#HurricaneMichael

via RT:

"Hurricane Michael has made landfall in Florida, bringing with it winds of 155 miles per hour. Michael is on track to be the strongest hurricane to batter Florida since 1851.

“No long-time residents of this area will have seen a hurricane this strong before,” said the Weather Channel. No category-4 hurricane has ever made landfall along Florida’s panhandle, and Michael is set to bring winds of up to 155mph and waves of up to 13 feet, enough to rip roofs off houses, and bury them beneath the storm surge.

As well as being the strongest storm to hit Florida in over a century, Michael is poised to be the strongest to hit the US mainland since the extremely active hurricane season of 2004.

"It's a triple threat— it's got high surge, it's got heavy winds or strong winds and heavy rain and a wide area,” FEMA administrator Jeff Byard told Fox News.

“A storm like this could be a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Meteorologist Brett Rayburn told Bloomberg. “Winds of this intensity can really knock down any tree or structure in its path.”

After ripping through Florida, FEMA warned that Hurricane Michael could cause flash flooding throughout Alabama, Georgia, and North and South Carolina. The Carolinas are still recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Florence six weeks ago, and Michael is expected to be orders of magnitude stronger than Florence."

'There are currently 6 tropical storms around the World, including Major #HurricaneMichael. Take a tour below:'

yeah, yeah; we know. it's all because: Trump. Fema response: yeah, that's on him.

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magiamma's picture

It's unusual to see it from below on approach.

The hurricane still has its eye wall intact and will be a tropical storm through the Carolinas and until it moves back over the Atlantic just off of Boston. Holding the eye wall over land is unheard of according to the report I watched.

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wendy davis's picture

@magiamma
yes to the eye wall in tact over land still. with florence, many of the usual algorithms of predicting the path hadn't held. #chaos.

it makes me ill thinking of those who couldn't get out, or will lose everything but their lives. puerto rico, of course, has never recovered from Maria. and this made me cry when i thought of it.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRv-fgfLFTk]

on morning edit: weather underground explained the opening and closing of the eyewall (with photos, even), but their knowledgeable explanations are quite beyond my ken.

"Even veteran meteorologists were astounded by Michael’s ultimate fury. The estimated sustained winds at landfall of 155 mph are at the very top end of Category 4 strength. Unlike most hurricanes, Michael continued to intensify right up until it made landfall just northwest of Mexico Beach around 1 pm EDT. Michael had struggled all day Tuesday to carve out a clear eye and a closed eyewall, yet the hurricane still managed to intensify.

Once the closed eyewall formed on Tuesday night, Michael’s strengthening really took off. The brief life of Michael’s closed eyewall meant that there wasn’t quite enough time for an eyewall replacement cycle to kick in, a process that could have weakened the storm’s top sustained winds by 20 – 30 mph. On the contrary, Michael’s inner structure was at its most impressive right when the storm made landfall: the hurricane’s eye was amazingly distinct on satellite even after it was completely onshore."

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WaterLily's picture

@wendy davis It was a standard in my Catholic-school music classes growing up. I guess I left it behind when I left the religion. But it's so poignantly appropriate here.

Holding everyone in Michael's path in my thoughts. I don't believe this can alter the course of the storm for any of them, but I do hope that our collective empathy can inform a human-to-human, and humane, response.

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wendy davis's picture

@WaterLily

i suppose i was trying to convey the same thing with cockburn's great cover of 'strong hand of love'.

i hadn't even thought of 'row the boat ashore' as catholic, but i see now how it's at least christian. lots of our camp song were, as well. who knew that as a kid? i sent myownself to church back in the day.

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wendy davis's picture

@WaterLily

'michael' might have been referring to the archangel michael, and according to some, it's so. but holy crow, it's a negro spiritual sung by slaves.

'It was first noted during the American Civil War at St. Helena Island, one of the Sea Islands of South Carolina.

