Pensacola Beach Blogger

Pictures, News, Reviews, and Info on Pensacola Beach

Archive for the 'Tropical Weather' Category

Ida closes Bowden Way

Ida brought an overbearing surf and pushed enough sand around to close J. Earle Bowden Way.  This is also known as the “road to Navarre” on the east side of Pensacola Beach. On my way to work, I was stopped by this roadblock. You can see the sand completely covered the road. In some places, you could see where the water crossed the road (click to enlarge):

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I had to turn around and head back the other direction. You can see just barely see Portofino in the distance:

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I’m not sure if this is re-opened now or not… please comment if you know otherwise!

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Ida’s Erosion of Pensacola Beach

Ida came with about 4 inches of rain, big winds, and a strong surf, but left with a lot of the sand on the beach. You can see how high the surf got over the night. See the water line on the walkway over the dunes? You can also see where it spilled over the dunes to the left of the walkway:

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This is a perfect example of the sea oats doing their job. You can see where the surf ate away at the dune until it reached the sea oats:

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See these blocks of wood in the sand? There used to be 4 foot high fences on those. The sea oats certainly outperformed the sand fences.

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Other than the beach erosion, Pensacola Beach held up fine. I didn’t see any damage on my walk this morning. Fort Pickens Road is washed over, and still closed, but that’s about it!

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Ida Rolls into Pensacola Beach

We are starting to feel the effects of hurricane (now tropical storm) Ida. It has been raining for several hours out here on the beach, and we are starting to get some wind. It looks like Pensacola Beach will take a direct hit in this one. Thankfully it has been steadily weakening.

Down at the pier, the local photographers and Weather Channel reporters congregate… I saw Jim Cantore, Stephanie Abrams:

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but my favorite sighting was David from Beach Bum Photography.  He and his wife took our wedding photos!

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The island authority has been busy removing anything that hangs, swings, or could blow away. I took this from my iPhone this morning while driving. They are taking down the road signs:
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Here’s what the radar looks like as of 11am:

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Stay tuned for updates. I’m riding the storm out on the island, so I’ll be updating as long as I have power!

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Tropical Storm Claudette is on its way

Get ready for some rain tonight, Pensacola Beach! Tropical Depression 4 (soon to be Tropical Storm Claudette) formed in the Gulf last night and is headed our way!

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We walked out to the beach this morning. The waves were coming in from the east, which is kind of unusual. The storms and wind were starting to show up!claudette-1

This poor little guy got washed up by the strong surf:

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At least the surfers can take advantage of the waves before the rain comes in:

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Now is the time to make any last minute preparations for hurricane season if you haven’t already: Candles, drinking water, emergency radios, extra batteries, and flashlights should all be stocked up on if you live out on the island! And most importantly, remember not to lose your head (like this guy) when the storms come rolling in!

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Hurricane Ike’s effects on Pensacola Beach

Hurricane Ike is out in the gulf, and will be missing Pensacola Beach completely. But we are seeing very high waves, and the Santa Rosa sound is getting pretty high. These are some pictures I took this morning:

Charlie’s Beach doesn’t look like a beach I’d want to be on today:

This is behind the Boardwalk on Pensacola Beach. There is usually a beach behind it:

You can see the water crashing through the dock behind the big stage:

To get that last shot, I had to run out on the dock while timing and dodging the waves shooting up through the wood:

Forget sea-side dining. How about dining IN the sea?

Some of these scenes were amazing, but this flooding is making a mess in some areas:

As with Hurricane Gustav, the flooding has taken over the picnic area on Pensacola Beach:

Well, I’ve never seen this. Waves actually crashing over the Pensacola Beach Pier!

The pictures I took from under the pier ended up looking like scenes out of an Indiana Jones movie. Check this out:

Run for your life!

These are some of the biggest waves I’ve ever seen out here on the beach:

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Hurricane Ike is flooding my neighborhood

Hurricane Ike is causing some high tides and flooding over in my neighborhood on Pensacola Beach, the sound-side in particular. I woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise:

But water rushing down the street is never a good sign:

Looks like the Gulf is coming over the dunes! Not a good thing for our expected turtle hatchlings on Pensacola Beach.

In fact, I found this screen covering used to keep crabs out of the turtle nests. I’ll be sure to let Barrier Island Girl and Traveling Turtle Girl know.

The Santa Rosa sound is rising:

And it is causing plenty of problems for my neighbors on the sound-side of the island:

I took many more pictures down at the pier this morning… I’ll have them up shortly!

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Take a hike, Ike!

I certainly don’t like the projected forecast for Hurricane Ike. Ike is now a borderline category 2 or 3 hurricane headed to the Keys of Florida, along with Haiti and Cuba. Computer models are now showing that Ike will most likely end up in the Gulf of Mexico, which is bad news for Pensacola and the rest of the Gulf Coast. Later next week, we may be closing up hurricane shutters once again.

Many of my neighbors have kept their windows borded up and the hurricane shutters closed since taking action for Hurricane Gustav. Let’s hope we can open up our windows again soon!

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Gustav stole my beach!

Hurricane Gustav is gone, but he took something with him! My beach! This walkway usually ramps down into the sand. Today there’s a 2 foot drop-off:

You can see some damage to the sand fences (or whatever those are called):

But the good news is that the sun is shining, at least for now. There are still a few storms rolling through though. I snapped this picture around noon today:

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Morning of Gustav

Gustav is upon us. Throughout the night we have endured probably a dozen tornado warnings, thunderstorms, torrential downpours, and some impressive wind, but as you can see, it is finally morning:

Check out how high the tide is! The waves are probably 12 feet tall.

You can see that it is really chewing up the dunes. If it starts to flow over, we are leaving the island.

I just feel fortunate to still have power and internet. We might take a drive to see if there is any major damage on the island. Check back later today for an update!

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Hurricane Gustav Cake

While waiting to lose power out here on Pensacola Beach, we decided to make light of the evening and have a hurricane party, including our very own Hurricane Gustav Cake 2008!

Yum Yum! Hurricake!

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