Major Hurricane Irma

Oneiric 3

MJohnston wrote: »

No, because people in the line of fire rely on news during storms. And given that weather forecasts, particularly those of hurricanes, never possess significant certainty until too late a stage to act (particularly in Florida where the geography makes evacuation an especially acute problem), I think it's much wiser for them to err on the upper ends of that uncertainty range.

People in the line of fire probably won't get to see these 'reports' though. There will be too busy trying to save themselves and what little they own.

MSM is about one thing and one thing only, and that is pulling in as many viewers as possible to please their advertisers. Don't think for one minute that they have some sort of 'moral' obligation to their viewers, because they don't.

MJohnston

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

People in the line of fire probably won't get to see these 'reports' though. There will be too busy trying to save themselves and what little they own.

Which is precisely why I'm talking about the reports that were being broadcast a few days before landfall. That is the time of high uncertainty, and that's when the media reporting is most critical. I will continue to argue that they should always err on the 'high side'.

MSM is about one thing and one thing only, and that is pulling in as many viewers as possible to please their advertisers. Don't think for one minute that they have some sort of 'moral' obligation to their viewers, because they don't.

Yeah, sorry, I consider myself fairly cynical, but I think that's bull****.

Oneiric 3

MJohnston wrote: »

Yeah, sorry, I consider myself fairly cynical, but I think that's bull****.

Nope, it isn't. And if you think it is BS, then you are incredibly naïve.

We live in an age now where crucial weather information can be got directly from reputable Met agencies, so no real argument to be had here.

Media, on the other hand, does sensationalise every story it gets its hands on, from weather to politics to everyday dramas, with the sole purpose to pull in an audience to fulfil the demands of their sponsors. Profit before truth. Profit before people.

MJohnston

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Nope, it isn't. And if you think it is BS, then you are incredibly naïve.

We live in an age now where crucial weather information can be got directly from reputable Met agencies, so no real argument to be had here.

Media, on the other hand, does sensationalise every story it gets its hands on, from weather to politics to everyday dramas, with the sole purpose to pull in an audience to fulfil the demands of their sponsors. Profit before truth. Profit before people.

I can tell by your posts that there is little chance of altering your opinion even slightly, I won't bother.

Oneiric 3

MJohnston wrote: »

I can tell by your posts that there is little chance of altering your opinion even slightly, I won't bother.

Whereas you, of course, are open to all perspectives?

Gaoth Laidir

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Nope, it isn't. And if you think it is BS, then you are incredibly naïve.

We live in an age now where crucial weather information can be got directly from reputable Met agencies, so no real argument to be had here.

Media, on the other hand, does sensationalise every story it gets its hands on, from weather to politics to everyday dramas, with the sole purpose to pull in an audience to fulfil the demands of their sponsors. Profit before truth. Profit before people.

While I admired some of CNN's coverage, with different guys in different locations, for several days they had the BREAKING NEWS banner on screen saying "Hurricane Irma heading to Florida". Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but Breaking News usually means just that, breaking news, but to have that on screen all the time with the same headline for days on end says a lot.

No wait, they sometimes changed the word "heading" for more specatular ones like pummel, slam, batter, etc.

MJohnston

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Whereas you, of course, are open to all perspectives?

Indeed I am. I believe there is a certain amount of truth in what you say, but that it is too simplistic to be 100% accurate.

Oneiric 3

MJohnston wrote: »

Indeed I am. I believe there is a certain amount of truth in what you say, but that it is too simplistic to be 100% accurate.

Reality is never really that complicated though, is it?

Your naivety and belief in the goodness of the media is touching, but it is a belief that is without foundation in the real world.

MJohnston

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Reality is never really that complicated though, is it?

Are you for real? Of course it is.

Anyway, a before and after on Florida's power outages:





Really cool zoomed out view of Irma here too:

Oneiric 3

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

No wait, they sometimes changed the word "heading" for more specatular ones like pummel, slam, batter, etc.

Did not the 'mercury soar/nose dive' etc etc while they were at it? :rolleyes:

Oneiric 3

MJohnston wrote: »

Are you for real? [/IMG]

Ya better believe it.

Gaoth Laidir

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Did not the 'mercury soar/nose dive' etc etc while they were at it? :rolleyes:

I believe it plummeted...

MJohnston

Hard to distinctly make out because of the sand that's been churned up, but there's some significant flooding here, though a lot of it will be uninhabited:

https://twitter.com/weatherdak/status/907347198643339264

Wesser

CelticRambler wrote: »

Elmer Blooker wrote: »

Not much about Irma on Morning Ireland?
No doubt when/if it makes landfall on the US coast there will be non stop coverage, a very grave looking Catriona Perry will be on our screens and airwaves morning, noon and night!

