The Light Shines bright...

13 years ago tonight was the low light of my broadcasting career.   John Snell & I were the last on-air folks to be escorted out of Ch. 8 just after 9 PM as Katrina approached our coast.   We were taken to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s main office on the West Bank, a sturdy safe structure. I felt helpless & hopeless that we could no longer serve our viewers.  It really didn’t matter that we couldn’t broadcast any longer as power outages made it impossible to receive any station’s TV signal.  Ch. 8 though was the only station to go under water and our signal was dark for over 10 days.   It took many weeks to restore power and have people return to NOLA so our inability to broadcast was not missed by most.   Since then, many changes have been made to allow us to continue broadcasting IF another Katrina threatens.   Over those years, FOX 8 regained the trust of the viewers and is now the most watched station in this market.   I retired in 2016, but David Bernard has not missed a beat.  He knows NOLA from working at Ch. 4 for many years and his time in Miami gave him even more hurricane forecasting experience.  I am proud to maintain my association with David & FOX 8 if another major storm approaches us.   Knowledge + experience = trust.

 

NHC has increased the chances of development for the system coming off of Africa.  Most models turn whatever forms northward into the central Atlantic.  The wave moving through the Islands into the eastern Caribbean is dealing with strong wind shear and cannot organize until the shear weakens as the wave nears Florida.  The Euro still brings something into the Gulf for next week, but as of now, there is nothing there.  We remain in a late August wet pattern where the steering is sluggish and changes are subtle.   Storms were moving from the SE to the NW during the day, but I’ve noticed the few showers on radar tonight have almost no movement.   I can’t wait for October to get here where cold fronts become more frequent.  Unfortunately we still have the 30 days of September to endure.   Stay tuned!