Hurricane Jeanne hit us just after Ivan, which hit us just after Francis, which was after Charley, which missed us by just 100 miles.

The only two storms that had any major effect on the Tampa Bay area were Francis and Jeanne. Ivan passed by us on the way to the northern part of the Florida, causing minor flooding on its way up. Charley was very disconcerting--it was headed directly for us and then just a few hours before it was supposed to hit us, it made a turn into a bay about 100 miles south of us. We dodged a bullet...but that didn't last... no one dodged the hurricane bullet this season in Florida.

Frances and Jeanne were quite different. Jeanne was more powerful, but faster moving. Frances was just endless--two days of non-stop storm.

Note that all we ever received were tropical force winds--not hurricane winds (although we may have gusted intermittently up to about 70 miles per hour with Jeanne, which is getting close to hurricane territory). It's quite sobering to see the power of "just" tropical force winds. I hope to never see a hurricane down here.

Videos (don't bother if you don't have a high speed connection. Also, these are non-streaming videos, so you click...and then wait. Try right-clicking, then save to disk).

Some fun on our street. The camera was getting completely soaked, so was getting difficult to hold with the wind.

A view from my lanai. These videos from my lanai are always a bit dull. The reason is that our house sits west-facing. The storm bands are typically northerly or southerly, meaning they just whip right by us. It's good for us, because we don't get the frontal impact of the storm. It also means that the lanai is a relatively calm place to be, as the wind is going past you at a parallel. Homes that were north or south facing got hit harder, as they were perpendicular to the storm.

Videos (don't bother if you don't have a high speed connection. Also, these are non-streaming videos, so you click...and then wait. Try right-clicking, then save to disk).

Click here for an incredibly long, mind-numbingly boring video of the storm from my back porch. 90% of these storms is just the waiting and waiting and waiting. Is there an adverb for boredom mixed with tension?