2012 Hurricane Season

[BetaV1]

So far, doing well over here. I'm one of the very few lucky people in the New Orleans metro area to still have power. The storm has stalled for a third time in the last 24 hours now near Baton Rouge. Nearly all of Plaquemines Parish is under 6 feet of water, some parts of Plaq are under 12 feet. Plaq Parish president Billy Nungesser and Grand Isle Mayor David Camardelle are saying this wasn't a category 1 storm, and I certainly believe them. Grand Isle is reportedly under 5 feet of water right now.

Make note that these flooded areas are outside of the new levee system. The city itself fared well with the water; however, we did not admittedly get the full amount of rain that these other parishes are dealing with and the pumps here had reportedly stalled for a few hours during the previous night and had to be operated manually. That is extremely concerning because had this been a category 3 storm, those same workers on the pumps would've been evacuated from their stations and dare I say we would've had quite a bit flooding within the city.

Goes to show that mother nature can still take back what she wants when she wants.

[GlassHalfFull]

Originally Posted by BetaV1

So far, doing well over here. I'm one of the very few lucky people in the New Orleans metro area to still have power. The storm has stalled for a third time in the last 24 hours now near Baton Rouge. Nearly all of Plaquemines Parish is under 6 feet of water, some parts of Plaq are under 12 feet. Plaq Parish president Billy Nungesser and Grand Isle Mayor David Camardelle are saying this wasn't a category 1 storm, and I certainly believe them.

Glad to hear you are doing ok. Houston had a tropical storm, Allison, that turned into a major flood mess. Damn thing actually turned around and came back to Houston. The storm categories are purely a measure of wind speed, they don't in any way account for amount of rainfall, which can be the most damaging part of the storm. It is unfortunate, and a better rating system needs to be considered. I think lots of people said, "it is just a cat 1, we have lived thru worse.", not knowing the amount of water that was going to fall outta the sky. Houston definitely learned the lesson the hard way with Allison.

[BetaV1]

Originally Posted by GlassHalfFull

Glad to hear you are doing ok. Houston had a tropical storm, Allison, that turned into a major flood mess. Damn thing actually turned around and came back to Houston. The storm categories are purely a measure of wind speed, they don't in any way account for amount of rainfall, which can be the most damaging part of the storm. It is unfortunate, and a better rating system needs to be considered. I think lots of people said, "it is just a cat 1, we have lived thru worse.", not knowing the amount of water that was going to fall outta the sky. Houston definitely learned the lesson the hard way with Allison.

Pretty much that's why people stayed. As you mentioned, wind speed is used as the primary measuring stick for hurricane strength, followed by pressure, and we had some buoys off the coast getting windspeeds of 95+ MPH while all the meteorologists here were saying that based on pressure at landfall (968), this storm should've been a very strong category 2 storm. Seems like an easy classification to me. I think if they would've called it a category 2, more people would've obviously left. But down here we get close to tropical storm conditions on rainy days throughout most of the summer anyways, so a category 1 storm in most people's minds isn't much. Heck, I stayed.

What's tricky is that Plaq did NOT flood anywhere near this bad for Katrina, which was a much more powerful storm. People knew Isaac would being more rain there since the track had them on the bad side of the storm while Katrina had most of Plaq on the good side, but you cannot predict something like a storm stalling twice for hours over one area.

[Speedy]

I'm not real sure but I think they take an average reading of wind speed throughout the eyewall to come up with it's posted wind speed. For example, in the stronger side of the storm, say the northeast quadrant, the winds might be at 100 mph, easily cat. 2 strength, but in the weaker part of the strom, like the southwest quadrant, winds are only 70 mph. They then post it as an 85 mph cat. 1 storm. Rough example, but it works something like that because the winds are not the same throughout the eyewall.

That also doesn't take into account wind gusts. You can have a 90 mph sustained wind (cat.1), and have wind gusts up to 110 mph (cat.2) and it will still be a cat. 1 blow.

Yeah, a better rating system would be helpful, but you still need to know that hurricanes are dangerous no matter the classification. Slow moving hurricanes especially. As mentioned, Houston was devastated by a Tropical Storm about a decade ago that just sat on top of us for a couple of days.

Glad to hear you're safe, Beta!!!

[Vinny]

Drew Brees just posted this...unreal.

https://twitter.com/drewbrees/status.../photo/1/large

[badboy]

Originally Posted by Vinny

Drew Brees just posted this...unreal.

https://twitter.com/drewbrees/status.../photo/1/large

he is just hoping for another Super Bowl

[Thorn]

The fine art of storm forecasting. LOL.

[Showtime100]

I thought this was pretty amazing....

Astronomy Pic Of The Day (9/4)

Explanation: Should you be worried about hurricanes? To find out, it is useful to know where hurricanes have gone in the past. The above Earth map shows the path of every hurricane reported since 1851, Although striking, a growing incompleteness exists in the data the further one looks back in time. The above map graphically indicates that hurricanes -- sometimes called cyclones or typhoons depending on where they form -- usually occur over water, which makes sense since evaporating warm water gives them energy. The map also shows that hurricanes never cross -- or even occur very near -- the Earth's equator, since the Coriolis effect goes to zero there, and hurricanes need the Coriolis force to circulate. The Coriolis force also causes hurricane paths to arc away from the equator. Although incompleteness fogs long term trends and the prevalence of hurricanes remains a topic of research, evidence is accumulating that hurricanes are, on the average, more common and more powerful in the North Atlantic Ocean over the past 20 years.

Go to the site and click the pic for further analysis.

[NitroGSXR]

Hurricane Sandy has overtaken the HMS Bounty. 14 rescued and two missing as of right now.



http://fox4kc.com/2012/10/29/crew-ab...s-around-them/

[Playoffs]

Wind -- Click top image for larger

Storm surge

Tracking models

[pbat488]

saw this and thought it was funny, though the storm is no laughing matter.



we've had rain for the past two days straight in pittsburgh and the winds have picked up drastically over the past couple of hours from ~20mph to gusts up to around ~40mph. i'm most worried about the possibility of snow/icing conditions, will make the drive to and from work even worse than it was today.

[Hookem Horns]

I have a lot of friends from Delaware up to New York since I used to live up there. Seeing some crazy stuff on Facebook. This one takes the cake ...

[brakos82]

Manhattan just went dark....

[gtexan02]

Please be real

[gtexan02]

Explosion in NYC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=ZAqYZ433TeQ

I lived in Houston for 18 years. I feel like I'm getting more hurricanes in the northeast...

[PapaL]

Papa L checking in from DC. High winds, lots of rain, some flooding. Our spirits are high and my son and I are safe. Can't really complain.

Big shout out to my brother from another mother Brakos82 for checking in on us. Much obliged sir.

[Hagar]

Nice little powerline meltdown


Hurricane Sandy causes power lines fire in Queens, NYC

[SheTexan]

This storm certainly has not been something to laugh about, but, I have to admit I've gotten a lot of teasing about my "namesake!" My grandson told me to "lighten up" cause I was being to "mean!" I told him not to mess with SANDY'S, esp when one of them was his MawMaw!

I have many friends that have been touched by this storm, and thankfully, ALL of them are safe and sound, as of now. We've had some fun gabbing about the name and such, but, they all know I've been concerned, and they have all been in my thoughts and prayers.

I have a feeling SANDY will never be a named storm again.

[brakos82]

Is it just me.... or is Sandy part of the Texans' gameplan?

[Playoffs]

Originally Posted by brakos82

That is one big a$$ storm!