We just cancelled our reservation at Anastasia. Have been looking forward to going there for a while...but not with a Tropical Storm Warning.
I'm a Pilot by trade...and I wouldn't fly passengers through a thunderstorm. I use the same thought process when I'm in a boat or an RV. I deviate! So, we're deviating from Anastasia --- and finding another park with better weather.
Sure it might not be a big deal on paper...but any Wind Event, Heavy Rain with Thunderstorms...which I believe a Tropical Storm/Depression would qualify...can cause tree limbs to break and damage your camper, they can spawn tornados... for us --- it's a reason to hookup and leave. Even if it just turns out to be crappy weather...what's the fun in staying stuck indoors? We like to cook outside, ride bikes, go on hike with the pups...
We are a bit miffed that Reserve America charges a cancellation fee... UNLESS the park is CLOSED (ie THEY turn YOU away...) due to a Hurricane. It's idiotic.
We went thru this at Hillborough River last year. The worst line of thunderstorms I've seen on Radar in a long time where headed our way. Before it even got to us...there were power outages. So, we beat feet. I wasn't going to sit in a camper hoping that pine trees wouldn't come crashing thru the roof while we sit inside a HOT camper with no air conditioning (power out)...and it raining cats and dogs. Six inches of standing water in our campsite. Nope --- we're not likely to just "ride it out" and hope for the best. There were multiple tornados kicked off by that event.
Be safe...and like any good Captain knows... Avoidance, if at all possible, is the smartest and safest way to travel.
A NOAH WX ALERT RADIO is a good investment for campers. Especially POPUP campers hehe...
Mine is hard wired into the 12VDC system and is always on.
My Posts are IMHO based on my experiences - PM me Roy and Carolyn
RETIRED DOAF/DON/DOD/CONTR RADIO TECH (42yrs)
K9PHT (Since 1957) 146.52M
2010 F150, 5.4,3:73 Gears,SCab
2008 Starcraft 14RT EU2000i GEN
2005 Flagstaff 8528RESS
POPUP PHOTOs-Pg52-Pg56
Veebyes wrote: I would not sweat Beryl much. Wind gusts of 45 is no big deal. It may be a rain maker. Let the tenters have fun. Button up the RV & listen to the rain upon your roof. Very relaxing.
Accuweather says that wind gusts will be 85 MPH at 8:00 this evening. I won't be sticking around to see what happens.
I don't put a whole lot of faith into the accuracy of secondary forcasters like Accuweather though they do usually have a nicer presentation of graphics. When dealing with hurricanes I gave up on the breathless dramatic Weather Channel a long time ago. There is just so much of fools standing on windswept beaches one can take.
My source of choice for accurate info is the horses mouth, http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ That is where the rest of them get theirs too. It takes some wading through but more detailed info is there.
Boat: 32' 1996 Albin 32+2, single Cummins 315hp
40+ night per year overnighter
I could have strangled whoever decided that an alarm was needed for a Tropical Storm watch- at 1:30 am nearly 2 days before projected landfall.
If you lived on a sailboat with a aux. motor hull speed of 6kts, you might want 2 days of warning so that you can get out of the projected path. We can hitch up an RV an go 55kt...so yeah...2 days before landfall might be a little much. But they have to warn everyone...not just fast movers. A lot of those liveaboard Sailors cannot just pickup and OUTRUN the storm. They have to get a pretty good head start.
I agree with the above comments that you can't trust the predictions of the weather sites and newscasts. Having lived in South Florida since 1969 and being very interested in the subject, I have a great feel for tropical storms and the impact they might have. I wasn't worried at all about property damage on my RV. I was just trying to optimize my Memorial day weekend with the kids.
As it was, I decided to pull up my stakes and head to Fort Wilderness for the last day of my trip -- not out of fear, but rather to spend a more enjoyable time with better weather. (we had zero rain in Orlando)
I was mostly concerned about the tent campers because a storm like this can be much more miserable for them. It's one thing to be cooped up in an RV during a storm, it's quite another to be stuck in a small tent when you can't go to the bathroom or even stand up straight in most of them. Then there is the issue of flooding and putting away a wet tent in the rain and you can see how awful the situation could be.
I also agree that a weather alarm at 1:30 am nearly 2 days before a storm would be undesirable to most of us. I don't own a weather radio, relying instead on NOAA's site.
I too was at Anastasia this weekend and ended up being the last ones out...we turned off the lights. On Sunday they notified us as we were returning from sight seeing that the park was having a mandatory evacuation. We got out, headed west(avoided all bridges) and ended up in Valdosta Ga for a couple of nights. By the way, at the time of the evacuation, the Storm Surge had already moved the water level just short of the road....our sight was just on the other side of this spot in the trees, and the wind gusts were forcasted at 70+ MPH. Definitely NO Bridges. It was an adventure.
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