Katrina

Once again Florida Cracker is live blogging a hurricane. Her most recent update as Katrina begins to move in is here.

Pam, who is on hiatus, comes back long enough to let us know that her favorite neighbor is outside, running around in the rain, cutting his grass. A possible Darwin Award nominee?

Charles (who apparently never sleeps) at Eye of the Storm is blogging his updates on the storm's progress from a "secure location": Since his laptop is acting up, he's moved over to his alternate site.

Boudicca talks about the current local "conditions" and has a special message for Katrina here.

Val at Babalu has his webcam going and discusses preparations he and his family have made and are making.

At Hog On Ice, Steve answers a question he received: Why Floridians don't prepare better for hurricanes.

My local report (Northeast Florida) comes from being outside most of the day and looking out the window just now: It's been sunny and hot with occasional clouds and showers. We just had what I'd refer to as about 10 minutes of rain and light wind. I'm sure we'll have more.

Some of this might sound light hearted. It's really not. We take this stuff seriously. Then again, as Florida Cracker pointed out we're here. The talking heads you're listening to or watching aren't.

Yesterday I watched a "talking head" breathlessly comparing the similarities between Katrina and Andrew. What a load of crap.

Andrew was a Cape Verde storm, one that started off a specific area of the coast of Africa. It slowly crossed the Atlantic gathering strength and arrived as a Cat 5.

Katrina, by comparison, is a hiccup that formed right off South Florida's coast, and was a tropical storm until earlier today. The amount of rain it leaves is going to be a problem because of how slowly the system is moving. But this isn't the first time Floridians have been through something like this.

That doesn't mean Katrina isn't going to cause major problems elsewhere in Florida, especially after it crosses into the Gulf of Mexico and has time to slowly strengthen before hitting . . .

. . . the Panhandle, of course.