Tropical Storm Ian
Posted on Sep 23rd
9/24 - 1:55 PM Things are still looking good for Gainesville. As of today's 11:00 AM advisory -by Thursday there was a 48% chance we would see low level storm winds, 17% we would see moderate storm and 8% we would see hurricane level. Continue to monitor and prepare. If you are not familiar with GRU's Storm Central phone and web centers, please check them out in the Local Utility links at the bottom of the Home page. If we do lose power, the more people who report from a specific area, the higher we will be on the priority. If your phone is charged you should still be able to access the website or make calls. GRU Storm Central
9/23 - 11:48 PM When I started this article, the storm was still not named, but Tropical Depression #9 is now officially Tropical Storm Ian. It is too early to get concerned, but it is the RIGHT TIME to prepare. I will update this news article as appropriate. You can click here to send me an email if you have new or different information and I'll check it out. A few solid (reliable, not scare tactics) sources are below. As of now, the earliest project arrival of tropical storm winds is Tuesday night IF it stays on current track. NOAA/NHC soonest wind arrival projections The next NHC/NOAA update will be at 11:00 AM.
This link is a plain English briefing that the Jacksonville NOAA station puts out on a regular basis and includes Alachua County. The last two pages of this one have the current info on TS Ian. https://www.weather.gov/media/jax/briefings/nws-jax-briefing.pdf There is a timestamp at the bottom of the slide so you can see the recency of the update.
This is the official hurricane prep info from NOAA. https://www.noaa.gov/hurricane-prep
Historically, the biggest impact in our area is loss of power, so make sure to plan ahead for that. This includes things like medication or items that must be kept cold as well as communication devices that need to be recharged. Specifically in Rock Creek, we also have tree "issues" (which are the primary cause of power loss) so check your yards and trees now for areas of risk.