Isabel

[GaryM]

Snopes says it's a real picture, just not a hurricane. The meteorologists they checked with say it a picture of "shelf clouds".

More here: http://www.snopes.com/photos/isabel.asp

 

[jeffghs]

Good call Gary. Like I previously said, any seas near a hurricane are pretty turbulent although they do seem to calm fairly quickly after the storm passes. I sailed away from some, and into some and sat at a pier on the ship through 2 storms. The latter of these was certainly the worst. We really got beat up sitting at the pier.

 

[DK_Farms]

This picture has floated around the internet for a couple years, especially down here in hurricane country. It's a real picture, but not of the leading edge of a hurricane. Here is an explanation from our local TV meterologist:

It's a fake. It's a nice thunderstorm though with some rotation likely aloft and
a shelf cloud spreading out from the main convective complex. The dead giveaway
are the seas...way too calm ahead of our supposed tropical system.

Unfortunately, I've been forwarded the same picture a number of times as well.
The internet can be a very mis-informing place too!

Thanks for taking the time to write.

Best Regards,

Rob Perillo
TV 10

 

[Boondox]

My first thought when I saw this was HOLY COW! But having spent a number of years on warships my next thought was how odd that the sea was so calm...

I remember being on the mighty USS Callaghan, a very heavily armed Ayatollah-class destroyer. Thought we were the baddest thing on the seven seas...till the day we skirted a storm that sent blue water crashing against the bridge! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

First that sickening weightless lunge as the bow seemed to drop forever, then the shuddering feeling as the bow hit the trough and clawed its way up the next swell and the upswing increased the weight of my body by a factor of ten, then blue water coming up over the bullnose, past the missile launcher, still climbing...and then crashing against the windshield with a roar like Heck's Fury while the entire ship shook violently and the bow began to drop again!!!

Gawd, I'm getting sick just thinking of it!

Pete

 

[jeffghs]

Speaking of seasick.
I was the corpsman on board, and it was always fun trying to start an IV on someone who was seasick in the midst of 30-40 ft seas. I was on a 180 ft buoy tender (USCGC Sweetgum) had a great time on there. Cleanup after those storms was not so fun, but it was a job that had to be done.

 

[Boondox]

Wow, Jeff, small world! I was a corpsman also! Started with the Marines, then went on to the fleet: submarine, cruiser, destroyer, and finally a rickety old minesweeper. The MSO was 185 feet long with a shallow draft and round bottom, so I can relate to your service aboard Sweetgum!

By the way, that ship was so unreliable, and operated close offshore, that many times the Coasties out of Coos Bay OR and Port Washington WA either towed us out of harms way or made emergency runs to Radio Shack for the critical vacuum tubes that we still used...and this was the mid-80s! We used to catch fire with annoying regularity.

Between being shot at with the Marines, and losing so many meals on that tub, I decided to seek a saner way of life and got out! /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Pete

 

[jeffghs]

Pete,
It really is a small world. I had some great times on the ships, but I can safely say I am glad I am not there now. It's good to hear someone surviving and moving on to a better life (at least a little safer if nothing else). It looks like you have a nice place up there in Vermont. I am just waiting my turn, but I have 7 years, 1 month, and 2 days (not that I am counting) before retirement from the Coast Guard. I've got my land waiting for me up in Virginia, and we have our horses now, so someday it will all come together.

Jeff