From our friends at the City of Charlottesville:

The City of Charlottesville is asking all residents to begin preparing for a possible tropical storm later this week. As many are focusing on the Gulf Coast and the arrival of Hurricane Gustav, the City emphasizes that Charlottesville residents should not loose sight that a growing storm in the Caribbean, Tropical Storm Hanna, is forecasted to become a hurricane by week’s end and move up the East Coast. The current forecast scenario by the National Hurricane Center could put our area into a risk of flooding and other wind damage by the weekend.

“It is never too early to start preparing for any weather-related emergency,” said the City’s Director of Communications Ric Barrick. “Although Hanna’s arrival is still questionable for our area, there are several other storms brewing in the Atlantic that may pose a risk to the East Coast.”

More…The City also encourages residents to visit the City’s web site that houses important information for residents on emergency preparedness. September is National Preparedness Month and with Hurricane season is well under way. With other natural disaster threats throughout the year, the City, along with Albemarle County and the University, continue to work together to promote emergency preparedness in the entire Charlottesville area. Begun in 2006, the Charlottesville Area Emergency Preparedness Initiative encourages all area businesses and individuals to come up with emergency plans and kits even if they never need to use them. The City has also created a comprehensive web page that includes a checklist for compiling emergency kits, tips for families, businesses and neighborhoods, and important links to local, state and national sites for valuable information. Citizens can also sign up for E-Alerts, these are important announcements from the City that may precede emergency situations. In addition, the City has created a valuable hurricane tracking map with hurricane information and important numbers. That map is accessible on the emergency website, at City Hall or at local libraries. This site is accessible by visiting www.charlottesville.org/emergency.
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Wow, you would typically wake up on mornings like this and think “ah, yes what a beautiful day. We must have had a little sprinkle last night.”

The problem with this thought is that you are dead wrong. Last night we had one of the largest thunderstorms that I can remember in my recent Charlottesville history.

My roomate and I were both awakened at around 4:30AM with torrential downpours, strobe-like lightning and my own thunder.

Normally, I would take credit for these types of storms, but I typically don’t wake myself up. Were you awakened?

UPDATE:  Grab your ruby slippers and click like there’s no place like home….Charlottesville just announced a Tornado watch until 8PM tonight! 

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Be careful tonight. The city is already freakin’ about the upcoming storm.

If the weather produces ice as currently predicted, we would like citizens to limit travel if at all possible and clean ice and snow off their cars before traveling

Weather advisory from the government:

A WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH
LATE FRIDAY NIGHT.

LOW PRESSURE ACROSS THE GULF OF MEXICO WILL SPREAD SNOW ACROSS
THE MID ATLANTIC REGION TONIGHT. WARMER AIR ALOFT WILL MOVE FROM
SOUTH TO NORTH ACROSS THE REGION LATE TONIGHT. THIS WILL CAUSE
PRECIPITATION TO MIX WITH SLEET AND EVENTUALLY FREEZING RAIN
FRIDAY MORNING. FREEZING RAIN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY. THE
WINTRY MIX OF PRECIPITATION RETURNS FRIDAY NIGHT PRIOR TO ALL
PRECIPITATION ENDING.

THIS STORM COULD BE A HIGH IMPACT EVENT…WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR
SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW AND…OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS. LATER
FORECASTS WILL MORE SPECIFICALLY PIN DOWN PRECIPITATION TYPES…
TIMING… AND AMOUNTS.

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT
SNOW…SLEET…OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL.

Charlottesville press release after the break…

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