Post by trotskyHurricane Florence is now a Cat. 1, thus the media over promised and
under delivered. Kind of the opposite of Puerto Rico, but they
weren't white.
Categories don't really matter. Categories are only about the wind speed.
"Only?" 130 mph sustained winds are more devastating than 90 mph winds.
"One forecaster says the harm done by a 90 mph wind would be
comparable to that suffered from a 110 mph wind.
That sounds scientific.
“I would not read too much into the categories,” said Howard
Silverman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Hurricane categories only consider the wind speed, Silverman said,
and “a hurricane is so much more than just the wind. You have the
rain, you have the storm surge."
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/weather/bs-md-hurricane-florence-category-20180913-story.html#
That said, the media always has a field day when there's a threat like this.
I'm not saying there isn't going to be danger from these. I'm just
saying the predictions were more extreme than the reality. And that
Puerto Rico didn't get nearly the coverage this is, although we know
how devastating that was.
Nobody can predict hurricanes with any measure of certainty. They do
things that are completely unexpected all the time. I've seen them make
landfall, and swing around, go out to sea and come back for a second hit.
That's besides the point, the point being the media "predicts" these
hurricanes as being life ending events every time. It's called
sensationalism. My post had two components: the sensationalism of the
media coverage, and the lack of media coverage in an actual catastrophic
event in Puerto Rico. They covered the the hurricane, but the aftermath
when they were completely abandoned was left under covered because it
didn't fit the narrative of the particular brand of sensationalism that
is their stock in trade.
My point was that the Categories are ONLY a reflection of wind speed,
nothing more. They don't say a thing about the severity of the damages
that can be done.
I see your point, but it's absolutely incorrect. This article is from 2007:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/06/hurricane.scale/
If you look at the descriptions of the categories you'll see a Cat. 1
does damage to unanchored mobile homes and shubbery, and a Cat. 4 has
Damage: Extensive damage to doors, windows and lower floors of shoreline
houses; total roof failures on small residences; shrubs, trees, and all
signs blown down; mobile homes completely destroyed
A fast moving Cat 5 will do real damage... but nothing that compares to
a slow moving Cat 2 storm. It's a different kind of damage and danger.
A fast Cat 5 is pure power. A slow Cat 2 will threaten with flood waters.
Yeah that's bullshit too. But, I didn't know the Saffir-Simpson
Hurricane Scale accounts for flooding and water damage severity either
BECAUSE I'VE NEVER HEARD THE MEDIA MENTION IT ONCE.
The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale rates a hurricane's intensity using wind speed and storm surge, which is the abnormal rise in sea level accompanying a hurricane or other intense storm. The scale also estimates the potential damage and flooding expected along the coast from a hurricane landfall.
So, again, opinions are fine, but it's always nice when you can footnote
your opinions with facts, which I always try to do.
I'd rather wait through a quick storm that's over in a few hours. (In
fact, I have several times.) They're over and done with quickly - and
unless you get direct damage, you clean up and move on. I have 2
generators for the aftermath.
A flood, on the other hand, is much more widespread and the resulting
damage will take longer to fix, and can be far more costly. Water
damage and mold is far worse than fixing the damage from a tree falling,
or a roof being damaged.
You almost have to rebuild if the flooding is severe enough.
Sure, but as stated the S-S scale accounts for that.