Today, after a media frenzy that even led some to board up, Ernesto is passing through the Florida peninsula leaving a good amount of rain but nothing comparable to what they told us to expect.

A few weekends ago we experienced some pretty nasty weather in Central Florida. I had a chance to shoot this video of it: notice the nasty rain, the thunders/lightings and the wind… and this was not even a tropical storm.

Ernesto (in Orlando, at least) was nothing compared to the video: the palm trees barely moved and it felt like another typical (though long) Florida afternoon shower.

(if you can’t see this video, visit this page)

Mientras el Huracan John azota las costas de Mexico, Ernesto “no spik inglish”. La Tormenta Tropical perdio fuerza luego de tocar tierra y ahora es Depresion Tropical. Menos mal… no me quejo.

Lo “interesante” es ver el nivel de paranoia que se ha generado, resultado de la combinacion de la reaccion del gobierno (creo que el tema de Katrina esta muy fresco en esta administracion) y los medios de comunicacion asustando a la gente. El Weather Channel, la verdad es que parece otro CNN ultimamente, pero solo hablando de clima. Donde vamos a parar?

So, don’t let the menacing images make you afraid… It’s “JUST” a tropical storm. Granted that it’s pretty massive (remember Frances?). So the worst danger is that of flooding. You are not going to be dragged by the winds of this one, but DON’T DRIVE: your car could get stuck where you least imagine.

A little while ago, we learned that Full Sail will be closing tomorrow too. It’s probably best that way. Pretty much all schools in the area will be closing too. Also (I know, it’s sad for space fans), as the outer bands of the tropical storm hit South Florida, good ole Space Shuttle Atlantis was hunkering down, so we won’t be seeing it fly for a bit.

In the meantime, the most useful resource for being informed during our lovely bad Florida Weather continues to be the National Hurricane Center. Along with it, there’s a couple of “amateur” sites that are worth checking out:
-The discussions in Storm2K.org are pretty active.
-Central Florida Hurricane Center tends to be pretty useful, with posts mostly coming from weather hobbyists.
-Then, there’s the local News Sites for Central Florida: WFTV and WESH.

As a last resource, shelters are a good option during dangerous weather. Stay tuned to local media outlets and the Orange County web site for more details about open shelters.

Alberto, the first named storm of the season, is close to turning into a hurricane. How’s that for a hurricane season, huh?

Here’s an image of the dude:

It is projected to hit land in the next 48 hours, somewhere along the west coast of Florida.