On Pensacola Beach - Waiting for Hurricane(?) Karen with Jim Cantore

Me and TWC's Jim Cantore at Pensacola Beach.

Now I have been a fan of The Weather Channel's meteorologist, Jim Cantore, for many years. Jim is pretty much a fixture when it comes to tropical storms and hurricanes. He has an uncanny sense of where those dreaded hurricanes are going to make landfall. Some even dare to say that Jim Cantore is a magnet for hurricanes.

This morning at Pensacola Beach. Waiting for Karen.

Well, when I turned on The Weather Channel this morning, there was Jim Cantore reporting from Pensacola Beach. So how could I resist? I live just over the bridge from the beach, so I had to drive over there to meet Jim and to take some beach photos.

This morning at the east side of the Pensacola Beach pier.

I have to say that Jim was very gracious and even had one of his camera crew take a couple photos of us with my camera. (If you're reading this post Jim, thank you so very much.)




Storm clouds above the Pensacola Beach pier.

I handed Jim my card and told him that I'm a local author, I have a blog and I follow him on Twitter. Well, my card has the cover of my book, Outback Love. So Jim said, "Outback Love?" And I mentioned that I'm a romance writer. Jim responded with, "I could use some romance in my life." Couldn't we all?

Surfers this morning on Pensacola Beach.

I told Jim that it was great getting to meet him, but that if he was at Pensacola Beach it meant that Karen is probably heading our way. So meeting Jim Cantore is sort of a good and bad thing. Nice to meet him, but we really don't want a hurricane coming our way.

Awesome storm clouds over Pensacola Beach this morning.

Well, I walked the beach and snapped a bunch of pre-Karen photos. The surf was up and the sun was peeking through the clouds and sparkling on the water. The clouds were gorgeous, as always when a tropical storm or hurricane is in the Gulf.

A view of Pensacola Beach from beneath the pier.

Several surfers were out, but the waves were breaking in such a way that the rides were short. I talked to one of the surfers who said he hoped the waves would be better this afternoon.

The far west end of Pensacola Beach.

Overall, the storm clouds were awesome this morning. At the time of these photos, Tropical Storm Karen was approximately 270 miles SSW of  Pensacola Beach. The actual point of landfall is still unknown.

Seagulls waiting for Tropical Storm/Hurricane Karen.

In spite of the fact that it was really cool getting to meet Jim Cantore this morning, we Floridians would rather have Tropical Storm Karen fizzle out in the Gulf and never reach hurricane strength.

Jim, you're welcome to visit our beach any ol' time, just please don't bring a hurricane with you.

Pensacola Beach and Tropical Storm Debby

Tropical Storm Debby, Pensacola Beach, June 24th

Most of my posts have to do with books, but this one is all about Pensacola Beach and Tropical Storm Debby. For several days now we've been watching Debby forming in the Gulf of Mexico. Would the storm actually reach tropical storm force? Well, yesterday it finally became the named Tropical Storm Debby. Now we're all waiting to see if it becomes Hurricane Debby.

Like many others living along the Gulf Coast, my TV is tuned to The Weather Channel. Those spaghetti lines, or spider lines, depicting the possible path of Debby holds us enthrall.

It's a love/hate thing. Storms are exciting and awesome, but also destructive. So on the one hand we'd love to see the mighty power of a hurricane and yet we want to avoid all the bad, dangerous things that come with a storm of that magnitude.

I woke up this morning to a phone call from my mother, who lives in the Atlanta area of Georgia. She wanted to make sure I knew that The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore was at Pensacola Beach this morning. Well, I'd heard last night that Jim had arrived and was already reporting on the storm. For those in "the know" about bad weather, Jim Cantore gravitates to the bad stuff to report on the worst of the weather. So having Jim arrive on our beach, Pensacola Beach, with a tropical storm and possible hurricane heading our way, well, that's not a good sign.


Let me back up to yesterday. It was a sunny, hot, humid 90 degrees. At midnight it was still 90 degrees. When I went outside with my dogs, Shani and Dude, at close to midnight, the air was fragrant with the smell of salt spray and flowers. The air was beginning to stir and there was the prickly feel of an impending storm.

Watching Tropical Storm Debby from the Dock

Now flash forward to this morning. The sky was painted in various shades of gray depending on whether you gazed north, south, east or west. Clouds raced past at breakneck speed, some clouds heading NW and others SW. These are the feeder bands for Debby which is slowly building out in the Gulf.

After a late breakfast, my husband and I drove to the beach, only a couple miles from our house. Just a hop, skip and a jump over the bridge and we were there facing the building force of this Hurricane Season's first Gulf storm.

I must say the waves were awesome. Now by southern California standards, where I grew up and learned to surf, these waves are nothing. But considering Pensacola Beach rarely has waves more than a couple feet in height, these are awesome waves for this beach.

Now, my surfing days ended decades ago, but I still love watching the waves. There should have been surfers out there, but a Red Flag Warning was posted and no one, not even surfers, were allowed out there. I guess the lifeguards didn't want to be forced to make any rescues today.

There were a fair number of lookiloos out on the beach. Some, like me, ventured to the edge of the surf. Most stood way back and just watched. This being a Sunday and all, it was obvious that many locals left church and drove straight to the beach. Even for people who have lived here all their lives, and seen many a tropical storm and hurricane, seeing the beach under storm conditions is a big draw.

We looked for Jim Cantore, but didn't find him anywhere. I imagine he was taking a break when we were walking the beach. Too bad, because I would have liked to meet him. Maybe tomorrow if he's still here? On the other hand, if Jim stays at our beach then that may not be a good omen.

I took a few dozen photos of the beach. In person, the surf was choppy and awesome. Unfortunately, the pictures I took don't do it justice. My husband took some clips with his movie camera, so I'm hoping he got some good footage to post on youtube.



Tropical Storm Debby, west end of Pensacola Beach.

We'll probably venture back to the beach tomorrow to take some more pictures, assuming Debby increases in force and is still close by. She'll most likely be a hurricane by then. Like I said, I'm awed by the power of a hurricane, but don't really want it to make landfall anywhere. I'm sure we can use the rain all around the Gulf Coast, well, maybe not in Pensacola, but so far no rain for our part of the Florida Panhandle. 

Stormy greetings from Pensacola Beach.

In reality, it's too bad we can't send the tropical rains to Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico to put out their fires. But nature doesn't work that way. One part of our country burns while another part get deluged with rains and another part gets torn apart by winds. Go figure.

As I'm writing this, The Weather Channel just reported that the projected landfall is Apalachicola, Florida, to the east of us. Debby is supposedly only moving at 6 mph, so still a long way out.