The Arrival of the Super Storms

 

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   The erratic weather has given forecasters reason to worry. It is not so much that extremes have become commonplace, because this can excused away as a new trend. Mankind only has a shallow sense of weather patterns since most recorded history is based on the last 125 years. Here in the United States weather patterns have move from record warmth to record cold in some cases a week. This oscillating of extreme air masses pushed by an erratic jet stream are now arriving behind each other in shorter time spans, will spawn the storms of the millennia in the near future.

   The active Sun, which has been noticed with its extreme bursts of X-class flares is raising the energy levels of the atmosphere and ocean currents, thus higher wind speeds between high and low pressure cells occur more frequently to equalize the air masses. This results in frontal lines with higher differentials and low pressure centers reaching new energy levels unseen in recent human history. These events will not be any more powerful than Earth’s worst storms, but it will be the linear increase in frequency, that will disturb all. This will spell disaster for US especially the southern coastal regions of the and havoc cause in the plains. In the rest of the undeveloped world it will business as usual as typhoons and hurricanes raze islands and low lying countries stripping them of all signs of civilization and life. 

Update: The first super storm of the season has appeared in the western Pacific packing winds greater than 160 mph. Typhoon Dianmu did not cause enough damage to get any notice from the public, but this is the first of many to come over the next several years, as we have had Alex, Charlie, Frances, Javier, Ivan and Jeanne . The super storm will be different in that its size and destructive force, not intensity will have never been seen in the recent history of man.

Super Storms that have now affected the US

Hurricane Katrina Sept. 2005 6th strongest in recorded history 902mb. 150 knots*

Hurricane Rita Sept. 2005 4rd strongest in recorded history 897mb. 150 knots*

Hurricane Wilma Oct. 2005 the strongest in recorded history 882mb. 150 knots*

*official numbers

What is odd is that the wind speeds of the recent hurricanes are below normal in relationship to the lowest pressure, leading one to believe in a reduction of statistics to prevent panic.

Hurricane Facts

Statistics - Strongest Hurricanes

Hurricane Date Pressure Peak winds Total # of hours
at Cat 5
Total # of hours
winds 155+ knots
1. Gilbert Sept. 13, 1988 888 mb
(26.22 in.)
160 knots 18 hours 6 hours
2. Florida Keys Sept. 3, 1935 892 mb
(26.34 in.)
140 knots 3 hours 0 hours
3. Allen Aug. 7, 1980 899 mb
(26.55 in.)
165 knots 24/24/12 hours1 3/12/3 hours1
4. Mitch Oct. 26, 1998 905 mb
(26.73 in.)
155 knots 33 hours 15 hours
5. Camille Aug. 17, 1969 905 mb
(26.73 in.)
165 knots 24 hours 18 hours

 

Related Articles

Katrina: Reduction of Wind Speeds

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