Comments on: Climate Change, Cat 6 Hurricanes, Al Gore

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 16:32:50 +0000

I would like to see Anthony subjected to the kind of scrutiny that Al Gore goes through. Watch his insect-farts and microbe respiration nonsense get dragged through the Post for a few weeks. He’d have a meltdown.

By: Eric Lund

Eric Lund — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 20:39:32 +0000

Part of the problem with Sandy was that it was in the process of becoming an extratropical storm. This is a normal feature of hurricanes encountering cool waters. But in this case it led to the National Weather Service making the tactical error of having regional offices, rather than the National Hurricane Center, issue advisories. The models were saying that Sandy would become extratropical before landfall, so it wouldn’t really be a hurricane (despite the wind and the storm surge). But the transition took longer than expected, and Sandy retained tropical characteristics up until, if not landfall, it was close enough to make no difference.

But Young CC Prof @2 is correct that the maximum wind speed gets too much attention. Storm surge has historically been the big killer in a lot of hurricanes, and that depends on three factors: central pressure of the storm, direction of approach, and local coastal topography. New York City is particularly vulnerable on the latter point; according to modeling reported at Weather Underground, it is one of five places on the US Atlantic coast where a storm surge in excess of 10 meters is theoretically possible. (The other four are Mississippi, the Big Bend region of Florida, the Myrtle Beach area in South Carolina, and Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts.) Everything would have to go right (or wrong, if you happen to live in that area) to get such a big storm surge, particularly as storms rarely approach the area from the direction Sandy came, but it’s still possible.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 13:31:19 +0000

Also, one’s status as a hurricane is based on organization and not wind speed. Otherwise a lot of other storms would be hurricanes including tornadoes! At the last minute, Sandy became disorganized because she sucked in a large part of another storm and became powerful.

I like to use the analogy of Bill Bixby and the Incredible Hulk.

As Bill Bixby grows into the Incredible Hulk he gains strength but ceases to become human. So, if you are trying to count the number of large and dangerous humans in the room, the number would not go up by one, for technical reasons.

By: Young CC Prof

Young CC Prof — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 13:23:18 +0000

The Saffir-Simpson scale DOES sometimes miss the boat. Sandy was mild based on wind speed alone, but the extreme low pressure in the center (since when does the barometer go below 28 inches!?) allowed a massive massive storm surge to form. The high water mark in New York Harbor was three feet ABOVE what Donna did back in 1960, even though Donna had considerably higher wind speeds. (The tide timing didn’t help, either.)

It’s possible that the “Cat 1” status in the warnings played a role in people’s ignoring evacuation orders, which cost lives.

By: Andy Lee Robinson

Andy Lee Robinson — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 01:09:07 +0000

Clutching at straw men in desperation – this is what chronic progressive dyscognia does to people when trying to maintain an untenable denial for too long.
The Age of Denial is over, only they haven’t got the memo yet.