Hurricanes turn counter clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere so everything to the North and N East of the eye gets the worst of wind rain and tidal surge. Dirty side pretty well describes it.

Here is a website that I found on another forum.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com

Hey blue,

It usually never thunders or lightnings during a hurricane
Just driving walls of rain and wind
Even the weather channel people said its weird that the planes spotted hail

As for the "dirty side"
The right hand quadrent of the eyewall has got the heaviest winds which can be the most destructive part of the storm
excluding the Storm Surge of course
When Hurricane Charlie made its way into Charlotte Harbor which my house is 2 miles from the harbor our area didnt get flattened like Punta Gorda and Pt.Charlotte did because we were on the left side of the wall
If the Storm had gone 2 mile further up the coast we would have been in some huge trouble!
Thank GOD all we had was lots of trees and Pool cages taken down
The rest of Pt.Charlotte and Punta Gorda wernt so lucky and they are just up the road
Weird huh!
gobucs

New Orleans got all the pub following Katrina but they were to the west of the eye and really didn't get hit as bad as Mississippi where entire towns were wiped off the map and you can see the coast from I-10 when before you had a fairly thick forest line blocking the view.
NO flooded due to the pressure of water dumped into Lake Ponchatrain and the winds on the back side of Katrina whipping up the wave action. Had the eye gone west of NO things would have been worse for them if you can believe that.

For the North East Quadrant you add the speed of the movement of the storm, The South West quadrant you subtract the speed of the storm.

Jamaica is going to get nailed, even if the eye is slightly South of the Island. Please start praying for these people!

I've been reading about people who live in the souther tip of Jamaica, where there's a low-lying peninsula of land. Hurricane Ivan tore down the seawall and it hasnt yet been replaced. Yet, the some of the residents here (it appears to be many or most of them) are refusing to leave for Dean. Some of them are boarding up, some aren't. Some are just tying things down. Apparently, they went to a shelter with Ivan and the conditions were poor, so they have vowed to stay put and ride Dean out.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/

gobucs: Two small points about hurricanes:

Hail is caused when moisture is pulled up through cumulonimbus clouds in updrafts, then quickly is pulled down via downdrafts, the layers of ice building up. As this is exactly what a hurricane does, hail is surely associated with it.

Lightning and thunder are indeed associated with hurricanes, as well as tornadoes. Other hurricane characteristics include: storm surge (not as bad in the Caribbean, as the water just flows around the islands), waves, and rain.

I have ready a few websites that tell us that the hail is rare.

This is a basic explanation of why hail is rare in a hurricane...

http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints2/403/

What's going on with Jamaica now? I haven't checked all day.

Thanks Blu

Sounds like you guys on St John "dodged the bullett" so to speak. Glad to hear it. Cannot imagine being in the middle of a cat.4

hi there, for anyone not familiar with this website, it is a GREAT way to find out exactly what is happening locally on all the islands.....go to www.stormcarib.com

I just got back from my weekend in New Mexico, where my oldest son graduated the Airforce's 3 yr.
ParaRescue training program. HOO_AHH!! He's wearing the Beret of Special Ops. (and looked
extremely handsome in it too!).
Coming into LAX was like heading into a hurricane of people. Delays on the tarmac after landing,
fighting for a shuttle bus. All the people leaving the possible path of DEAN seemed to be there
when I was.
If you are headed into LAX (Los Angeles) in the next day or so, be prepared, and patient.

Okie, dokie, Blu. I accept that the hail doesn't get to sea level, but it does form...

The used to say that tornadoes didn't spawn out of hurricanes, but that has been proven wrong. Hurricane interaction with a mountainous island is much different than the interaction with a flat, broad piece of land like Florida.

Ditto Joan's recommendation of stormcaribe...

Did you see the pix posted by Ronnie taken by Terri Pantusco (of Caribbean Saloon fame) of the wave action near Secret Harbour? And do read Miss Mermaids adventures when going thru security on the Tortola messages! Funny!

cshell - where can I find those pics? can you give us the link?

The link to Miss Mermaids and Ronnie

http://stormcarib.com