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Hurricane Sandy - "Perfect Storm"

I know that, it was for the benefit of those that feel the need to distinguish between English English and American English
 
Corax said:
The time it hits land. Not a US thing AFAIA.
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All the references to it I can find are on US websites. I've never heard the word before, which is why assumed it was American. It's no biggie, but it sounds strange when BBC newsreaders are talking about Sandy "making landfall" which sounds blatantly American.

Oh well, as you were.
 
Miss Caphat said:
technically, this is still Before :eek:
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Oh I realise that, but the picture last night was just lovely, whereas it's not at the moment. Once it gets really bad, we'll probably just see blobs of rain, but the picture last night was crystal clear with barely any clouds

Surprised there's no archived pictures
 
Brixton Hatter said:
All the references to it I can find are on US websites. I've never heard the word before, which is why assumed it was American. It's no biggie, but it sounds strange when BBC newsreaders are talking about Sandy "making landfall" which sounds blatantly American.

Oh well, as you were.
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It's a word they've been using for years and years though BH (in that part of the world anyway) :D

I just heard a newsreader on Channel 5 say it was "hitting land". Good on her!
 
and here's what Wiki says

Landfall is the event of a storm moving over land after being over water. When a waterspout makes landfall it becomes a regular tornado, which can then cause damage inland. When a fair weather waterspout makes landfall it usually dissipates quickly as it loses the inflow of warm air into the vortex.

A tropical cyclone is classified as making landfall when the center of the storm moves across the coast; in strong tropical cyclones this is when the eye moves over land.[1] This is where most of the damage occurs within a mature tropical cyclone, such as a typhoon or hurricane, as most of the damaging aspects of these systems is concentrated near the eyewall. Such effects include the peaking of the storm surge, the core of strong winds comes on shore, and heavy flooding rains. These coupled with high surf can cause major beach erosion. In low lying areas, the storm surge can stay inland for a long time and mix with chemicals already in the area to create a toxic mess.[citation needed] When a tropical cyclone makes landfall, the eye closes in upon itself due to the weakening process, which causes surf to decrease. Maximum sustained winds will naturally decrease as the cyclone moves inland due to frictional differences between water and land with the free atmosphere.[2]

Landfall is distinct from a direct hit. A direct hit is where the core of high winds (or eyewall) comes onshore but the center of the storm may stay offshore. The effects of this are quite similar to a landfall, as this term is used when the radius of maximum wind within a tropical cyclone moves ashore.[3] These effects are; high surf, heavy rains that may cause flooding, water build up along the coast with minor storm surge, coastal beach erosion, high winds, and possibly severe thunderstorms with tornados around the periphery



  1. ^ National Hurricane Center (2009). Glossary of NHC Terms: Landfall. Retrieved on 2009-02-05.
  2. ^ Sim Aberson and Chris Landsea (2008). Subject : C2) Doesn't the friction over land kill tropical cyclones? Retrieved on 2009-02-05.
  3. ^ National Hurricane Center (2009). Glossary of NHC Terms: Direct Hit. Retrieved on 2009-02-05.
  4. ^ Glossary of Meteorology (2009). Waterspout. Retrieved on 2009-02-05.
  5. ^ Bruce B. Smith (2009). Waterspouts. Retrieved on 2009-02-05.
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I reckon from those references, it's either a Meteorology term or American and considering the National Hurrican Centre's based over there...
 
cheers Balbi and Minnie :)

But this all provokes more questions than answers. Is this a hurricane, a cyclone, a tornado or a tropical storm? What's the difference?
 
Balbi said:
It's a meteorlogical term, and the reason you don't hear it often on UK news is the surprising lack of waterspouts/hurricane/big fucking storms that the Met have to comment on.
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That doesn't mean Americans didn't invent the word though
 
Minnie_the_Minx said:
That doesn't mean Americans didn't invent the word though
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Which makes it an American word, but a specific descriptive term rather than a general language one, so not one that supplants an English word. So saying 'that sounds american' is like complaining about igloo taking over from small house made of compacted snow.

:D

Kangaroo innit.
 
Balbi said:
Which makes it an American word, but a specific descriptive term rather than a general language one, so not one that supplants an English word. So saying 'that sounds american' is like complaining about igloo taking over from small house made of compacted snow.

:D

Kangaroo innit.
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Quite :D
 
I heard a few days ago someone saying we might get the tail end of this storm in a week.

Does anyone know what the situation is with this as I'm a bit worried as I have a flight to Ireland coming up
 
Brixton Hatter said:
cheers Balbi and Minnie :)

But this all provokes more questions than answers. Is this a hurricane, a cyclone, a tornado or a tropical storm? What's the difference?
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Its currently a hurricane but will become a frontal or wintertime low pressure systemprior to landfall, according those who know it all:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT3 shtml/291439.shtml

This might explain some of the different terminology:
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/cyclone.html

A tropical storm is the same thing except it hasn't developed windspeeds of more than 74mph.
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/A1.html
 
felixthecat said:
Its currently a hurricane but will become a frontal or wintertime low pressure systemprior to landfall, according those who know it all:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT3 shtml/291439.shtml

This might explain some of the different terminology:
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/cyclone.html

A tropical storm is the same thing except it hasn't developed windspeeds of more than (I think) 74mph.
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I think it's enough to know they're all wet and windy :oops:
 
felixthecat said:
True:) . I'm a bit of a hurricane/tropical storm buff (having been caught in them on several occasions) and get a bit blase about them - this one makes me very, very glad I'm this side of the Atlantic.
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All I know is that it changes its name past a certain something or other, so in Japan etc., it's a typhoon :oops:
 
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