Hurricane Irene

[Johnny Canuck3]

argh. do you understand that storms change from one category to the next as they travel? It was still supposed to be category 4 iirc when it hit New York and possibly New England.

Not sure what you mean by 'supposed to be'. It had lessened in category long before it made landfall. It was being closely watched probably by every meterologist on Earth. I doubt that storms can go from Category 1 back to 4 at the snap of one's fingers.

The problem is that even as the storm intensity decreased - and that's all that the Categories are about - the threat warning intensity from the media etc, didn't decrease.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

A. weathermen did not predict the storm incorrectly, the storm changed. It happens all the time..

Yes it did. Everybody knew that it was changing. It was reported that the storm intensity was decreasing. But the warning level didn't decrease.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Officials erred on the side of caution to avoid a complete disaster which could have been very possible.

C. the news stations may be responsible for hyping up the stories, but they are not responsible for the decisions made by town and city officials. They are advised by their sources about what action to take..

Which is why Riker's Island wasn't evacuated. If a Cat 5 hurricane was approaching, those prisoners would have been gotten out. No politician wants another Katrina on their hands.

The fact that it wasn't, shows that politics played a role in the issuance of threat warnings and evacuation notices by politicians, not just objective evaluation of the threat presented by the approaching storm.

 

[Andrew Hertford]

yes I live right near the coast of massachusetts, below new hampshire. It just rained a lot and was windy. Power is out in most of the surrounding towns but not here. Irene had downgraded to a tropical storm before it reached here, and had also changed course a bit, moving westward and a bit faster. It was supposed to hit us directly at about 6 or 7 pm during high tide and certainly would have caused some flooding.

Hi Miss Caphat, I have a friend who lives right on the waterfront at Cohasset, near Quincy and I haven't heard back from them yet (probably a bit busy!) Do you know if there was much damage around there?

Edit: Actually, sitting here in the suburbs of S.E. England I tend to forget just how big Massachusetts is, so the chances are you'll probably have no idea. Sorry!

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Hi Miss Caphat, I have a friend who lives right on the waterfront at Cohasset, near Quincy and I haven't heard back from them yet (probably a bit busy!) Do you know if there was much damage around there?

Edit: Actually, sitting here in the suburbs of S.E. England I tend to forget just how big Massachusetts is, so the chances are you'll probably have no idea. Sorry!

Yes, Andrew. All Americans know each other, just like all Brits know each other.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Yes, Andrew. All Americans know each other, just like all Brits know each other.

Actually, someone yesterday asked me in a post how things were in New York. What with me living in North America and all.

 

[ferrelhadley]

37 dead so far. Pure luck the eye wall collapse did not reform when it was over the shallow waters north of the Carolinas

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Actually, someone yesterday asked me in a post how things were in New York. What with me living in North America and all.

I haven't sat down and figured the milage, but wouldn't someone in Britain be closer to NY than you are?

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

37 dead so far. Pure luck the eye wall collapse did not reform when it was over the shallow waters north of the Carolinas

Yes, its a good thing the strength of it was a cat 4 or 5 all the way up the coast as some news agencies were suggesting.

 

[Andrew Hertford]

 

[ferrelhadley]

Yes, its a good thing the strength of it was a cat 4 or 5 all the way up the coast as soon news agencies were suggesting.

??? Well who ever said that was utterly full of it. The forcast from Wednesday was a weak cat 1 around new york.

In the end it encountered wind shear and dry air as well as multiple rain bands competing for the energy of the collapsed eye wall that inhibited the very worst case of a cat two land fall in Mid Atlantic states. There was the possibility of the storm surge being equivelant to a cat 3 or even 4 due to late August having very high tides and the large physical area of the storm driving an unusually high storm surge for the intensity but good luck was on the side of New York this time round.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

No worries.

I wouldn't even have mentioned it except that another thread accuses Americans of this. I suppose its human nature to try to find connection.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

??? Well who ever said that was utterly full of it. The forcast from Wednesday was a weak cat 1 around new york.

ABC news was claiming that most of the weekend. I knew it wasn't true when they were reporting it.

 

[lizzieloo]

Actually, someone yesterday asked me in a post how things were in New York. What with me living in North America and all.

I was joking Johnny

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I was joking Johnny

It's hard to know. As you're aware, us Canadians have difficulty with irony etc.

If the comedy doesn't involve someone wearing plaid having sex with a forest animal, we're sort of in over our heads.

 

[Miss Caphat]

Not sure what you mean by 'supposed to be'. It had lessened in category long before it made landfall. It was being closely watched probably by every meterologist on Earth. I doubt that storms can go from Category 1 back to 4 at the snap of one's fingers.

