Hurricane Nicole

 The day I posted about Hurricane Ian, meteorologist were warning about another storm coming our way. I was thinking there was no way we were going to get hit twice in one year. We are at the lowest risk part of the state so what are the odds? Well a couple days later they said this storm would definitely develop and was heading our way. At first they were saying it would just be a tropical storm but eventually they changed the forecast to landfall as a strong cat 1 hurricane. The track stayed really consistent the next few days and it kept the path just to our south. I think Nicole ended up passing about 40-45 miles south of us early Thursday morning.

I decided I was going to work through this thing since I work from home. The power didn't go out during Ian so as long as the power stayed on during Nicole I could work. The night Ian hit I was anxious all night about not having plywood to patch a window if it breaks. This time I wasn't going to wish I had plywood. I went to Home Depot and got a couple sheets of plywood, not to board up, but just to have ready in case a window broke. I also picked up some clips so I could just cut the plywood and push against the window without drilling. 

Wednesday night Hurricane Nicole hit. The wind wasn't nearly as bad as Ian. Thursday morning Clermont had the strongest winds in the area but they were only at something like 63 mph. With Ian I think the winds were 70mph with gust close to 100. The damage was a lot less than Ian with only one fence that we could see down from the backyard. Everyone that lost a fence during Ian had them replaced except for one house where they did a really half-assed job at repairing their fence and it blew back over. The water was higher behind our house than during Ian but after the rain stopped it drained within 30 minutes. 

The rain came in hard but the totals were far less than during Ian. With Ian it rained for 40 hours straight. With Nicole it only rained about 12-15ish hours. Nicole got sucked up by a cold front and came in fast. Ian was going 6-10 mph while it was in the Gulf, Nicole was crossing the state at 17mph.  We felt the effects of Ian for 3 days, with Nicole only 2 and the more extreme effects just a few hours.

Projected path just after Nicole made landfall as a Cat 1.There was definitely quite a difference between the two. Nicole brought in some impressive rain and some gusty wind but with Ian I was nervous thinking windows would break. Ian was pushing the limits of my comfort zone living in a house with cheap windows and no shutters. Once Nicole hit it never got bad enough where I thought we could lose a window.

The blue dot is us as Nicole is crossing the state

Early Thursday morning.

Just after the sun came up behind the house.

Natalie woke up to this.....

Most of my plants got moved into the garage. My cone ginger was not happy about being left out.

Polka-Dot Wasp Moth

A couple weeks later I went biking at the preserve. The water is normally about 8-10 feet in front of that bench. After Ian the water was just in front of the bench. It just keeps getting higher. 

After Ian I could still pass here by riding through the bushes on the right side. Not anymore. Had to go around to the main trail.

And the main trail was full of water as well. After Ian this one was dry, not anymore.

This is looking back at the area two pictures up but from the other side. After Ian the water stopped around that post. After Nicole it went from one puddle in that area to a T shape where the roads meet.