It was sung by former slaves whose owners had abandoned the island before the Union navy arrived to enforce a blockade. Charles Pickard Ware was an abolitionist and Harvard graduate who had come to supervise the plantations on St. Helena Island from 1862 to 1865, and he wrote down the song in music notation as he heard the freedmen sing it. Ware's cousin William Francis Allen reported in 1863 that the former slaves sang the song as they rowed him in a boat across Station Creek.'

the wiki has more; but thanks for causing me to trace it down, dear Eagles.

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WaterLily's picture

@wendy davis Thank YOU for searching this out -- what a wonderful history that I wouldn't have known otherwise. I'd always assumed it was Michael the angel as well.

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wendy davis's picture

@WaterLily

sometimes my quirky brain pings lead to...gold? ; ) and you're very welcome; how wonderful to know, and i'm so glad i'd brought it.

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snoopydawg's picture

@magiamma

Here. Fortunately there have been only two deaths, but I'm sure that the numbers will rise. One of the photos is of a house made of concrete blocks and it's totally collapsed. One article I read said that a woman's friends thought that she would be safe in that type of house.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

snoopydawg's picture

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

ooof. i wonder if rick scott sent buses for evacuations before he said 'if you haven't evacuated, take shelter!'

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snoopydawg's picture

@wendy davis

who couldn't evacuate. But then they were probably rich just like the ones in New Orleans that were evacuated from the hotel right next to the superdome. The poor people who couldn't evacuate will be blamed for making the rescuers risk their lives to save them.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

when i got online early this a.m. i hit the bing. most recent coverage i found was from the sun-sentinel, just yanno, *mentioning* how many people had *chosen* to stay and ride the storm out. gawd's blood; how many poor and disabled, once again, couldn't get the hell out, nor perhaps even get to a makeshift shelter to sleep on the floor.

well, only two known deaths so far, but that tally will likely rise. in puerto rico, remember, the reported number of deaths was political, and went from a couple dozen to over 1200+ eventually.

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ggersh's picture

@wendy davis me the truth is most likely higher and
like Maria it will take quite sometime if ever for the
greatest most terrific best greatest incredible
idiot to admit it.

add msm to that truth telling

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

wendy davis's picture

@ggersh

earlier. it gets confusing as to new comments, but never mind. i suppose you're right, and i was just asking gulf gal downthread the same thing, esp. as she'd said that the outer islands are somewhat inaccessible. how many more are under rubble still?

but my hope is that boss tweet won't be in charge of the count, but locals on the ground. what the great orange one did to screw puerto rico from getting massive international aid will mean he will burn in metaphorical hell, though.

coincidentally, i just opened today's popular resistance newsletter and found: 'Call For The Convening Of A People’s Tribunal On US Crimes Against The People Of PR', By Staff, Puertoricotribunal.org (translated from the spanish)

"Then we came to the situation – to the enormous crisis – following the hurricanes Irma and Maria who have shown the world the power of nature that is also besieged by the policies of rich countries that prioritize capital over the most basic of needs , the health of the planet. But it has also demonstrated the criminal cruelty with which the US empire has responded to the great devastation of the hurricanes and their plans to restructure Puerto Rico for their benefit.

Today, more than ten months after the storm, it can not be said that there is recovery at any level. On the contrary, progress has been made in trying to impose the most terrible austerity policies, from the privatization of basic services such as electricity and education, to the rise in the cost of living while eliminating benefits, pensions, and dismissing workers. . The current conditions where a people is immersed in solving their problems of housing, health and mere survival have been used to advance a satanic agenda that was already exposed in the Kruger * Report of 2015, direct recipes of the International Monetary Fund. Remove the poor to give to the rich.

Nor can we ignore the genocidal actions of FEMA and the Corps of Engineers US Army, not only for being slow to respond to the needs, but their refusal to give aid that would be required to give the people. It should also include insurers and all the vulture companies that have profited from the town and at the same time have denied the service for which they were hired." there's more of course, and we all wish them well in their (quixotic?) quest.

