Aleria's Adventures

  Remnants of extratropical Hurricane Sam have arrived over Ireland causing unusual weather for several days. It started with rain this morning, which by 11:00 am had turned into a sustained downpour. Definitely tropical in nature. Around 1:30, suddenly all the windows in the house fogged up -- from the outside! That meant that tropical air had arrived and it was colder inside than outside. Sure enough, the temps increased significantly and the humidity went through the roof. Tropical Ireland. We'll get lots more rain tomorrow and Friday and they are saying we'll potentially top it off with thunderstorms as the high pressure nudges Sam into Iceland. At least we aren't to get the full punch of a Category 4 storm, which it was as it churned in the Atlantic.  Alex, with crew Cormac and Louise, are to deliver Aleria to Kilrush over the weekend, leaving Friday evening to anchor at Clare Island. Then Saturday motoring to Kilronan and Sunday on to Kilrush, possibly hauling out on

Zeta making landfall on the Yucatan peninsula As post-tropical cyclone Epsilon heads toward Iceland and we get socked with abysmal weather -- heavy rain, hail, sleet, lightning and thunder, gale-force winds and 10-metre waves -- while the Yucatan gets hammered by Zeta, the 27th named storm of one of the busiest Atlantic hurricane seasons on record, I thought it would be good to examine the season so far, even though it doesn't end until November 30. Projected path of Zeta after the second landfall Zeta made first landfall late Monday just north of the ancient Mayan city of Tulum with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph just 20 days after Delta, a category 4 hurricane, hit them in October. It's the third named storm in one month to make landfall in Quintana Roo!  Zeta made landfall again in Louisiana as a category 2 hurricane which would make it the 5th named storm to hit that coast this year.  It’s the 11th hurricane of the season. An average season has six hurricanes and 12 name