly long before the first storm hits
• Do not leave gas in it's gas tank for a long time. The gas gets gummy and will clog up the generator. (You can get a stabilizer which will help the gas last longer)
• Do NOT hook the generator up to the house to power the whole house. If you want that done have a professional do it. It can cause serious harm to electrical workers trying to restore power to the area and could even cause a fire to your house.
• Make sure that your generator is secured to a stable object. It is a very popular item for people to steal when there is no power in the area.

Hurricane Season Is Back!!!!!!

Hurricane season begins on June 1 and last till Nov. 30. According to the National Weather Service, 2007 is going to be a busy hurricane season.
Predictions for this year include

• 13-17 named storms
• 7-10 hurricanes
• 3-5 major hurricanes

Here is a break down of the hurricane catagories occording to the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale

CAT 1
Winds 74-95 mph (64-82 kt)
Surge 4-5 ft

No real damage to building structures.Damage primarily to unanchored mobile homes, shrubbery, and trees. Also, some coastal flooding and minor pier damage.

CAT 2
Winds 96-110 mph(83-95 kt)
Surge 6-8 ft

Some roofing material, door, and window damage. Considerable damage to vegetation, mobile homes, etc. Flooding damages piers and small craft in unprotected moorings may break their moorings.

CAT 3
Winds 111-130 mph(96-113 kt)
Surge 9-12 ft

Some structural damage to small residences and utility buildings, with a minor amount of curtainwall failures. Mobile homes are destroyed. Flooding near the coast destroys smaller structures with larger structures damaged by floating debris. Terrain may be flooded well inland.

CAT 4
Winds 131-155 mph(114-135 kt)
Surge 13-18 ft

More extensive curtainwall failures with some complete roof structure failure on small residences. Major erosion of beach areas. Terrain may be flooded well inland.

CAT 5
Winds 155 mph+(135+ kt)
Surge 18 ft +

Complete roof failure on many residences and industrial buildings. Some complete building failures with small utility buildings blown over or away. Flooding causes major damage to lower floors of all structures near the shoreline. Massive evacuation of residential areas may be required.

Finally Some Rain But Still Restricted

From Friday June 1 to Sunday June 3 it seemed as though the rain would never stop. Most would consider this a good thing considering the fact that South Florida was experiencing a drought. According to a report by the Sun-Sentinel, this rain was due to Tropical Storm Barry. The storm brought about 2 inches of rain to the north part of Lake Okeechobee. This brought the lake up from 8.9 feet above sea level to 9.01 as of Sunday morning.

Even though South Florida endured a couple of days of almost non stop rain, the water restrictions are still in place. There has even been some talk about having restrictions year round to prevent the water levels of the lake from getting to a dangerous level.

For more information about Tropical Storm Barry check out this page. This story gives a good break down of ow much rain fell in some of the major cities of South Florida and gives a good explination of how low the lake levels are.

Rip Currents

Rip currents are taking the lives of swimmers at Florida's beaches. On May 27, the Palm Beach Post reported the drowning of two men on two beaches. One of these men, Brian Wynne of Stone Mountain Ga., died trying to save his 7-year-old son. The boy did survive. The Palm Beach Post also reported another rip current related death which occurred on May 16 at 1 a.m. This time it was an Arizona tourist.
According to the National Weather Service, this is how rip currents are form, "As waves travel from deep to shallow water, they will break near the shoreline. When waves break strongly in some locations and weakly in others, this can cause circulation cells which are seen as rip currents: narrow, fast-moving belts of water traveling offshore."
Rip currents are usually only about 10-15 feet wide, if you ever get caught in one there are a few things to remember.

• Stay calm
• Do NOT swim against the current. These currents are very strong and sometimes move faster than most people can run on land, so swimming against it is almost useless.
• Swim horizontal with the shore. (Since these currents are only about 10 feet long, and you may very well be in the middle of it, by swimming horizontal with the shore you will not have too far to go till you get out of the current.

A good Web page to look at for information is http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/overview.shtml. This page is very good because it gives

• diagrams of rip currents,
• explains what they are and how they are formed,
• gives tips on how to avoid being a victim of them
• explains how to get out of the currents.