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ggersh's picture

@wendy davis not that the neolib D's are
any better, surprising the people of PR
just don't fight back seems as if they've
nothing to lose.

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Unabashed Liberal's picture

a little bit disturbing, in that the young boy probably should have been wearing sneakers, at least.

Dog In Clothes Basket & Boy - Hurricane Michael.JPG

Blue Onyx

"Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong."
~~W. R. Purche

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wendy davis's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

his pup and his skateboard. but sure it's touching as all giddy-up, the darlin' boy.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

wendy davis's picture

@Amanda Matthews

lat evening i couldn't think of a thing to say; just 'let the tweets say it all'.

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Hawkfish's picture

Was about an hour after landfall. Which didn’t help.

One of the recent trends in tropical storm behavior that doesn’t get a lot of media attention is the rapid intensification. Matthew was supposed to come ashore as a cat 3 / 125mph storm. 24 hours after that forecast it was 175.

It wasn’t even that old- it got started in the southern Caribbean and spent a few days sitting over 28C+ water and wham.

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We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

gulfgal98's picture

@Hawkfish category 1 hurricane to a high category 4 in a little over 24 hours. That is unheard of.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

gulfgal98's picture

in the vicinity. I am also a veteran of hurricanes, having lived most of my life in coastal communities here.

The single greatest threat to life is storm surge. The Apalachee Bay along the Florida panhandle has one of the greatest storm surge values outside Alaska. This is due to the fact that the continental shelf extends far out into the Gulf before dropping off. Storm surges of 10-14 feet are catastrophic. As an example, hurricane Dennis which hit far to the west of St. George Island, the barrier island that protects Apalachicola, had absolutely zero wind impacts, but the storm surge was devastating.

Inland, in cities like Tallahassee, the biggest issue is uprooted trees and the destruction of the electrical system. We experienced that when hurricane Kate hit back in the 1980's. We were only eight miles from the center of town and yet we were without power for 8 days. Our neighbors who were on a different transformer went almost two weeks.

It will be days before we know the full extent of the damage to the barrier islands. It will be at least that long before some of the people have power restored.

One last thing. With a hurricane, being on the east side is far worse than being to the west. Mexico Beach where Michael made landfall is midway between Panama City and Apalachicola, with Panama City being to the west. So any pictures you see from Panama City will probably be not nearly as bad as those from Apalachicola, St. George Island, Alligator Point, Panacea or even Tallahassee which is inland.

Our family in Tallahassee is fine.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

wendy davis's picture

@gulfgal98

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gulfgal98's picture

@wendy davis on St. George Island came from a security camera at a neighboring house. When I saw this video, I wondered how someone could stand in the storm surge to capture that. Later, I found out it was from a security camera.

I am very familiar with SGI and the ground level house in the video is located in an older area on the bay side of the island. When the hurricane approaches, water will rush from bay on the north side of the island first and then from the Gulf on the south side as the hurricane comes in, making for two storm surges on barrier islands like SGI. The first photos of St. George Island are just being posted to the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper website.

For those who do not know, storm surge is created when the winds from the storm push the water on to the land very quickly causing a sudden rise in the height of the water.

Inland, 90 miles away, Tallahassee suffered nearly complete destruction of the electrical system which is city owned. And Tallahassee is a tree city USA so there are lots of trees down and blocking roads. Despite it looking like a massive amount of devastation, initial reports of property damage seems to be fairly minimal in Tallahassee. It sounds as though it could have been much worse.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

wendy davis's picture

@gulfgal98

and knowledge are invaluable. here's the TD on twitter, and i guess directions to the photos at their website.

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WoodsDweller's picture

Even now he is practising his paper towel toss!

Re: rapid intensification. This is the new normal. One report mentioned the Gulf was "unusually warm". No, it's the new normal, and it's going to continue warming. Every storm that looks like it may come ashore should be expected to intensify. Storm tracks are still predictable, but intensities may not be. Should every storm, of whatever size, now get an evacuation order? They are disruptive and expensive, yet the cost of not evacuating is immense.

