Jaunted - Tag: Weather

Hurricane Ida Is In Your Caribbean, Messing With Your Cruises

JetSetCD — 2009-11-10T08:44:25-05:00

You know the cruising season has begun when the hurricanes and tropical storms lay into the Caribbean; it's just a hazard of the peak season. Still, this week we've been watching the progress of Hurricane Ida, which began way down in Central America and worked its way due north, eroding beaches in Cozumel and Grand Cayman before just not being downgraded back to Tropical Storm in advance of landfall in Mississippi.

Most affected by the storm were two inaugural sailings of Carnival ships, the Fantasy and Triumph from new home ports of Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans, respectively. According to CruiseCritic, each voyage is now delayed by a day, turning a 6-nighter into 5 and Triumph's 4-nighter into 3 with no port calls; it's now a "cruise to nowhere."

CA: Hurricane Rick Swatting Cruise Ships Out Of The Way En Route To Baja

JetSetCD — 2009-10-19T09:38:40-05:00

If there is something we know about traveling during the late summer thru early fall, it's to buy trip insurance. We're sure some cruisers and Baja vacationers will be finding out the importance of such policies as Hurricane Rick hits Baja Mexico and diverts ships away from holiday ports in order to avoid the 100 mph winds.

Although Rick has already crested in strength and now it peters down to a category 3 hurricane, let us remember that having a category anything storm crash your beach holiday is never positive. Judging the infographic above, Rick is zeroing in on Mexico like a frat boy with fantasies of cheap Patron. With the storm due off the coast from late today through early tomorrow, cruise ships are skipping visits to Mazatlan and possibly even Cabo San Lucas, adding insult to injury for the city that counts on these near-daily cruise ship calls.

Sydney: Sydney Duststorm Gives Preview Of Armageddon

amandak — 2009-09-23T08:56:31-05:00

With the September equinox upon us, yesterday began talk about the end of the world, and when people in Sydney woke up this morning, a lot of them thought it was true. Massive red dust storms hit the city and made it look like something out of an apocalyptic movie.

Basically, super-strong winds from the west of the country picked up a pile of red dirt from the dry outback in South Australia and western New South Wales and then stormy weather dumped it all on Sydney and surrounding areas; when the sun shone on the dust, everything turned red. Visibility problems stopped the ferries and caused traffic chaos, and many flights were diverted to Brisbane and Melbourne.

Tropical Storm Danny is Forming; Just Misses The Chance to Wipe Out Speidi

JetSetCD — 2009-08-26T14:29:41-05:00

Summer storms are really getting around this summer, as another one—Tropical Storm Danny—forms just off of the Bahamas and primes to sweep up the eastern seaboard. Heidi and Spencer, who seem to be perpetually on vacation, unfortunately just missed being affected by the storm, as they splashed on the beach at The Atlantis Nassau around Heidi's lip-synching performance for the Miss Universe pageant.

Danny, which reminds us more of a booger-eating kindergartner than a furiously brewing storm (how about more named like 'Cristobal?'), might have laid off the Bahamas but he will spend this weekend wreaking havoc on the plans of beachgoers along the coast from South Carolina all the way up to Maine.

Vancouver: We Can't Imagine A Worse Flight Delay Reason Than Volcanic Eruption

JetSetCD — 2009-06-18T10:47:13-05:00

And here we thought cancellation due to regular thunderstorms was already a nightmare, but it turns out that being unable to fly through crowds of volcanic ash tops our list of freaky flight delays reasons.

This is exactly what is happening in Vancouver, as Russia's Sarychev Peak on the remote Kuril Islands started spewing massive clouds of ash and smoke on June 12, and Asia-bound airplanes aren't risking flying through the grit.

Currently affected by the explosive fun of Mother Nature are flights between Vancouver and Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Flights were canceled all the way up until yesterday, and now flights are attempting to adjust routes to avoid the 30-mile large cloud of leftover ash.

If this little rural earth-shaking affects major transpacific travel so much, we can only fear for any major belching from Mount Rainier, seeing as how it's some several hundred years overdue for a cataclysmic explosion. Perhaps airports need to practice for volcano drills?

Related Stories:
· Vancouver To Asia flights cancelled because of volcanic eruption [CBC Canada]
· Volcano delaying Asia flights [Shanghaiist]
· Volcano Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Gary DeLong]

Can Memorial Day Kill the Staycation?

BS — 2009-05-22T11:11:58-05:00

Is this the weekend we finally get over the staycation hump? Forecasters say low gas prices (and restless traveler syndrome?) will reignite the great American road trip this summer, with the AAA predicting a 1.5 percent increase in road travel over last year's Memorial Day weekend.

Of course, just when travel might be getting a much-needed boost, that frequent Memorial Day irritant – rain – is back on the horizon to ruin it all. Florida and most of the Gulf Coast will get dumped on this weekend, as will much of the South, Plains, and West. Which is great news for cyborgs, as Christian Bale's Terminator Salvation tries to bump Angels & Demons and Star Trek from the top of the box office.

So how's it looking out there? Is America done with the staycation? Or will the weather forecast keep you home once again this weekend? If you haven't already taken off for the weekend, let us know what your travel plans are in comments below.

Related Stories:
· More Americans hit the road to kick off summer [Reuters]
· A slow moving weather pattern continues [weather.com]
· Memorial Day travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Atwater Village]

London: London is Closed for Business

juliab — 2009-02-02T14:45:59-05:00

What the Blitz and terrorists have failed to do, the weather has done. London is on its knees today (or at least buried up to its knees) under a whole seven inches of snow.

Three of the five London airports are shut, mainline trains are down, only two of the 11 underground trains are running properly and all 5 million buses have been taken off the roads.

And because of (read: thanks to) that, there’s barely anyone about. Ever diligent, we made it into work this morning, to be confronted with tumbleweed blowing around the office. London Underground staff were using commuter paper Metro to mop up the water this morning, while afternoon paper thelondonpaper* reduced its print run from 500,000 to 150,000 to compensate for the lack of readers about.