There was a comment earlier about "laymen being able to get as close as the 'professionals' with no more information than knowledge of where these storms usually go. " Although I personally wouln't go quite that far, there is some truth to using the basics, along with common sense and historical data.

My 83 year old father is a retired ship captain (Master of All Vessels license) and tracked tropical systems for decades at sea using basically nothing more than a barometer, reports from other ships ,and common sense.

Last year as we were being told to evacuate our home here in Tampa because of Charley, my father called and said not to worry that it was going to turn. I asked him why he thought that; and he said (after reading his garage sale barometer on his porch up in north Tampa) "our pressure is rising, it nevers goes up when they're approaching. It must be turning."

A few hours later we started hearing the local mets saying that it looked like it was turning.