Study: Warming Making Hurricanes Stronger

[Triggerfish]

It's very true the Earth does have cycles and the warming of the oceans does occur naturally as the prevailing winds change. But the changes we're seeing now are above and beyond what is considered "normal" so it is very possible that man's effect on nature is intensifying this natural cycle.

A lot of people just mention the greenhouse gases but that's not all. They don't think about the all the trees that have existed that are now gone. Each tree can filter the air and water of pollution. So we add a lot of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and then kill trees that used to absorb the excess greenhouse gases.

 

[jazz lady]

A lot of people just mention the greenhouse gases but that's not all. They don't think about the all the trees that have existed that are now gone. Each tree can filter the air and water of pollution. So we add a lot of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and then kill trees that used to absorb the excess greenhouse gases.

Exactly. Plus removing trees gets rid of all those things that depends on them - other plants and animals that need the shade and atmosphere of a forest to exist. Removing trees also allows for more runoff into our waterways and adds to the pollution. It's a vicious cycle.

 

[jazz lady]

Just because Jacksonvile wasn't affected that badly doesn't mean that the rest of the state wasn't hit bad.


Orlando wasn't hit as hard as other places but there were trees pulled out of the ground everywhere.

Some places in the state took multiple direct hits and they were devastated.

I believe the article in National Geographic said 4 out of 5 homes in Florida were damaged in some way by the 4 hurricanes last year. I'll look that up tonight to make sure that's what it said, but that is just an astronomical number.

 

[AndyMarquisLIVE]

Hurricane outlook updated

NOAA: Expecting 18-21 tropical storms, 7-9 hurricanes and 5-7 major hurricanes. This was just on MSNBC 'Right Now.'

Were closing in on the one year anniversary of Hurricane Charley which battered my hometown of Fort Myers, FL. on August 13, 2004. So far we have been through 7 named storms.


From MSNBC:
<SCRIPT></SCRIPT><TABLE class=boxH_3089180 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=320><TBODY><TR><TD class=boxHC_3089180 noWrap width=*>WEATHER NEWS </TD><TD class=boxH2C_3089180 width="80%"> | MORE</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=boxB_3089180 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=320><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=boxBI_3089180>• More heavy rain pounds Bombay
• Heat wave persists in East
• Huge dust cloud heads for U.S.
• Four named storms in early July set record
• Will global warming affect hurricanes?

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
I don't think it's just global warming, CNN noted something about a spike in tropical activity that would last for ten to fifteen years back in 2001, they re-aired that special during Hurricane Dennis Live Coverage.

 

[AndyMarquisLIVE]

STORM ALERT: Hurricane predictions

Storm front: U.S. forecasts more hurricanes

Up to 11 seen in Atlantic this season, two more than initially predicted

WASHINGTON - The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season will be worse than previously expected, with 18 to 21 tropical storms and nine to 11 hurricanes through November, the U.S. government forecast on Tuesday. | MORE >>

 

[Hessian]

Capitalism...where to invest

Because our coastal regions are getting more crowded..we should take a few lessons from the Dutch and learn how to build behind sea walls, flood prevention, and storm proofing.

I just bought land up in NY on a 100 year flood plain and would love to design a show home as to how to adapt a home for that one deluge that hits every dozen years or so.

Instead of building...watching wash away, and billing the insurance companies (and ripping up more trees to build again!)
why not use some engineering & wind resistant design?

THIS is where we should be investing!

Hessian does not like wet vacs at 3 O'clock in the morning!

 

[mAlice]

Why did I read this thread?

 

[Bruzilla]

You didn't get "hit" by two of the four hurricanes last year, you were affected by them. You have to remember that wind of 150 mph is not twice as strong as a 75 mph wind, it's almost an exponential increase in force....

Remember Andrew? It blew down a little more than rose bushes:

43 Billion dollars in damage

Global Warming is not going away, whether caused by man or not the truth is the earth's temperature is warming...a warmer earth has warmer oceans and warmer oceans mean more energy is available for hurricanes (if all other conditions are favorable).

