How come when i got to the bahamas where a hurricane is raging the winds are clam with clearish skys? Surely this isnt the real weather.Im i doung something wrong or is it like this for everyone.

At last check San Salvador (Bahamas)was Missing. Nassau had some pretty intense winds, but it was only 40G65 as of 800am ESTThis is per the ADDS page of the FAA.Tim

What happens is the real-world weather stations are often not reporting properly, especially when the worst of the storm rolls through.

Yeah! Down on the islands, they probably have some poor sucker standing outside with a handheld annometer and a laboratory glass tube to measure rainfall amounts.If you want to simulate the hurricane, listen to the local news reports and input the data manually.I let you know later how we fare in Orlando, FL. I am not looking foreward to Frances, especially since Charlie's cleanup is only about 30% complete.W. Sieffert

Although im in the UK now i was in charlotte country when charley hit, the damage was catastrophic.

We have a hotel close to Main Gate booked for Sunday 12 Sep....with further bookings in Fort Lauderdale for a couple of nights followed by a week and a half in Madeira Beach. I'm wondering if I'm going to have to cancel everything. We're supposed to leave next Friday evening and drive I-75 and it looks like we'll be into the remnants of the storm all the way.I kind of feel guilty even discussing this, but a lot of it was pre-paid. On the other hand, the last thing Florida needs right now is reduced tourism....I'm in a real quandry; although there's nothing that can be determined for certain until Frances has spun out and the damage assessed.

"...they probably have some poor sucker standing outside with a handheld annometer and a laboratory glass tube to measure rainfall amounts."And it's a good bet that whatever comm system they gave him is no longer working. :-) Greg