Got in about 45 mintues ago. Had a phone call from Wendy worried, she is
in Washington D.C. Said she is going over the Belize Embassy where she
can get a computer.
Silvia and i left our area of South Florida in Dade County yesterday
aftrernoon about 2 p.m. on Saturday. The weather had cleared up. We
splurged at the Chinese Restaurant and then down to the sailboat, where
we spent Saturday night packed out in the Bay. Nice night. Did some
swimming and sleeping and reading of books. Communing with nature thingy.
When we left Hurricane Keith was a tropical storm, not even a hurricane
and heading for the Yuctan Channel. Imagine the surprise 45 minutes ago
when we got in the house, with a call from Wendy in Washington worried.
It's taking me that long to run the satellite photorgraphs. We have
excellent reswources on the Weather section of the Belize Electronic
Resource and Development Library. Just click and go. Some are better
than others.
The eye was just off the reef north of San Pedro Town, but the eye of
the Hurricane including the diameter and a bit of wobble could indeed
wobble and pass over Caye Caulker as well, by mid afternoon Sunday. It
hadn't hit yet by 10:15 a.m. Sunday. But both San Pedro and Caye Caulker
are in the front of the storm eye. The wind reconnaiscance said Keith is
a Category 3 Hurricane with winds at 135 mph. What a change from storm
to Category 3 in 18 hours?
I tried phoning Diane or Tina, but the phone rings and no answer. I
hope they and kids are in the school building. They are currently and
probably since 4 a.m. this morning in the intense winds of the Eye Wall,
which can also spawn tornadoes. The winds would have varied from the
north to Northwest. The beach at last report on Saturday was half gone
in front of Tina and Diane's house. I expect the back of the island will
get the worst damage and tide. The west side. The shallower area of the
bay might mitigate the tidal wave somewhat. Depending on Caye Caulker
whether the eye of the hurricane Keith wobbles north or south. If it
moves north, there will be mostly wind damage. I do not expect them from
the satellite photos to get out of this eye wall fierce winds for another
12 hours at current rate of speed. This will probably be in the dark
tonight about 10 p.m. Today, wherever they all are, it is time to hunker
down. I suspect phone lines are down on both San Pedro and Caye Caulker.
They are getting their lickings on this one.
Hurricane Joyce might even give the Cayes a double whammy after Keith.
Evacuation is impossible in circumstances like this. Not enough
warning. The intensification from storm to Category 3 was too fast and
the closeness to the offshore Cayes was giving north and northwesterly
winds which means violent wave action on the inner see of Belize to the
west of the islands. Definitely not a smart thing to go out there in a boat.
No matter what happens, it should not be as bad as Hattie. Because the
Eye of the Hurricane is going to go over or to the north of San Pedro and
Caye Caulker. If it is to the north, the winds and tidal surge will be
at the back of the islands and not from the easterly sea side.
That was the latest.
My home phone is 1 305 685 9752
The Electronic Library and WEATHER satellie resources are at
http://belize/BzLibrary, click on the WEATHER section. Excellent photos.
AmbergrisCaye.com 