Is it time yet to deny building permits within 250 vertical feet of current sea level? Or are we going to continue the fantasy that we can continue to inhabit today's coastlines for a little while longer?

From Huffpost, speaking about yesterday's IPCC report:

“How is that new? They’ve said the same thing before,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said, adding that his responsibility was to “balance those interests raised in that report with (his state’s) broader economic and security interests.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

wendy davis's picture

@WoodsDweller

who'd said they're ain't enuff money for that!

"The IPCC recommended several steps needed to reverse carbon dioxide emissions, including replacing the use of fossil fuels with renewable energy such as wind and solar, as well as growing more forests, which naturally recycles CO2. It also said that employing new technologies to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere will be necessary to achieve the emissions target."

shoot, when i did the geo-engineering part on my climate series, even james n'uclear energy' hansen estimated the costs at trillions. not to mention the hidden (external) costs of wind and solar on that sort of scale, but hope.dies.last.

i'm with the deep adaptation dude: no more adaptations, resiliencies, just 'relinquishments'.

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No wonder so many didn't evacuate. The networks ran out of hyperbole, and it may well be that the media can't juggle more than one panic at a time. I've given up on outrage. I've almost given up on paying attention. I suspect, I'm not alone in that reaction.

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gulfgal98's picture

@leveymg The devastation from Florence was mostly due to the enormous rainfall it brought. This is similar to the situation with Harvey in Texas, particularly the Houston area. Florence stalled over the Carolinas for an extended period of time (days) dumping tremendous amounts of rain over the area and causing extensive flooding.

Michael was a much more powerful storm with higher winds. But thankfully, Michael was also a very fast moving storm and moved very quickly through the panhandle of Florida in just several hours. So most of the damage from Michael is going to be from wind and storm surge.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Unabashed Liberal's picture

@leveymg

my bet is you didn't grow up around the Gulf Coast, or, you'd probably not be so sanguine.

Experiencing Hurricane Camille was almost traumatizing, which I why I keep talking about it. (And, I'm talking about the devastation in states that weren't the one where it made initial landfall.) Ironically, our properties (in AL and FL) escaped Michael, even though they were included in the earlier Hurricane Warnings.

Two words--"we're blessed." (Hope that's not offensive to folks, but, that's how we feel.)

Already heard a meteorologist say that Michael is now 3rd--after Camille (#2), and the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane (#1) for lowest pressure at landfall.

Now, I agree that (at times) the corporatist MSM overhypes weather events. And, they're very disgusting the way that they exploit people who've just experienced devastating loss--for ratings. So, we ignore them for our weather news (Cable News, that is), and follow the NWS, and XM Radio Weather Channels, exclusively. XM Channel 145 is covering Michael, and, is even available to nonsubscribers.

Thanks for leading the coverage on this, WD. (And, to GG.) Admittedly, we've been distracted by trying to figure out how we'd be impacted. My heart goes out to those folks who were hit, especially who took the most direct and devastating blows. (It's been years since I've gone beyond Escambia County FL/Pensacola, so, I'm not familiar with the FL counties/towns most devastated. When I did live there, it was in elementary school in the Temple Terrace/Tampa area.)

Blue Onyx

"Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong."
~~W. R. Purche

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

wendy davis's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

you went through Camille? 'almost traumatized' must be low-balling it. i looked at the Wiki on her, trying to figure out where mr. wd and i had seen some of the devastation years later on a trip across the gulf coast. gulfport, perhaps? it's likely one of the key reasons that i've paid so much attention to hurricanes, their often devastating effects, the 'rebuilding' by grifters, including 'The Crescent City 10 Years after the Levees Failed' (F*cking the Haitian 99%: Another Clinton Family Project, café babylon, and so on.

so yes, you have been blessed, and i know we're all glad to know it, as we're pleased that gulf gal has, as well.

the weather underground coverage i'd linked below had noted:

