Jim Dalrymple.com

Remembrance Day is the one day that we should reflect on all of the people that fought and continue to fight for our freedom and our country.

From what we can tell Noel was pretty good to Halifax last night. The winds were really bad between 2-4 am, but there doesn’t seem to be any major damage at all.

Some areas of the province lost power, which affected tens of thousands. There was also some localized flooding in those same areas.

The eye of the storm tracked about 75km West of us, so I guess we were lucky.

1:55 am

Okay, it’s bad out there now. I just went out with the dog and the wind nearly blew me over. Seriously, it’s strong.

10:30 pm

It’s calming down again. Rain has pretty much stopped—the wind is still high, but certainly not as high as they said it would be by now.

8:55 pm

Lots of lightning and the rain is picking up again.

8:25 pm

The wind has really picked up, but not that strong.

6:35 pm

Lunenberg, a town on the South Shore, has lost two grids of power. No idea how many people that affects. The storm hasn’t even hit yet—not a good sign.

6:30 pm

Noel is off the coast and has sustained winds of 90km an hour. They said winds could hit 150km later tonight.

6:25 pm

The news just came on and said Noel is no longer a hurricane. However, we are going to have hurricane force winds and rain consistent with what we would see in a hurricane.

What the fuck does that mean? Jesus, I hate stupid people.

6:00 pm

It’s bizarre—we talked to our niece this afternoon and she works in one of the local malls; they are not closing. The mayor is telling people to stay home, but I guess if you want to go out, you can always go shopping.

5:45 pm

The storm started a couple of hours ago and it was pouring really hard. Then the winds picked up, so we thought things were starting early.

Now things have calmed right down. The winds have dropped (relative to what it was, it’s still windy) and the rain is half of what it was.

Monique is making us some supper as we finish up the last of the preparations.

They say it should hit between 7-9 pm now. I’m hoping it just blows on by.

The remnants of Hurricane Noel are heading straight for Nova Scotia. Weather forecasters predict the storm will hit Halifax around 7:00 pm tonight with all its fury.

The problem is nobody seems to know just how furious it will be by the time it gets here. They said it’s not going to be a hurricane anymore—which is a good thing, but they just don’t know.

The mayor and Atlantic Canada Hurricane Weather Tracking Service has warned residents to be prepared. Get extra water, canned food, backup generators and whatever other nonperishable items you can think of.

It’s obvious they expect us to be without power for a little bit at the very least. The Red Cross said to be prepared for 72 hours, but I can’t see that happening. Although during the last Hurricane we had here some people were without power for a week or more.

So far Noel killed 124 people during its trek through the Caribbean.

Monique and I are doing what we can to be ready.

Update: The Weather Channel just said we should be prepared for Hurricane force winds and 100 mm of rain. Oh, and the storm hits during high tide—that’s just great.