Well, West Palm Beach area got lucky. It stayed more east than projected by the local news (but about where NOAA put it). In Jupiter we had sustained winds of about 60-65 mph with gusts maybe up to 80 during the peak. It's a bad storm for sure, but this morning we only had some tree branches down in the front yard, and I expected that anyway. Rain was only about 1.5 inches, so not much more than a good spring shower here. Hell, we only had power flicker 3 times and never lost internet or cable.
Now comes the BS news reports because they don't have the death and destruction they were all secretly hoping for. For years after the 04 and 05 hurricanes, they kept announcing in June that this year is expected to be the worst season in history and reminded you to watch them 24/7 so they could tell you if anything was happening. After nothing of several years of that, they finally gave up. Now in our area, they are in the self-gratification, media masturbation they all do when there are no good news stories. Right now the top story in the news is that they are still reporting the news... Earlier they had 'breaking news' and it was just them browsing the sheriff's Facebook page showing posts with pictures of down tree branches. Facebook should NEVER be 'Breaking News'.
There was a lot of misinformation the media put out this storm that made the situation seem worse than it was. Little things like when the county officials say the are going to 'lock down the drawbridges at noon', the media was reporting that that meant if you weren't off the island by noon, you were stuck and going to die. When in reality, the county official right after that statement explained that it meant 'the bridges would be locking in the down position and not raised for boats to pass. There shouldn't be boats on the water at that point, the bridges can't take high winds in the up position, and they wanted to make sure road traffic could get across the bridge at anytime to evacuate if needed'. Two very different statements, and the media wants you to panic and believe that county officials are trying to kill citizens.
Good luck to anyone still in it's path. It's a serious storm and if it lands on you, it will be bad. Hopefully it will stay offshore for the entire coast and fizzles out when it runs into Nicole.
