Nuke the Hurricanes

[TomK]

Well, who can argue with this?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...canes.html

Not only do they show a picture of a nuclear explosion, but they also show a picture of a tornado right next to it.

[Seeb]

There was an idea way back to seed hurricanes with sliver nitrate to try to disperse them

[kander]

well, I could argue, whenever the media talks about "sources" and seeing the many hyped up stories that turned out to be false over the past decade or so, I have become a bit jaded of taking these stories at face value. They dont report news anymore, they peddle opinion and bias.
When twitter in chief plays all the outrage he can muster out of it, we will move on to the next.

let me be clear, im not defending anyone. I would hate to see it devolve into partisanship. But all we need to remember that time we were lied to, and sold on the idea from the media about WMD's. Or remember that time we had those Al queda guys fly into some buildings? and then somehow ended up supporting those same guys in that whole Syria thing?
Rinse- Repeat.. Nobody ever questions it.

[MarkP]

If it actually worked in a big way then I might not dismiss it out of hand. The lasting damage from nuclear testing stems mostly from when bombs were detonated on land, contaminating that land. Detonating over water would avoid the point concentration problems.

That being said, it doesn't work and by now everybody who is competent to judge the science knows so already. Would somebody who was incompetent, for the sake of argument lets call them "Individual 1", still propose doing so? Wouldn't surprise me at all.

Storms are driven by energy input. Dropping a bomb in the middle of a storm would probably make it worse in proportion to how much energy was released.

[randomq]

A MOAB (really big conventional bomb) could be used instead, but I suspect the forces are orders of magnitude off from what is really needed to shear a hurricane cone apart. Yep:

quote:

---

the average hurricane’s wind energy equals about half of the world’s electricity production in a year. The energy it releases as it forms clouds is 200 times the world’s annual electricity use.

The heat energy of a fully formed hurricane is “equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes,”

---

Maybe when we master controlled nuclear fusion we can generate the power necessary to disrupt convection or shear apart a hurricane...

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

I could argue, whenever the media talks about "sources"

Here's the background on the two sources:

That seems far-fetched, even for (redacted), but the reporters on the item, Jonathan Swan and Margaret Talev, both have a long record of accurate stories on the White House beat, and they also reviewed a National Security Council memo that recorded (redacted)’s question.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...ts/596812/

More about the idea of turning a hurricane into a radioactive hurricane at the the link, and for anyone interested, the effectiveness of nuking your way out of problems in general.

[kander]

So what your buying is that a couple of anti "individual one" reporters get to review National security memos. Ok.
Remember that one time back in the 60's that the joint chiefs of staff came up with something called operation northwood and every single one of them thought it was a great idea except JKF? John F was the only one in the white house that figured out he was surrounded by nutjobs. The point is, what we are told is entertainment at best and propaganda at worse. No matter who individual one is at the time.

[terracore]

Politicians should leave the science to science people. Unless it's people like this:

"In a speech delivered at the National Press Club on October 11, 1961, Francis W. Riechelderfer, the head of the U.S. Weather Bureau, said he could “imagine the possibility someday of exploding a nuclear bomb on a hurricane far at sea.” (Although, comfortingly, Riechelderfer added that the Weather Bureau would not begin acquiring its own nuclear arsenal “until we know what we’re doing.”) "

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/...r-weapons/

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

A few other ideas that might weaken a hurricane, without the unpleasant side effects of radiation:

A less wild but still far-out idea: cooling the seas with a giant tube
For ocean temperatures, the magic number for hurricane formation is 26.5 degrees Celsius (or 79.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

To cool the surface of the ocean, Salter invented a wave-powered pump that would move warm surface water down to depths as far as about 650 feet. Made from a ring of tires lashed together around a tube extending below the surface, waves would overtop the ring, pushing the column of water down, while a check valve in the tube would keep it from flowing back.


Another promising scheme: making clouds a tiny bit brighter using aerosols, harnessing a phenomenon called the Twomey effect. This is the observation that for clouds containing the same amount of moisture, the clouds with smaller suspended water droplets reflect more sunlight.

The increased sunlight reflectance in the sky would keep the waters below from warming up to the hurricane threshold while also curbing evaporation, thereby reducing the atmospheric moisture needed to make a storm.
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environme...on-nuclear

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Since nuking a hurricane is out, some in Florida plan on taking matters into their own hands - - shoot Hurricane Dorian as it approaches. The State of Florida has responded with warnings against the idea.

What about the State of Hawaii? They seem to have has dropped the ball on this aspect of storm preparedness as I've never seen warnings against it. It certainly seems like excellent advice and good to keep in mind should more hurricanes develop in our area this year:

https://www.politicususa.com/2019/08/30/...orian.html

Sheriff's Department:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/10/florida-...-irma.html