Elmer Blooker wrote: »

At the moment it looks to me that Irma will hit the Leeward Islands, Antigua, Barbuda, St Kitts And Nevis, Anguilla, US and British Virgin Islands, Monserrat, Puerto Rico, Cuba and no doubt many other tiny islands where people will be unable to get into their cars and drive inland.
RTE not covering Irma, obviously waiting for it to hit the US when it will be a REAL hurricane.

Having followed this thread from the beginning, and seen the recent spat over Goath Laidir's interpretation of the data, not to mention the "ah sure it's grand, now that it's fizzled out" it seems that RTE caters perfectly to the boards.ie audience!

Whatever Irma might have been when she stomped across Florida, she has caused massive devastation in other places. The top story and follow-up feature on the French news this evening was a about the complete destruction of the legal system in Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy. The principal courthouse has been destroyed, along with the attorney general's office. The have lost just about every file on everyone who was due to go to trial.

They've brought in the army to restore a semblance of law and order, because those concerned citizens who would like to report looting (and worse) can't phone 999 - because there are no phones.

The island's main hospital was also destroyed. They're treating people in a marquee for the time being - as best they can until they figure out where their doctors and nurses have ended up.

So maybe if the media weren't quite so obsessed with showing videos of windswept journalists, shelter "victims" complaining about not having had a shower for 24 hours, and holiday-makers who had cut short their too adventurous adventure, people might realise that while Florida ultimately escaped with minor damage this time, the evacuation was a good rehearsal for the Cat 4 or 5 that'll make a direct hit on the state in the future.

Fundamentally, poor lives don't matter to the media.
Only rich people matter.

1200 dead in Mumbai due to flooding the week of hurricane Harvey but it barely got reported even though a fraction of those were killed in Texas.

Gaoth Laidir

Irma's now a depression, so here are her stats:

Dates active: Aug 30th - September 12th
Max wind: 160 knots
Lowest pressure: 914 hPa
Days as a named storm: 12.75
Hurricane Days: 11.25
Major Hurricane Days: 8.5
Accumulated Cyclone Energy: 67.5 (questionable, given the overestimated intensity for 2 days)

Gaoth Laidir

Public Advisor to #53 gives the storm total rainfall and max gusts for the whole event. It should be available in the archive shortly at the following link

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2017/al11/al112017.public.053.shtml?

...SELECTED PEAK WIND GUSTS IN MILES PER HOUR EARLIER IN THE EVENT... ...

...FLORIDA...

NAPLES 2 ENE 142
MARCO ISLAND 1 E 130
LELY 2 ESE 122
BIG PINE KEY 2 NNW 120
QUAIL CREEK ESTATES 2 SSW 112
NORTH PERRY AIRPO 2 WNW 109
KEY BISCAYNE 8 SSE 99
MIAMI INTERNATIONAL 1 W 99
NORTH PERRY AIRPO 3 WSW 98
SWEETWATER 2 NE 96
CAPE CANAVERAL 3 NNE 94
OCEAN REEF 8 SE 93
BELLE MEADE 1 S 92
KEY LARGO 8 SSE 92
OCHOPEE 1 W 92
CACHE AT EVERGLADES 91
KEY WEST 2 W 91
ROYAL PALM RANGER S 4 W 91
CORAL GABLES 1 ESE 90
OCEAN REEF 8 SSE 89
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA INTL ARPT 89
MAYPORT NAVAL STATION 87
PORT EVERGLADES 87
DEERFIELD BEACH 3 W 86
JACKSONVILLE INTL ARPT 86
KEY LARGO 1 SE 85
REDLAND 8 NNW 85
FORT MYERS FAA/AP 84
SUNRISE 1 W 84
FLAGLER BEACH 83
GOULDS 1 NE 83
HOMESTEAD PARK 1 WSW 83
OAKLAND PARK 3 NW 83
PINECREST 2 SSW 82
FIU SOUTH CAMPUS 81
HAULOVER CANAL 3 E 81
POMPANO BEACH AIR 1 ESE 81
RSW SOUTHWEST FLORIDA A 81
IMMOKALEE 2 ESE 80
SOUTH MIAMI 2 W 80

...SELECTED PRELIMINARY STORM TOTAL RAINFALL IN INCHES THROUGH 5 AM EDT

...FLORIDA...

