Hurricanes move from East to West, it works well for the West Coast, not so much for the Eastern Seaboard.

Hurricane Florence heading towards the East Coast.

I posted this blog one year ago at the beginning of Hurricane season now another season is upon us. There are numerous storms in the Eastern Atlantic ocean, Hurricane Florence is barreling down on Florida as this is being written. It is now at 75 miles per hour wind speed, it must be 74 mph to qualify as a Category 1 storm, Florence is just over the threshold. Helene and Issac are right behind the first one, their path has not been determined however over the next few days it will be.

Hurricane Olivia heading towards Hawaii.

Hurricane Olivia is heading for the Hawaiian Islands, churning away at 80 miles per hour it is also just over the lower limit to be a Catagory 1 storm. It is Northeast of Hilo and is expected to make landfall as early as Tuesday evening. The island state is expecting a direct hit from this storm, unlike Hurrican Lane that dropped 50 inches of rain last month. The second Hurricane in as many months to impact them, one curious thing did occur during that storm. The volcano was still spewing Lava into the ocean not too far from Hilo when the storm struck it was reported the volcano stepped back a bit and took a break. It did not completely cease the flow but reduced it dramatically, however, geologists are expecting it to build up the pressure and begin flowing in earnest once again.

Hurricanes move from East to West on the West coast, and East to West on the East coast, then when they move north towards New York they take a turn and head West towards Europe. It's a curious thing why we in the West never get impacted by them, I explain it in this blog. Hurricanes that travel up Baja California through the Sea of Cortez do affect us minimally after the tail end works it's way through Arizona and heads Westward. Normally the reaction from residents in California is one of "Gee, it's humid." Hurricanes need warm water to gain strength, the Pacific Ocean is increasingly colder the further North one goes. Cold water is a Hurricane killer, the storms need fuel and warm water supplies that energy. Other conditions impact the typically tropical storms as well, in this blog I discuss a few more.

Hurricanes are flaky, unpredictable, powerful, very destructive and very wet, they are a water-fueled event, losing much of their strength after achieving landfall. How are they formed, where and how do they gain and lose their strength? It's not really complicated but there is a lot to the formation of a Hurricane, I will explore and explain the catastrophic beginnings that impact the East Coast of the United States, I will describe the steps as they occur throughout the world.

Tropical Hurricanes are fickle, all of the right conditions must be present in order for one to begin to form, as soon as those conditions break down, so does the storm. Mostly all Hurricanes (Cyclones are nearly the same, I will refer to both as "Hurricanes") have a beginning as a "tropical disturbance". Areas of thunderstorms and active weather in the tropics, in the case of our "Eastern" impacting storms most, originate off the coast of Africa. Often "cold fronts" coming from the North make their way into tropical areas, meeting the warm air and ocean of the tropics. During Hurricane season unsettled stormy weather referred to as a "tropical wave" will blow over the Atlantic from Africa. Several conditions must be met in order for these areas to form into a tropical storm or Hurricane, they are:

  1) It must be a tropical thunderstorm

  2) It must be 300 miles from the equator. (500 kilometers)

  3) The water temperature of the ocean must be 80 degrees F (27C) or warmer to a depth of at least 165 feet deep (50 meters approx.) in the ocean.

  4) The atmosphere must be saturated with moisture.

  5) Very low wind shear is needed. too much and the storm will not be able to spin.

Some must grab what they can and flee.

A tropical storm will form once all of these conditions are met, the pressure in the center of the depression will drop allowing strong winds to rush towards it when it achieves a wind speed of 39 miles per hour it is then officially called a "tropical storm", it is then named. Irma performed just like this on August 30th, 2017 picking up speed and energy as it transversed the Atlantic Ocean driven by the trade winds. Measuring and tracking all of the data collected by means of instruments on islands, buoy's and aircraft that fly directly into the storms measuring wind speeds. Predicting the path of a storm as well as all of the parameter's involved is expensive, each prediction cost several million dollars, many lives are saved when the predictions are accurate.