Michael’s place in hurricane history and how it got there

Michael’s central pressure at landfall was estimated by hurricane hunters at 919 mb, and the Univ. of Florida/Weatherflow station near Tyndall AFB measured a central surface pressure of 920 mb. The only two hurricanes in U.S. history known to make landfall with a lower central pressure were Mississippi’s Camille (1969, 900 mb) and Florida’s Labor Day Hurricane (1935, 892 mb). Both of these were Category 5 storms at landfall. The nation’s only other landfalling Cat 5 on record was Andrew (1992, 922 mb). Andrew was initially classified as a Category 4, then upgraded in 2004 after the storm was reanalyzed. It’s possible that the National Hurricane Center will find enough evidence to similarly promote Michael, but we’ll have to wait and see on that.

Another very close contemporary of Michael’s would be Hurricane Maria from 2017. Maria struck Puerto Rico with a central pressure of 920 mb and peak winds of 155 mph." and many more comparisons to the annals of hurricanes..."

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wendy davis's picture

i'll be back in the morning to see how much devastation there is/was.

i know all of our prayers (even if apatheistic) and good wishes and thoughts go out to all who are in Michael's path, and that they feel the strong hand of love reaching out to one another. mark heard said it right; cockburn's cover is whoosh-worthy.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoz4N_exq3A]

night all, and thanks for caring. let's hope no one gets shot for...'looting' and 'rioting'.

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mhagle's picture

I have a nephew in that area, but he went to Jacksonville to hang out with his sister during the storm. News is that his place is OK>

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

wendy davis's picture

@mhagle

it's kinda a joint report, with many more able assists than my original shell. but that's so good to hear!

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wendy davis's picture

had this up yesterday: 10 ‘Michael Slamming Georgia with Fierce Wind, Torrential Rain’ has a round-up of reports as Michael becomes a tropical storm'. it’s worth reading and seeing the images, but they also report the storm surges and wind speeds in various locations, as well as Michael's intensity levels of past hurricanes. the barometric pressure was the third lowest ever recorded. this video was featured."

on edit: i'd forgotten to bring the linl.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=25&v=o5DyL8C1sFM]

their coverage today is here.

"See the huge gap in weather reporting stations? That’s because #HurricaneMichael knocked them out." (the tweet)

one site, and i'd thought it was wunderground, had a map of global ocean temps, much of the map was coded as 85 +F, but dagnabbit, i can't find it again. i'll go back to noaa, just in case it's there.

on edit: found it by bingling images. anyone know how the temps compare to other years? woods dweller? iirc, this is in your wheelhouse.

here's NOAA's analysis of changing sea temps over time at climate.gov.

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mimi's picture

@wendy davis
you and the commentators did a great job to help me understand. In situations like that all I have is a silent prayer and an amen.

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wendy davis's picture

@mimi

in spades. and you're welcome for providing the venue (for more information by the more experienced). ; )

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WoodsDweller's picture

@wendy davis
The overall trend in sea surface temperatures (SST) is up. I caught one detail in an article yesterday, that usually by this time of year there have been one or two cool weather fronts passing through the panhandle area by this time of year that cool the surface a bit, but they haven't had them this year.
Climate Reanalyzer is a good source for things like SST and SST anomaly charts, fairly easy to use.
It's worth noting that SST above 26.5 C will add energy to a hurricane (temperatures below that reduce its energy). You can see on your image the shade of red that corresponds to it, much of the ocean is that warm even at this late date in the year. If a storm forms it will intensify.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

wendy davis's picture

@WoodsDweller

the weather site that had featured the map above had mentioned climate reanalyzer, the source of the map), but the nooa one has dates, years, etc. of sea temps as well. my understanding is that hurricanes will also carry more moisture when the oceans are warmer; some scientists have posited that more categories be reckoned for hurricanes, and that the drought monitors have higher categories than 'exceptional'. (the global version i found hadn't had the keys named.)

