We have been carefully watching the National Weather Service website this week, looking for any signs of development of a low pressure system out over the Atlantic. Tonight, it became official, the system now has a name. It looks like (at least in some form) we are going to meet Gabrielle this weekend.

We had fallen asleep early tonight, when the latest from the hurricane hunter aircraft had, "NOT YET IDENTIFIED A WELL-DEFINED CLOSED SURFACE CIRCULATION". By 11:00 PM, though, they finally decided to give her a name, "BASED ON THE LARGE RADIUS OF MAXIMUM WINDS...THE CONVECTIVE STRUCTURE...AND THE PROXIMITY OF AN UPPER-LEVEL LOW TO THE WEST-SOUTHWEST..."

We were both up around midnight, when I checked the computer and noticed that a moniker had been assigned. Along with that designation comes a plethora of information (wind speed probabilities, warning cones, public advisories and lengthy discussions). Originally, I was determined to go back to sleep and check out all of this additional information in the morning, but sleep would not come. I was awake, tossing and turning. May as well spend some quality time with the computer.

Sheryl is sleeping soundly, thank goodness. When morning comes, we will be busy. With possibilities of 40-50 knot winds, chores such as taking down the headsail and doubling up dock lines (with plenty of chafe gear) are going to be high on our list of priorities. As of 2:00 AM EDT (Sep-08), Gabrielle is about 365 miles southeast of Cape Lookout, moving west-northwest at about 10 mph. That means we need to be ready for whatever she is going to throw at us soon. Very soon.

The good news in the latest advisory is that she remains poorly organized and "THERE ARE CURRENTLY MANY NEGATIVE FACTORS INVOLVED IN THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF GABRIELLE." What I hope this means is that we will not find ourselves bracing for 'Hurricane Gabrielle' before this is over.

However, 'tis the season for more of this type of activity. Every few days a tropical wave is sent westward from Africa. We watch each one and wonder if and how it will affect us. For example, the wave labeled '1' in the chart below is waiting in the wake of Gabriell...



...Oh well, I guess we will just have to take it one day at a time. Stay tuned for updates, dear Reader (and keep your fingers crossed for us).