HURRICANE DORIAN

UPDATE #3. Dorian has edged north of West Palm, but remains spinning mostly in place just off-shore. Courts remained closed Tuesday, and will reopen Wednesday assuming it doesn't spin back on itself. 
This was Ivan in 2004:

UPDATE#2  First. The storm has slowed down, but it has not yet turned. Like waiting for a judge at an 8am calendar who is late- everyone is watching the clock. 
Second. An unnamed altruist wants us to publish the Court Emergency Number: 305-349-7777. In the future, when the danger is past, the number is useful for a host of reasons. "Hello. Emergency Operations? I'm waiting on a jury on the fourth floor of REGJB, and the M&M's are stuck in the vending machine. Please send help." 

UPDATE: Schools closed in Dade and Broward and West Palm for TUESDAY. Dade and Broward have announced COURTS ARE CLOSED TUESDAY. The SDFL website says they tie the closure of courts to the closure of schools. With WPB, Dade and Broward schools cerrado, federal court is also closed Tuesday. 

Hello this is Rumpole. I have put aside for the moment the arrogant, royal persona that our readers find so maddening yet endearing. The "smarter than you" posts and comments , although we are in fact smarter than 99.9% of you (no one said this was going to be easy). 

Hurricane Dorian is a massive, dangerous storm. Hurricanes are very unpredictable. If you Google hurricane paths, you will see storms stopping and doubling back on themselves. Hurricanes wobble as they approach land and they can veer fifty miles north or south in the blink of an eye-wall. 

Because of our anxiety, there is a natural fixation on the hurricane paths and cones, and relief when the cone shifts so that we appear to be out of danger. Make no mistake that until this storm dissipates, we in South Florida are not out of danger, cone or no cone. 

The email from Broward County announcing that court will open on Tuesday was complete folly. The storm has slowed, and by Tuesday, at best, 50-100 mile winds could well be hitting Ft. Lauderdale. Not exactly the type of weather lawyers and clients should be out in. We are hopeful they will rescind that order. But being Broward, they are as unpredictable as hurricanes. 

Many of us can still vividly remember the feelings of being huddled in a closet and watching our roof fly away as Andrew slammed into South Dade. And recall that days before Andrew hit, it was predicted to strike North Broward. 

So please, listen to us. Continue your preparation. Put up your shutters, or take your family and leave for a few days. Have water and some dry food and candles and a battery operated radio ready to go, 
We want Dorian to miss us. We see the cone shift and we immediately relax. But last night (Saturday-Sunday) the cone shifted south again. In the last three days the south end of the cone has gone from covering  the middle keys to being on the Dade Broward border. 

We are not in the clear and we will not know for sure until the storm misses us and dissipates. 
Until then, please stay safe. 
We like having a lot of readers. 

Your obt.  svt. 
H. Rumpole, Esq. Blog Proprietor.