Harvey. Irma. Maria. Why is this hurricane season so bad?

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kitesandtrainsandcats
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23 Sep 2017, 10:30 pm

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"This hurricane season is, indisputably, a nightmare. And it’s indisputable that climate change is affecting our weather. The fingerprint of climate change is on every storm, it’s in every raindrop and sunny day. It is a new, yet untested and ill-understood, factor in the way our planet works.

But there are additional elements that had to come together to create such a hellish year.

Hurricanes exist to cool the tropics. The vast majority of sunlight beats down in the 23 degrees north and south of the equator. Without something to disperse the energy toward the poles, Earth’s climate would become unbalanced, quickly."


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/09/23/harvey-irma-maria-why-is-this-hurricane-season-so-bad/


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ASPartOfMe
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24 Sep 2017, 1:31 am

The hurrricanes have hit populated areas.


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Kiprobalhato
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24 Sep 2017, 2:52 am

^^^^

normally they spend their entire lives at sea. most systems that make landfall do so as tropical depressions, storms or weak category 1s.

it's uncommon that a season has more than two category 4 or above storms, and when they do, well, the above is the norm usually.

still nothing compared to 2005 though. 2008 was also something galveston won't soon forget.

even i in southern california was affected by a tropical storm this year. 8O the remnants of lydia in the pacific made their way up here from baja california and caused a massive storm and downburst effect for a couple of hours. one girl was critically injured.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local ... 21992.html

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/micr ... 173543.php


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ASPartOfMe
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24 Sep 2017, 1:34 pm

Kiprobalhato wrote:
^^^^

normally they spend their entire lives at sea. most systems that make landfall do so as tropical depressions, storms or weak category 1s.

it's uncommon that a season has more than two category 4 or above storms, and when they do, well, the above is the norm usually.

still nothing compared to 2005 though. 2008 was also something galveston won't soon forget.

even i in southern california was affected by a tropical storm this year. 8O the remnants of lydia in the pacific made their way up here from baja california and caused a massive storm and downburst effect for a couple of hours. one girl was critically injured.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local ... 21992.html

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/micr ... 173543.php



1939 California tropical storm
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The 1939 California tropical storm, also called the 1939 Long Beach tropical storm, El Cordonazo, The Lash of St. Francis was a tropical cyclone that hit Southern California in September, 1939. Formerly a hurricane, it was the only tropical storm to make landfall in California in the twentieth century. The only other known tropical cyclone to directly affect California is the 1858 San Diego hurricane, and only three other eastern Pacific tropical cyclones have caused gale-force winds in the continental United States. The tropical storm caused heavy flooding, leaving many dead, mostly at sea.


In August 1893 there were four simultaneous hurricanes in the Atlantic.
Image


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BuyerBeware
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24 Sep 2017, 3:12 pm

They run in cycles; I don't know enough about climatology to give you a "real" explanation, but they just DO.

My personal opinion, I figure warmer ocean temperatures probably do have quite a bit to do with it...

...and rising population density along the coasts (as well as the practice about 30-40 years ago of draining coastal wetlands to make more "desirable real estate") also has something to do with making the impacts big news.

Look up a book called "Lies That Came True." Most of coastal Lee County was intended by God to be a swamp. Instead, it's Fort Myers and Cape Coral.


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kitesandtrainsandcats
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24 Sep 2017, 3:24 pm

BuyerBeware wrote:
...and rising population density along the coasts (as well as the practice about 30-40 years ago of draining coastal wetlands to make more "desirable real estate") also has something to do with making the impacts big news.
You mean like this from 5 years ago?
Quote:
It’s so obvious we forget it: an extreme-weather event becomes a disaster only if it hits where people and their possessions are.
...
The reason so many Americans make their homes in storm and flood zones is partly because we simply like living along the water. But the other part is that government-subsidized flood insurance essentially eliminates the financial risk. The question now, after Sandy, is whether we’ll keep making the same circular mistake, paying billions to put people back in harm’s way, or whether we’ll instead say, “Build if you want, but the risk is all yours.”

The Northeast spots that were most heavily damaged by Sandy — and, sadly, the areas where the most lives were lost — were in housing developments that were built very close to the coast, places like Staten Island and Breezy Point in New York, and Ocean County on the New Jersey shore. As the Huffington Post made clear in a deeply reported piece last week, those same areas had seen dramatic development over the past couple of decades, despite the fact that government officials knew that the coastal land would be vulnerable to flooding from a major storm:

http://science.time.com/2012/11/20/after-sandy-why-we-cant-keep-rebuilding-on-the-waters-edge/
Quote:
Human beings have been crowding along the coasts for as long as they’ve been building cities, and air travel and the Internet haven’t made ports obsolete yet. But in the past, those who made the choice to live near the ocean also knew to treat its immense power with respect, even building their homes facing the land. Today we’re much more reckless, and an ocean view is worth paying extra for.

As Justin Gillis and Felicity Barringer wrote in the New York Times this week, the federal government is bound not just by elective policy but also by law to pay for most of the cost of fixing storm-damaged infrastructure — including homes. Add in the National Flood Insurance Program, which offers consumers in coastal danger zones below-market protection from floods, and you can see how the federal government is almost making it easier to live in a danger zone than to make the hard choice of relocating:


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kitesandtrainsandcats
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24 Sep 2017, 3:32 pm

Having it and doing it appear to be disconnected things.
"Letters to the Editor
Hurricanes scream need to stop dense coastal development"

Quote:
Manatee County’s Comprehensive Plan was developed with great foresight in the late 1980s to prevent disasters that can occur when development is allowed in low-lying areas and too near the coast.

In recent years, political pressures have threatened enforcement of the comp plan and land development code. Experienced and knowledgeable county staff members have been dismissed. Members of the public are actively discouraged from meeting with staff members to inquire about applications submitted to the county. And the public only sees vague general development plans that could be approved before crucial details are known.

The coastal and conservation elements of the Comprehensive Plan still are the law. The plan prohibits alteration of coastal wetlands (including mangroves); restricts dredge and fill operations in the coastal planning area; limits the construction of artificial waterways; limits development type, density and intensity within the coastal planning area; and directs population concentrations away from the coastal evacuation area.

The Manatee County Commission has the responsibility to uphold the Comprehensive Plan and deny applications that violate the comp plan and land development code by dredging a channel, destroying wetlands and increasing density in the coastal planning area.

http://www.bradenton.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article174799401.html


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