North Central Cuba is taking a serious beating

[malaise]

right now - Damn!!

[central scrutinizer]

1. I was there in February 2016.

Hope the wonderful people we met there are okay.

[Greybnk48]

2. We were there last April.

My thoughts are with them tonight.

[rzemanfl]

3. Why is the storm track and wind speed for Sunday and Monday on

https://www.ventusky.com/ so different from what the National Hurricane Center is reporting?

[KY_EnviroGuy]

7. Use different model.

In lower left area of your screen, change model to GFS. It's much closer to consensus.

[rzemanfl]

12. Thank you. n/t

[KY_EnviroGuy]

13. Oddly enough...

it appears the favored model is European, known as ECMWF, I think mainly because it established a good track record during this storm. You will notice that one is not available on Ventusky, but that other one is close.

For a list of most popular models, see: http://hurricanecity.com/models/models.cgi?page=models

I'm not a meteorologist but follow several of them on their twitter feeds during extreme weather events, as best as I can understand them. They have a lingo all their own. One gets the impression it's sort of a high-level professional contest to see whose model estimates the actual track the closest.

[rzemanfl]

15. I am right on the Florida coastline. Six feet six inches above sea level. We have been

here twenty years with some scares and downed limbs but no real damage. My house would survive the European model but probably not the GFS model. We are evacuating to a non-evacuation level location later today, it is just a short drive. It is going to be a difficult wait to see what happens.

[fierywoman]

4. I was there in May 1979 as a guest of the Cuban government ...

... I was playing in a Mexican Orchestra that was on a South American tour. Amazing people, the Cubans. Beautiful, passionate, funny.

[Warpy]

5. In previous hurricanes, Cuba has taken care of its people

by sending in plenty of buses to get them away from the area most likely to see damage.

Nothing they can do about the damage, but they have done a good job of keeping people safe.

[BigmanPigman]

6. They also have good medical and it is free!

My neighbor went there a few months ago and he said that the govt control of info is still pretty tight and the cell phones use is not what we have.

[LuvLoogie]

9. There may be no monetary charge, but it's not free.

Somebody had to put in the hours at medical school. Somebody had to teach the doctors. The doctors have to eat.

Whether it is through taxation or selling a government controlled commodity, things have a cost attached, value is added. Effort is made to extract raw materials. Man-hours and foot pounds are applied to ideas. Nothing of any value is free. There is always a cost.

Fields must be plowed, seeds must be planted, yield is only yield when it is busheled.

[BigmanPigman]

11. Very true.

[raven mad]

8. Any updates from Gitmo?

I hope our military is ready to help. Knowing sTrumpet, he might tell them they can't help.

[aggiesal]

10. It looks like it will take ...

24 hours to move through Cuba.

9/9/17 will be a harrowing date to remember in Cuba.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

14. A little info on Cuba...

I enjoy this web site periodically because it always has interesting stories about everyday people. Some info now on the hurricane response:

http://www.havanatimes.org/

Also, some good stuff on TeleSur:

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Restrengthened-Hurricane-Irma-Slams-Cubas-Coast-and-Causes-Damages-20170908-0017.html