Hmmmm... I guess the 100+ MPH winds we had were just a breeze since they didn't reach 150 MPH. Daytona Beach was hit by the eyes of two of the storms, and a lot of palm trees lost their branches, and there was a lot of beach erosion, but there was not that much building damage (I went down after both storms to check on relatives so I got the "Big Picture"). I was also aboard NAS Bermuda when hurricane Emily went through, and the eye passed right over us. Most of the real damage was not caused by the winds but by two tornados that were embedded into the eye wall. These trashed a row of apartments, but the rest of the damage wasn't that bad. Most of the reconstruction effort was on picking up tree branches and trash that had blown around.

In all three storms the "look" of damage, i.e., downed power lines, tree branches/leaves, trash, etc, made the place look a lot worse than it actually was. I saw a ton more damage come from the tornado that went through Charles County a few years ago.

Andrew was so devastating because it hit a lot of stick house neighborhoods. And I don't put much stock in damage figures. There's so much fraud and abuse in those that they're still investigating how much money was wasted on double claims, fraudulent claims, etc. last year.

 

[PJay]

Hessian does not like wet vacs at 3 O'clock in the morning!

They do seem to always hit in the dark hour.

 

[Triggerfish]

You have to forgive Bruzilla, truby, he's a Floridian.

So am I I'm from Orlando, I'm just here in SOMD because the navy sent me here.

 

[Hessian]

Two years before Isabelle...

I was down in the basement with six inches of water swirling around by ankles while trying to hold the sump pump head above the water line while the power flickered on & off every 20 minutes. Some of the foundation cracks has so much pressure that in the dead silence of no power...you could hear this gentle "Peeing" echoing from the basement. (Desert-Dry fixed that!)

I actually like the anticipation of a storm...the worry over the size of the storm surge, the max wind velocity,....it makes for good drama but it turns to misery when you are throwing out thawed food or standing in line for dry ice.
And lets not forget the aroma of wet basement carpets.

 

[jazz lady]

Another good article in the USAToday with lots of links to hurricane data and information:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2005-07-31-global-warming-hurricanes_x.htm

Hurricane and cyclone reported durations have increased by roughly 60% since 1949.

Average peak storm wind speeds have increased about 50% since the 1970s.

Sea surface temperatures have swung upwards since 1975 at rates that exceed normal swings from regular El Niño or Atlantic cycles.
Cyclones and hurricanes do follow decades-long cycles of strengthening and weakening, Emanuel says. But the study effects are above and beyond the current cycle, which has seen stronger hurricanes in recent years.

Good explanation about the thermohaline circulation of the oceans and what would happen if it collapses due to global warming:

There are three main processes that make the oceans circulate: tidal forces, wind stress, and density differences. The density of sea water is controlled by its temperature (thermo) and its salinity (haline), and the circulation driven by density differences is thus called the thermohaline circulation.

http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/info/thc/

Some fairly simple models of the world's oceans do simulate a rapid break down of the THC, when the density of the water in the North Atlantic Ocean is lowered by adding fresh water (rain) and/or by warming. Increased rainfall and warming over the North Atlantic are both expected as a result of increased greenhouse gas concentrations, and so it can be argued that global warming may cause a rapid collapse of the thermohaline circulation.

 

[Hessian]

Yeah, but what about Yellowstone?

Speaking of a) Science b) Catastrophes and c) Cycles...
Have you seen the National Geo/Discovery Science investigation of the supervolcano building underneath Yellowstone park?

Apparently every 600,000 years she really cooks off: We are overdue now.
The lake has shifted, Bison are dying from sulpher gasses, and large areas are dying out from temp increases/gas emissions.

This sort of thing really throws the world's climate in a tizzy too. A cone 20+ miles across venting: ouch!

I sense science is going to try to explain away the coming 4 horsemen of the apocalypse...vials, bowls...etc.