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gulfgal98's picture

@wendy davis This is the first video I have seen of Mexico Beach. I am not personally familiar with Mexico Beach as it is to the west of Apalachicola so I do not know how it looked before the hurricane. But the amount of destruction is mind boggling!

This video goes to show just how powerful a hurricane is at the center of it (eye wall). It appears that any wooden structure was completely destroyed by the sheer force of the winds. This is why people are urged to evacuate before a major hurricane.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

WoodsDweller's picture

I'm not sure if this is widely known...
In the world that was, there was a governor of sorts on hurricanes which put an upper limit on their strength, and why the consensus was that you couldn't have more than a category 5 storm. A governor in this context is part of a mechanical engine that prevents it from going too fast, generally by throtteling down the fuel feed.
A stronger storm with lower pressure will pull up water from a greater depth, and the warm water is at the surface. Once a storm gets too strong (pressure too low) it will start pulling the cooler water from lower layers, water that is below 26.5, and that cuts off the energy supply to the storm and weakens it.
In the world that is not only is the surface warmer, but the thickness of the warm surface layer is deeper. That allows a storm to build to a stronger level (lower pressure) before it starts sucking cold water. As warming continues and the oceans absorb more heat that surface layer gets thicker as well as warmer, allowing more powerful storms to form.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

wendy davis's picture

@WoodsDweller

i/we will try to internalize it. i'd been about to say that higher ocean temps also increase
the melting of glaciers (underneath them) at the poles, but iirc, opinions differ on that as well. zo...i'll try to muzzle my mouth, rather than look up the opinions. maybe later i will. my honeydew chores are building up in RL, whatever that is. ; )

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WaterLily's picture

@wendy davis But your last line made me chuckle!

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gulfgal98's picture

@WoodsDweller of the science of how the warm water fuels hurricanes. It also explains why Michael is the strongest storm to hit the US this late in the season. Thank you!

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

wendy davis's picture

that weather bombs were kinda being conflated with climate change. not that i'm all that knowledgeable, but they rally aren't the same.

climate it was happens over time, usually 30 years are looked at, and analyze the aggregates of patterns in categories: precipitation, temps, humidity, wind velocity, etc. and yes, there are anomalies even in those longer term patterns, due to factors like la nina, el nino, the disappearnce of the gulf stream (?), etc.

within climate change/chaos of course are many other relevant factors, most especially as changes post-industrial civilization (WWII?). but 'scientific' arguments and opinions abound around even those measurements, and/or what they mean, and IF they can be...contained.

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constitutes a "taking". The city would be forced to pay them for their loss. I'm not saying its a bad idea, but it's expensive.
Rebuilding houses puts people to work--that's good.
We should be spending money here, not on blowing up the ME. I'm hoping voters eventually figure that out.

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chuck utzman

TULSI 2020

gulfgal98's picture

It appears to me that the original structures in Mexico were older wooden houses on ground level and none of them survived. I have never seen this amount of devastation even in videos. The area is unrecognizable as what was once a beach community.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13UoLG4assM]

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

wendy davis's picture

@gulfgal98

i'd figured we'd see aerial views today (or at least soon), but it's hard to understand that only two deaths have been reported so far. will there be more discovered under the rubble, or on the more inaccessible islands as you've posited?

i'd checked coverage of michael in georgia and the carolinas, and while the atlanta journal constitution claimed ‘Hurricane Michael: Damage in Georgia is ‘phenomenal’’

“The powerful storm claimed the life of an 11-year-old girl in Southwest Georgia, which appeared to have borne the brunt of Michael’s wrath. (County authorities said the child died after some type of debris crashed into her home.)
Utility crews around the state are scrambling to restore power to more than 300,000 customers.

Michael charged into Georgia Wednesday night, packing 115 mph winds. It was the first Category 3 hurricane, to make a direct hit on the state in more than a century, according to Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brad Nitz.