The problem is that even as the storm intensity decreased - and that's all that the Categories are about - the threat warning intensity from the media etc, didn't decrease.

to be honest I have no idea what you're even talking about. It seemed to me that your point was that this media hype was affecting people's lives, making them evacuate when it was not necessary, etc.

to me, this is a silly argument for many reasons. I don't even have television and didn't see any of this. but if someone had told me to evacuate and then it turned out my house wasn't actually damaged i don't think I'd be angry. I certainly wouldn't blame it on the media. i think you're giving them more credit than they deserve. I've already said it and won't say it again.

 

[Miss Caphat]

Hi Miss Caphat, I have a friend who lives right on the waterfront at Cohasset, near Quincy and I haven't heard back from them yet (probably a bit busy!) Do you know if there was much damage around there?

Edit: Actually, sitting here in the suburbs of S.E. England I tend to forget just how big Massachusetts is, so the chances are you'll probably have no idea. Sorry!

I don't know but I doubt it. I haven't heard of any real damage in that area, it was more western mass and vermont, new hampshire.

 

[Miss Caphat]

Not sure what you mean by 'supposed to be'. It had lessened in category long before it made landfall. It was being closely watched probably by every meterologist on Earth. I doubt that storms can go from Category 1 back to 4 at the snap of one's fingers.

The problem is that even as the storm intensity decreased - and that's all that the Categories are about - the threat warning intensity from the media etc, didn't decrease.

hey, way to take my words way out of context. I said that had been the prediction and that's why they had planned the evacuation.

 

[dilute micro]

Not sure what you mean by 'supposed to be'. It had lessened in category long before it made landfall. It was being closely watched probably by every meterologist on Earth. I doubt that storms can go from Category 1 back to 4 at the snap of one's fingers.

The problem is that even as the storm intensity decreased - and that's all that the Categories are about - the threat warning intensity from the media etc, didn't decrease.

I don't even think the 'hype' for a hurricane hitting NC or Florida is too much. We're used to getting hit and still people get killed. There's probably more unknowns for NYC or New England - so it makes sense to convince people to prepare.

 

[Miss Caphat]

this ^

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Some flickr photos taken in Philadelphia during Hurricane Irene.

 

[lizzieloo]

knicker biting man has a bit of a semi going on in the 3rd pic

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

knicker biting man has a bit of a semi going on in the 3rd pic

Probably because he just finished the knicker biting.

I heard today on the news that Irene has killed 50 people. That seems like a lot for a tropical storm. I looked it up: Hurricane Andrew killed 26 people.

 

[dilute micro]

I heard today on the news that Irene has killed 50 people. That seems like a lot for a tropical storm. I looked it up: Hurricane Andrew killed 26 people.

Irene killed 45 people.

Just for the record - it hit land with 85 mph winds. It wasn't downgraded to a tropical storm until Sunday when it reached New York but still killed all the way up there.

 

[ferrelhadley]

Forecasters did a very good job on Irenes path
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/federal-hurricane-forecasters-did-their-job/

 

[stuff_it]

What little I watched was on CNN, and CNN made its name by continuous reporting of disasters of one sort or another. It got big reporting on Desert Storm, and it's taken the same approach with any impending news story since. CNN thrives on overkill, imo.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Like I said, Desert Storm was the place where CNN cut its teeth on disaster hype reporting.

 

[MikeMcc]

to be honest I have no idea what you're even talking about. It seemed to me that your point was that this media hype was affecting people's lives, making them evacuate when it was not necessary, etc.

to me, this is a silly argument for many reasons. I don't even have television and didn't see any of this. but if someone had told me to evacuate and then it turned out my house wasn't actually damaged i don't think I'd be angry. I certainly wouldn't blame it on the media. i think you're giving them more credit than they deserve. I've already said it and won't say it again.

Johnny seems to be like many Libertarians - spending money to mitigate risks is a waste, unless it works. He's great at hindsight, critisising decisions that turn out to be in error, but were made in good faith. It's 100% certainty or nothing. Thye facts are that the storm caused considerable damage and killed a relatively large number of people. It's yet another severe weather event in a year which has already beat 2010 for a record number of extreme weather events, but what the hell it's weather, not the c word...

 

[MikeMcc]

It's hard to know. As you're aware, us Canadians have difficulty with irony etc.

If the comedy doesn't involve someone wearing plaid having sex with a forest animal, we're sort of in over our heads.

We noticed.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

We noticed.

How many of 'you' are in there?

Is Aunt Peg in there with you?