Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Today Marks The End Of Hurricane Season

Katrina_8-29-2005_1215Z
Hurricane Katrina 8-29-2005 at 1215Z. Photo courtesy of NOAA.

Today officially ends the six month long hurricane season. And quite a season it has been.

With a record number of named storms at 26 and 13 hurricanes, this hurricane season has been a costly one.

There have been seven major hurricanes this season, and of those hurricanes Katrina was the costliest, with reconstruction cost estimated to be around 200 billion dollars.

I'm sure no one in Pensacola Beach will forget what damage Hurricane Dennis did to the area when it made landfall on July 10, 2005. (For those interested, the complete history of Dennis can be found at the excellent Wikipedia site).

Some fear next hurricane season could be just as bad as the 2005
season was. Seems these things run in cycles. Let's hope the cycle has finally come to an end.

Friday, November 25, 2005

Thanksgiving: Just Another Day At The Beach

Pensacola Beach June 2004
Note: Looking West towards Ft. Pickens area 6/20/2004. Photo by Blogler.

Would you go to the beach on Thanksgiving? Nicholas Kilrain, a visitor from Indiana did. Kilrain dunked himself into the Gulf of Mexico, afterwards saying "that's what you do".

Read the story by Nicole Lozare of the PensacolaNewsJournal.com.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving
Photo courtesy of "red clover" on Flickr


Just wanted to wish each and every one of my valued readers a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope your turkey day is a good one and many thanks for reading the Pensacola Beach Times!

Special thanks goes out to "red clover", a member of Flickr.com, for permission to use her original image.

Again, thanks to all of my readers. Without you there would be no Pensacola Beach Times. Thanks for stopping by!

Blogler

I updated the "Ft. Pickens Update" post

Today I updated the weblog post titled "Ft. Pickens Update" (posted July 16, 2005) that includes a link to the NOAA satellite images of Pensacola Beach. Look at the bottom of the post for an update about browser compatibility.

The images by NOAA were taken days after Hurricane Dennis made landfall. The images are fairly high resolution.

Earlier versions of the Firefox browser would not work with the NOAA satellite images. I know Firefox 1.5 works with these images because I just tried it. Updated post has a link to a page where you can download it if you like. Just look for the "Download Firefox" link after clicking the "Get Firefox" button from this site.

Below is a link to the post "Ft. Pickens Update" (posted July 16, 2005) for your convenience. :)

http://pensacolabeachtimes.blogspot.com/2005/07/ft-pickens-update.html

Blogler

Thursday, November 10, 2005

SRIA Ignores Locals Concerns About High Density Development

Ah the memories. Pensacola Beach, a comfortable and quiet place to live or visit.

Or at least it used to be.

That cozy and comfortable small town feel could soon change now that the Santa Rosa Island Authority (SRIA) on Wednesday, November 9th 2005 approved a zoning change for the owners of Clarion Suites Resort and Convention Center. The zoning change will allow Clarion to build a hotel on land that was previously zoned for medium density, with a high density development. What this means is that Clarion will build more units per acre than was previously allowed.

But there may be one more chance that it won't happen. The zoning change request still has to be approved by the Escambia County Commission.

The SRIA apparently didn't listen to the 800 + people who either signed a petition or emailed in concerns against the zoning change. Let's hope the Escambia County Commission is much wiser. After all they do work for us, the people. The same people that voted them in office can just as easily vote them out.

Pensacola Beach at one time had a seaside small town feel to it, but I guess that is about to change. Want to see what Pensacola Beach is about to become? Just take a look at Destin or Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for glimpse of the future.