“In Albany, daylight revealed Michael’s might: 100 intersections blocked, 24,720 customers without power, trees toppled on houses, siding wrapped around light poles, and the glass blown out of the downtown convention center.", etc., it struck me as more as a plea for federal funding, in a way.

the reports from the carolinas were really more about...the panhandle.

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gulfgal98's picture

@wendy davis is now five in Florida, four of which were in Gadsden County which is an inland county with some of the highest elevations in northern Florida. So I am guessing those deaths were from trees falling or something similar. I have not yet seen the cause of death for these individuals.

Personally, I believe that the death toll will be relatively low. People in Florida take hurricanes seriously, especially those in coastal areas.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

wendy davis's picture

@gulfgal98

quite correct, but i'm thinking of the poor and/or disabled who don't have the wherewithal to
either evacuate or get to a shelter. but the search goes on. meanwhile, the weather channel is reporting:

"The storm's downpours also flooded homes in Virginia and led to water rescues and at least four flash flood emergencies later in the day. At least five people died in the state late Thursday and early Friday because of the flooding." and that the child in georgia died when a 'carport' hit her family's house.

this is fascinating as well as breath-takingly illustrative:

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gulfgal98's picture

@wendy davis that most of the houses in Mexico Beach were "old Florida" ground level beach homes built before the laws required them to be built up on pilings. It is sad to see because what will be rebuilt will be big McMansion homes or condos. The long term residents will be driven out by the costs and it will be out of town rich people and vacation rentals.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

wendy davis's picture

@gulfgal98

there primary residences, or do you know? from what you say, it seems like the answer is 'yes'. if so, how tragic for those folks.

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gulfgal98's picture

@wendy davis but I am basing my assumption on what I have known about other coastal communities in this part of Florida. Most beach communities are partially vacation rental, second homes, and permanent residents. Like many beach communities in this part of Florida, as they become more popular, a smaller percentage of the population consists of full time residents. Here is what Wikipedia says about Mexico Beach.

As of the census[4] of 2010, there were 1,072 people, 563 households, and 320 families residing in the city. The population density was 595.6 inhabitants per square mile (233.0/km²). There were 1,852 housing units...

So about 1/3 of the housing units were occupied by residents, with the remainder being vacation rentals and second homes.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

wendy davis's picture

@gulfgal98

the decreasing number of permanent members makes sense. i'd seen a headline noting that hurricane devastations create jobs in the construction trade. and the grifters are already all over the related #Michael hastags. 'let us show you how we deal with mold!'. etc.

what a world. anyhoo, thanks so much for adding your vast expertise to this thread.

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gulfgal98's picture

@wendy davis for doing this essay. I think you are very right. Disasters create economic opportunities for rich grifters.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

wendy davis's picture

@gulfgal98

and the poor get poorer...♫ disaster capitalism.

your cornell west quote? we're not doing such a good job of bringing down the empire, but by its actions, others are. hence, the aggressive loose-cannon panic keeps building. sigh.

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WaterLily's picture

@wendy davis About the motivation behind those Georgia reports.

I have family in Athens, and they didn't even lose power.

Not to say that this is authoritative ... just anecdotal.

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wendy davis's picture

@WaterLily

not many in georgia lost power, so...there's that.

but the headline had Screamed!!!!

glad ya got a chuckle up yonder. honeydews or RL, etc.? @WaterLily

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wendy davis's picture

deaths from hurricane Michael, but no one i've found names any but the poor man killed by a falling tree in florida, and the dear 11-yr-old in southwestern georgia whose death was caused by a falling tree falling on her family's house.

there will be more of course, but tonight's closing lullabies will be in their honor, and the other to come. nanci speaks of the gulf coast highway in texas, but never mind; the sentiment is much the same. bruce, well...whoosh; well done.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okUYwIdxRWs]

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPZut-7sU1U]

good night all you good souls; i'm (hopefully) out.

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wendy davis's picture

Deadly Tropical Storm Michael Hammers Florida, Georgia Before Flooding the Carolinas and Virginia (PHOTOS)’, 4 hours ago, weather.com (467 photos, seriously)

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