So with the current spate of hurricanes I got to thinking when the “season” as such ends - now mind you that is much like the time I used to work on beach as a lifeguard and people would ask “what time will the jelly fish come in?” …still being relatively new to these parts of the world I haven’t in the past paid to much attention to the so called season - other than of course though their tragic affect on people’s lives. My somewhat limited research shows the season to officially end on November 30th…give or take a few days. You get where I’m going with this - considering I have signed up for Panama City Beach…
Chances are that Rita will be the last hurricane of the season in the Gulf region. If there is one more it will be within the next two weeks.
I sure as hell hope you are right with that prediction
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As an avid Scuba Diver, I can say that the jellyfish usually hang out in the gulfstream, now keep in mind that the gulfstream is like a river in the ocean, it constantly moves east and west and shifts everyday. So with east winds or a east storm on the east coast, it generally pushes the jellyfish (portuguese man-o-war) out of the gulf stream and towards the beaches. So with all the activity weve been having, it wouldnt be smart to do an ocean swim on the south east coast right now. The things that eat jelly fish are turtles and dolphins but they usually hang out in the gulfstream as well.
As for Panama City, I dont have a clue, all I can say is that I think its fairly sandy and shallow out there. I dont know what the currents are, if there are any?
Good answer HD - the other regular question was what time is the shark attack today?
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The northern Gulf Coast usually doesn’t see tropical systems past mid-October, but then nothing about this hurricane season has been typical, and Gulf water temperatures are running pretty high for this time of year.
So you can never rule out tropical systems entirely, but I’d say November storms are very unlikely to affect the northern Gulf Coast.
I’ve heard the “official” season actually runs through November 30…but as Jill says, it’s pretty unlikely there will be much of that sort of activity past the next few weeks.
Or so we all hope, anyway.
…mmmmmmmm the 19th named storm of the season - Tammy…mmmmm…what date again is the last hurricane of the season going to hit?
I am not as worried about the hurricanes as much as the red tide right now. Dead fish everywhere around here in SW Florida. I talked to a friend in PCB and he mentioned that the red tide is bad there right now. I could not imagine doing an hour swim in red tide and then spend the rest of the day on the bike and run smelling and tasting the residue on your body. Absolutely disgusting.
What time are the California wild fires going to start? How about the mud slides, when will they be here? Oh…and I’m doing a race in the midwest…when will all the tornados start?
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Paul - midwest??
Don;t worry about tornados - it’s the ice storms and snow
no showers in T1? Guess I should have done the on the previous post as well…oh well.
It would take more than the typical hose type shower that is sometimes available in a triathlon to get the red tide smell off. Plus you would need to brush your teeth before you start to rehydrate and replinish or else you will be swallowing alot of bacteria. We are talking about some really nasty stuff out there right now. Hopefully it will change in the next 30 days 21 hours and 25 minutes.
Mmmmm, can’t wait for that!
And it’s now 30 days, 17 hours, 14 minutes, by the way…
Not sure about the huricane threat. However, I do know that big surf from a strong swell from the south was a problem a few days before IMFL last year, to the point that there was some talk of changes for the race. However, by race morning the water on the Gulf was like glass for the race start. So it can seem to change quickly.
Fleck
The last two years at Ironman Florida, we have had “red” flags on Wed and Thursday of race week - Yellow on Firday and Green on race day. You are not allowed to swim on “red flag” days. Z
Hurricanes are overrated
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It would take more than the typical hose type shower that is sometimes available in a triathlon to get the red tide smell off. Plus you would need to brush your teeth before you start to rehydrate and replinish or else you will be swallowing alot of bacteria. We are talking about some really nasty stuff out there right now. Hopefully it will change in the next 30 days 21 hours and 25 minutes.
Actually the danger is in the Red Tide is not bacteria but the toxins released by the algae when consumed by shellfish, etc. Swimming in the stuff (we’re talking really shallow, i.e. less than 1meter bays) is not recommended but not especially dangerous. Consuming and ingesting shellfish which have consumed the toxins and retain it in large concentrations is.
“You are not allowed to swim on ‘red flag’ days.”
I’ve done sprints in Panama City where they went ahead with the swim despite the red flag. I suspect the same would apply to IMFL, unless the race director decided the conditions were too dangerous even for IM-level swimmers. Since I’ll already be struggling to make the swim cutoff, I really, really, really, really hope it doesn’t come down to that. 
I’ve done sprints in Panama City where they went ahead with the swim despite the red flag.
My brother and I did the same thing a few years ago on the sprints there. The swells were 15-20 feet, high enough that you swam until you reached the top, tried to figure out where the buoy was…then tried to swim in that direction. I think 1/3 of the swimmers gave up. Last year’s surf the day or two before IMFL was nothing compared to the red flag conditions that day.