FT. PIERCE ST. LUCIE CNTY INTL ARP 15.91
OVIEDO 14.76
CHEKIKA 13.83
INLIKITA 7 WNW 13.63
GAINESVILLE 2.4 NW 12.22
MIMS 8.5 W 12.11
NAPLES 11.87
NATIONAL KEY DEER NWR 11.74
OVIEDO 1.6 SE 11.54
CACHE 11.49
STARKE 11.33
WEST MELBOURNE 11.21
JACKSONVILLE 9.6 SE 11.17
FLEMING ISLAND 2.2 S 11.11
SWITZERLAND 4 WSW 11.11
PANTHER WEST 11.08
ORTEGA 1 WNW 11.00
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 3 NW 10.42
FORT MYERS INTL ARPT 10.33

Cantona's Collars

I know people don't like clicking on DM links but they have a lot of pictures of the devastation on the islands of St. Martin and others.Law and order has pretty much broken down.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4875370/Islanders-fight-scraps-food-St-Martin.html

More images from Florida.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4872940/The-sun-rises-devastation-wreaked-Irma-Florida.html

Storm 10

zerks wrote: »

I know people don't like clicking on DM links but they have a lot of pictures of the devastation on the islands of St. Martin and others.Law and order has pretty much broken down.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4875370/Islanders-fight-scraps-food-St-Martin.html

More images from Florida.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4872940/The-sun-rises-devastation-wreaked-Irma-Florida.html

Incredible pictures so sad for everyone I hope then can recover especially in the Caribbean , thanks for sharing them

Cantona's Collars

Storm 10 wrote: »

Incredible pictures so sad for everyone I hope then can recover especially in the Caribbean , thanks for sharing them

The ones where you can slide from before to after really show the damage Irma did to those islands.

Oneiric 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7K7SaEgB7w

BumperD

Somewhat comical the posts on the last few pages, some discussion still quite rightly focused on the effects of the actual storm, with a core few arm chair hurricane experts the closest they've been to one likely on the television last week pre occupied with stroking their own EGO's and nothing else.

Gaoth Laidir

BumperD wrote: »

Somewhat comical the posts on the last few pages, some discussion still quite rightly focused on the effects of the actual storm, with a core few arm chair hurricane experts the closest they've been to one likely on the television last week pre occupied with stroking their own EGO's and nothing else.

That's the second time you mentioned EGO's [sic]. What exactly do you mean? Stroking egos in what way? Is this thread only about waiting for the big hit/slam/battering/pummelling and nothing else? Is technical comment not allowed? If so then you should delete your comment on how much 1 cubic metre of water weighs as that may be construed as stroking your own ego.

BumperD

Qed.

Gaoth Laidir

BumperD wrote: »

Qed.

So you have no answer, then.

q85dw7osi4lebg

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=302317236903992&id=291058294696553

Storm 10

More pictures of the damage caused by Irma in Florida, its shocking what's happened to everyone where she hit I feel so sorry for the poor people in the Caribbean Islands and Cuba.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4878754/Hurricane-Irma-damaged-90-homes-Florida-Keys.html

MJohnston

Storm 10 wrote: »

More pictures of the damage caused by Irma in Florida, its shocking what's happened to everyone where she hit I feel so sorry for the poor people in the Caribbean Islands and Cuba.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4878754/Hurricane-Irma-damaged-90-homes-Florida-Keys.html

The tragedy of it all is that the poorest are always the worst affected by these storms, and the least capable of repairing the damage.

Meteorite58

Highest water levels during Irma recorded by NOAA tide stations.




From Ryan Maue

Hurricanes mix & cool the ocean surface, sometimes considerably (3-5°C)
Harvey, Katia & Irma upwelling/mixing tracks easily seen in SST map





I have been reading too that quite a few sinkholes have opened up during and after Irma and as Florida is prone to sinkholes there could be a sharp rise in the coming weeks .

Rikand

Meteorite58 wrote: »

You just cant buy that kind of advertising

Gaoth Laidir

A nice image of Irma's gusts.

Depicting the Strength of Irma's Winds with the RTMA

This data visualization from NOAA's Visualization Laboratory shows the maximum wind gusts from Hurricane Irma from September 7 to September 10, 2017. Note how the strongest wind gusts are on the north side of the storm track (the faint dotted line). According to the NOAA's National Hurricane Center, Irma's maximum sustained winds ranged from 110 (on 9/10) to near 180 (on 9/7) miles per hour during this period.

This graphic was created with data from the RTMA, or Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis model, which uses surface observation data to create a highly accurate gridded analysis of past weather conditions. The data covers only the Continental United States and coastal areas, so areas of the storm further to the south and east, where Irma was at maximum intensity, are not visible.