Category
4 Hurricane Charley was likely one of
the top watched weather events on the
internet -- ever. Certain weather behemoths
such as the Tropical
Prediction Center, Weather
Underground, and Intellicast
were nearly brought to a standstill
at the height of Charley on Friday.
The spread of Broadband has changed
the way the average person can interact
with events that may be several thousand
miles away. The rapid intensification
of Charley on Friday morning drew an
influx of interest during his final
hours at sea. Floridians chuckle at
a category 2 hurricane, but the whole
country gasps at a Category 4 bearing
down on towns and lives.
I had already
been watching the storm for several
days along with my 'weather weenie'
cohorts at various geek gathering places,
we all concluded that this storm could
be the one.
It
quickly came to my attention that the
tools to track a Hurricane had become
much more numerous in the past year.
It was quite amazing just how many services
are now a click away. The availability
of radar, satellite, high-resolution
computer model imagery, analysis, charts,
maps, etc. (all for free) has been steadily
increasing over the past several years
and continues to do so today. The ease
of accessing each type of product has
expanded ten-fold and now allows anyone
with a lot of patience and a bit of
know-how to be an armchair meteorologist!
Just remember, don't shoot the messenger...
Charley
will go down in history as a storm of
storms. Grandchildren 60 years from
now will hear the tales of the day Charley
ravaged Punta Gorda. Captiva Island
will never look the same. Lives will
be changed forever.
Charley
will also go down in history as the
first significant web cast hurricane.
Thanks
to the quickly advancing realm of Broadband
internet, web surfers from around the
country were able to listen to broadcasts
about and watch hurricane Charley from
the view of a south Floridian's ears
and eyes. Thanks to streaming data feeds,
now found at several news outlets, viewers
can watch video or hear audio of hurricane-affected
regions. The fact that Charley was bearing
down on a highly populated region aided
in the availability of multi-media internet
coverage during the storms duration.
In
the day leading up to the storm I was
listening intently to evacuation orders,
hurricane experts, and local residents
preparing for the storm on 970
WFLA : Tampa. Since Charley was
initially believed to be on a path for
Tampa Bay, the news coverage was continuous
through the night and the information
I obtained made me feel as if I understood
the plight of the evacuees better. Everyone
was expecting a rough Friday, and I
was prepared to hear the worst out of
South Florida come day's end.
On
Friday, August 13, Charley strengthened
extraordinarily quickly just off the
Florida west coast. As he became better
organized, he took an early hook to
the right and slammed into the area
surrounding Punta Gorda only after riding
up the coastline for 30+ miles. Tampa
was spared, but many other areas to
the south were not. People all across
the country watched firsthand reports
from south Florida through several news
outlets that streamed video during the
event. WTSP
: Tampa Bay had great coverage of
the event and continually streams breaking
news to internet browsers. MyWeatherguide,
a recent breakout weather site, has
begun to implement the idea of selective
video feeds. These feeds will allow
users to watch breaking weather events,
wherever they occur.
The
real explosion of information has come
in the few days after Charley. One Local
news media outlet (NBC) from south Florida
has uploaded detailed aerial video of
several of the hardest hit areas; including
Captiva, Punta Gorda, and Acordia (Currently
Viewed : Here).
Newspapers, like the south Florida Herald
Tribune, have created several high-quality
picture galleries that have been chronicling
the affect of Charley in the region
since landfall on Friday. Here is a
sampling from Charlotte County - August
12 : August
13 : August
14 : August
15.
Newer
videos are also now coming out from
storm chasers who made it to the eye
wall of Charley in order to capture
video of the storms core. The ways to
watch the weather are becoming more
and more numerous. This is large part
due to those who are interested in showing
the world what they love, online. The
future will likely bring us all closer
to the center of nature's fury, no matter
where we live. Thanks to the ever-expanding
capabilities of the internet, a front-row
severe-weather seat will always be available
at the click of a mouse.
Video
: Eye wall of Hurricane Charley - UltimateChase.Com
: 1
Video : Eye wall of Hurricane Charley
- SevereStorms.Com :
1
Video : Eye wall of Hurricane
Charley - LightningBoy.Com
:
1 , 2
Hurricane Charley Movie -
HurricaneTrack.Com - Part
1
http://www.bocabeacon.com/gallery/index.htm
http://www.weathervine.com/hurricanes/charley/
Click
Here to View My Initial Analysis
of Hurricane Charley
Click
Here to View Radar/Satellite Images
of Charley
