A could be quite a weekend!

Edited in Red Sunday.

Edit 4  Fifteen seconds after I hit the "Publish Post" button, we lost our power for two seconds.  It took longer for the cable box to reboot than the power was out.  All my computer equipment is battery protected so none of it shutdown.  I can also hear some thunder off in the distance.  Now I have to make the rounds to reset clocks because of a two-second outage.  Perhaps, just perhaps, we're not out of the woods quite yet.

Edit 3:  Mid Sunday afternoon.  The weather radar indicates there may be a few straggling showers remaining, but it appears that for our little region, the rain part is all but over.  We are continuing to experience some winds with some pretty forceful gusts.  Maine has had some downed trees and some damage and there are power outages in various parts of the state.  In fact, my Fearless Friend had one earlier today.  Tropical Storm Irene is passing well to the north of us.  I must say the TV stations in our area and the national networks have kept us informed, but I'm not sure Irene quite measured up as the 'experts' though it would, at least in the tiny portion of the world.

I'm now enjoying the final game in this year's Little League World Series.  California (US) is playing Japan (International) for the LLWS Championship. 

This will probably be my last update on what now is Tropical Storm Irene.

Edit 2:  Just a few minutes before 11 A.M. and the rain has arrived.  Right now it's raining very hard here on the Gator swamp.  The winds have picked up considerably, too.  My little wind gauge thingy (yeah, I know the technical term, but I like my all-purpose one better) is spinning about as fast as I've ever seen it spin.  It's generally steady around 15 mph at this hour, but gusts have crossed the 20 mph mark.  This part of this morning's forecast seems to be about accurate.  We were told the winds and rain would pick up around noontime and then grow during the afternoon until they subside this evening.  The best part is tomorrow should be nice and sunny.

Now it's time to head out to the store where Gator Wife works.  She's about to end her shift that she accepted a few weeks ago to help out a vacationer.  We left her new car home so it wouldn't get dinged by flying stuff in the parking lot.  The way the winds and rain are performing now, this could be an interesting trip.

Edit 1:  This is one of those days I almost...almost...wish I had a clue on how to use Twitter or Facebook.  I'd keep you updated as much as I could.  However, I will occasionally update this blog.

By 6 A.M. we were getting only some light drizzle and showers.  We did hear some thunder, but I didn't see lightning, a couple hours ago.  The hurricane is still far to the south of us and by the time it reaches Maine late this morning or early afternoon, it probably will have been downgraded to tropical storm.  Inland New Hampshire and Maine, especially near the western Maine mountains, probably will get the brunt.

My area along the southwest coast will get some winds, forecast this morning to be in the 30-40 mph range, and some potentially heavy rain beginning early this afternoon.

Gator Wife had agreed weeks ago to work at her part time job this morning to fill in for a vacationer.  To help protect her new car from flying objects in the big parking lot, Gator Golden and I took her to work this morning.  We had no problems with driving conditions; in fact, we've seen a lot worse on a cloudy day.  Picking her up late this morning might be fun, though.

When, if, anything develops on the Irene Front today, I'll let you know my thoughts and observactions.  Right now, though, it looks a lot like a typical Maine storm super hype.

The weekend storm news continues to evolve and this Friday morning doesn't give us any definitive answers.  Hurrican Irene is rumbling our way, but just where it'll hit us is still up in the air.  And that landing spot is in continuous change.

Of course the weather people on TV love the new models that seem to change hourly.  Seem?  They are.  Earlier the track to put Irene right through Portland.  Then it began to be projected to move more inland as it comes to Maine.  By Thursday, it looked like it would just clip us in the Maine-New Hampshire-Canada border. 

If that track held, then when it does get here beginning Saturday night with shower activity beginning late in the afternoon, the bulk of the rain would be well west, the wet side of a hurricane, of us.  We on the east side would get some high winds, some rain, and some coastal surging.

Then the models Friday morning moved it back to the east a little bit and now would go through closer to the middle of Maine.  That would put a lot more rain in northern Maine and stronger winds and surges in the south.  One model has it smack right over Portland.  That would be interesting.

What it all seems to mean, though, is that we're going to have an interesting Sunday into Monday with a probably down-graded storm from hurricane to tropical storm.  In any case there are plans and precautions we all should make and take.  You can get lists of these on various web sites with links to them from nearly all communication stations such as WCSH6.com, WGME.com, and WMTW.com.  There are government agencies with suggestions, too.

Of course all the local stations will be following the storm closely thoughout the weekend.  Be sure you have a battery equipped radio as some power outages are expected.

For our little family, it'll be a dangerous time.  Gator Wife left for her parttime job an hour early Friday morning as she must make some merchandise for Friday non-storm-related events.  There's a chance she'll have to go in early Saturday as the store in which she works prepares for a potential onslaught of customers preparing for the storm.

Unfortunately for her (us), because of vacation schedules she had earlier agreed to work Sunday morning, too, and, of course, her regular schedule Monday.  That'll give her a couple of days of some dangerous travel, albeit for a very short distance.  The Old Gator Dude won't be happy waiting to learn of her safe arrival the various days.

So I can only suggest that all of you take necessary precautions as it does look like our area is in for a rough time late Saturday into early Monday morning.  I hope you have a safe weekend.

Gator