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While this link relates to Hurricane Mathew in the Atlantic, all of this information still applies to storms we get here in Hawaii. I just thought I'd share this resource for people who are interested in learning about the technical aspects of these storms.
Tropical Tidbits with Levi Corwan provides some interesting insights. Here's the latest video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwX8J0wQpto
And his website
http://www.tropicaltidbits.com/
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Thank you, Eric1600. I watched the video and felt I was attending a very good science seminar. It made it very clear how complicated forecasting the tracks of tropical systems can be and learned a lot. Thanks again.
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Check out the wind graph of Hurricane Mathew going right over the top of a weather buoy.
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/show_plot.php?station=42058&meas=wgst&uom=E&time_diff=-5&time_label=EST
You can see how calm it is in the eye -- from 80 knots to 15 knots then back up again.
It's from this buoy
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=42058
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Very informative and it's amazing how accurately they are able to predict its path, in a very complicated area.
Makes me wonder why it seems so difficult around Hawaii.
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quote:
Originally posted by PaulW
Very informative and it's amazing how accurately they are able to predict its path, in a very complicated area.
Makes me wonder why it seems so difficult around Hawaii.
Well, if you follow them as closely as we do when they are coming our way you'll know they haven't been too accurate. They thought Jamacia was going to get hammered, but it hit Haiti and now is going to skim eastern Cuba.
Tropical tidbits has been covering this storm closely and discussing problems with forecasting. Hitting Haiti was kind of like when it hits Big Island. Haiti has 7,000+ foot mountains which are big enough to disturb the storm. The water is warm enough there for the hurricane to strengthen after hitting the mountains.
There's no shear now and they expect the Bahamas to get a Cat 3 which will be rough on them. tidbits video:
https://youtu.be/lzldmkpwjZY
Models are showing it's likely to hit SE Florida.
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I've heard people in Hawaii often ask about hurricanes merging and forming a super hurricane. This is highly unlikely because hurricanes need stable vertical winds ("low sheer") in order to power them through the warm surface air rising and precipitating water up higher and cooling releasing energy.
Tropical Tidbits talks about this as Matthew and Nicole near each other.
https://youtu.be/uAHwe5OROJQ
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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/magazi....html?_r=0
Long but interesting article (for a layman like me). I didn't realize the NOAA was so messed up and that the Met Office does it so much better! Carl Sagan even makes an appearance.
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Interesting! Thanks for the link, Paul.
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Thanks, Paul, that was interesting if a little worrying. Makes me feel even prouder of my father; he was a meteorologist who worked for the Met office for decades. He's the one that got me interested in science when I was still very young, and it worked out quite well I think! I like to think he'd be quite proud if he was still with us.
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Meteorology is where science has an immediate affect on people's lives! They should put a bit more effort into it.
Strange the Met Office is doing so well, they're also part of a big lumbering government. It must come down to the dedication of people like Tom's father. We're all very proud of our scientists! Well, most of us.
