Comments on: Florence https://gregladen.com/blog/2018/09/07/florence/ Sun, 09 Sep 2018 14:47:19 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.6 By: Gregory Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2018/09/07/florence/#comment-620972 Sun, 09 Sep 2018 14:47:19 +0000 https://gregladen.com/blog/?p=30406#comment-620972 In reply to SteveP.

Actually, it didn’t really weaken. It spread out. There were probably wind fields at a category 3 level but they were embedded in a huge area of lower wind speed. The storm essentially ate a huge Noreaster that was in the area. The fact that Sandy got disorganized didn’t diminish its overall strength and effect. Had the storm stayed at a classifiable hurricane it would have had a much more narrowly defined and more limited effect. What Sandy did, really, was to become a monster that didn’t fit the definition of the usual hurricane just as it was coming in.

]]> By: SteveP https://gregladen.com/blog/2018/09/07/florence/#comment-620482 Sat, 08 Sep 2018 11:56:58 +0000 https://gregladen.com/blog/?p=30406#comment-620482 Hurricane Sandy had weakened considerably when it hit the NYC area, barely a category 1 if I remember correctly. Local authorities seemed to focus on the diminished wind speed and let down their guards. Meanwhile, wind direction, tide, and pressure variables were making the weathermen extremely nervous, but their fears were not communicated effectively to the public. Flooding caused most of the over 100 US deaths from that tropical cyclone. Is there a better threat category that exists for such storms, something based on flooding potential? If not, there probably will be in the future, as sea levels rise and higher water temperatures result in increased inland flooding from such events.

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