Hurricanes gather energy as they move across regions of water that is warmer than is common, and the wind shear is minimal causing the pressure in the eye to drop even further. That is when the wind really intensifies, as the monster is being created it is able to gain or lose strength as it progresses across the wide span of warm tropic water. Hurricanes are cataloged as dictated by the Saffir-Simpson scale, the base measurement is their wind speed, then a prediction of the extent of potential damage is enabled. When the wind speed is 74 miles per hour or greater the tropical storm is then categorized as a Hurricane. There are 5 Hurricane categories, most of us have heard the terminology I will list and briefly explain them:

Lightning and thunder are part of it all, tornadoes are as well.

  1) Category 1: Wind speed of 74-95 mph, minor damage forecast, injuries to humans minimal and isolated, short-term power outages.

  2) Category 2: Wind speed of 96-110, property damage is significant with flooding, falling and blowing debris increases the threat to humans, power outages become a multi-day event.

  3) Category 3: Wind speed of 111-130 mph, property damage is intensive with mobile homes destroyed and extensive flooding, evacuations of humans are mandatory, lose of all utilities for up to several weeks.

  4) Category 4: Wind speed of 131-151 mph, great property damage is incurred houses and structures destroyed beyond repair, the threat of death is serious in certain areas for humans, very long-term utility outages.

  5) Category 5: Wind speed of greater than 155mph, complete destruction of homes and shopping centers, many trees are blown over uprooting them, the possibility of lack of utilities is extended to months.

For a comparison Hurricane Irma achieved wind speeds of 185 miles per hour, that's a powerful wind. I was once in a wind storm that had gusting winds of up to 80 mph, once in a while we have those kinds of winds, it destroyed our dock, breaking the 12" diameter wood pylons off at the mud line on the bottom. I was on the dock at the time tying down a huge boat we were storing for a person, the wind caught the boat by the broadside causing pressure on the pylons. The first pylon sounded like an explosion, then immediately after that the other two snapped, the wind is powerful.

That's how Hurricanes are made, and it's only one half of the Hurricanes life cycle, the second act is the degrading cycle and how it loses it's energy and dissipates into thin air. Warm moist water feeds them, the warmer the ocean temp the more energy a Hurricane gathers, that is until it makes landfall. As the storm loses the warm water it weakens, there is no water over land so they basically run out of gas however when they reach wind speeds of under 75 miles per hour they are downgraded to "tropical storm" status. A Hurricane can head back out to sea, enabling it to once again achieve wind speeds that classify it as a Hurricane, sometimes as with Hurricane Hermine in 2016 they make landfall and are downgraded only to energize after returning to sea, they can make landfall again. But when the Hurricane is on land it gradually weakens to the point of becoming a heavy rain event as it moves North, dumping great amounts of rain with gusting winds it is doomed to never live in its glory days ever again, it has died.

Even though not classified as a Hurricane a tropical storm is still capable of causing extensive damage, as in 2012 "Super-storm Sandy" was not a Hurricane when it made landfall and destroyed New Jersey and New York. It's hard to even imagine a storm being more destructive than a tropical storm that morphs into a Hurricane, I've tried in my mind to equate blizzards and wildfire destruction to them, there is a very little comparison outside of the massive destruction. When combined the extremely high winds and massive amounts of rain causing flooding, as well as the unbelievable cleanup in its path,  make Hurricanes one of the worst storms we encounter. It's actually bad business to compare disasters, they are all horrific when we are in the position of surviving them.

The people in Houston, Puerto Rico and Florida lost everything last year, as I explained it to one of my grandson's (20 years old), if they want to brush their teeth all they need is a toothbrush but they don't have one, neither does the store, a mop, nope, how about socks no don't have them either, same with everything, they lost it all. Recovering will take many years if they can recover completely is another question, it takes hundreds of years to build a city or state and when they are destroyed in mere days the old sing-song "Rome wasn't built in a day", takes on a whole new meaning.

Thanks for reading and sharing, leave a comment or question, good weather predictions, preparation for the storms, and evacuating when necessary will save many lives.


jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com