Hurricane Ida

So today I find myself experiencing my first hurricane effects, to me it is no more than a normal winter day in Cape Town – rain, rain, rain and more rain.

Hurricane Ida is the ninth tropical storm and third hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season. Hurricane Ida developed on November 4 as a tropical depression. The next day, Ida made landfall in Nicaragua, and was classed as a minimal hurricane. Quickly weakening over land, Ida returned to tropical depression status as it moved towards Honduras, and survived the land crossing, emerging off the Honduran coast on the afternoon of November 6 as a tropical depression. It then strengthened, regaining tropical storm status early on November 7 and then hurricane status late on November 7.

On November 8, Ida strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane as it entered the deep warm waters of the northwestern Caribbean Sea. It tracked into the Gulf of Mexico that afternoon, with winds reaching 105 mph (165 km/h) that evening. Ida gradually weakened to a tropical storm from the cool waters of the Northern Gulf of Mexico. The storm made landfall early on November 10.

Just as an FYI, storms of tropical storm strength are given names to allow the public to easily distinguish between systems when there are multiple systems in an individual basin at the same time. In most cases, a tropical cyclone retains its name throughout its life. These names are taken from lists which vary from region to region and are drafted a few years ahead of time. Each year, the names of particularly destructive storms (if there are any) are "retired" and new names are chosen to take their place.

In the North Atlantic and Northeastern Pacific basins, feminine and masculine names are alternated in alphabetic order during a given season. The gender of the season's first storm also alternates year to year. Six lists of names are prepared in advance, and each list is used once every six years. (For more info on this click here)

So right now that is my news – I will keep you updated with any significant changes in the weather that are cause for concern.

For those that know me well enough will know that a hurricane is as good of an excuse as any to make pop corn and lie on the couch all day watching movies.