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"I always wonder how far things fly. There are no trees by the house, but like with a tornado, there is a vortex which can spin things from even a mile away into your house. Does that happen with hurricanes?"
I wouldn't spend my time worrying about this. What can you do? Clear everything within a mile of your home? Things probably could fly far in a hurricane but the force is not like a tornado with that smaller more concentrated, destructive vortex.
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A category 5 hurricane has wind speeds up to 157 mph. A category 4 tornado has winds speeds up to 200 mph. And at least with a hurricane you have plenty of notice that itʻs coming.
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Bear in mind that hurricanes very frequently spawn many tornadoes inside the larger cyclone. They aren't as large as a midwestern tornado but you're already inside a cyclone.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
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(06-29-2023, 04:33 PM)AinaAKai Wrote: The house is supposed to be built for Cat 3, but never having seen the power of a hurricane, I always wonder how far things fly. There are no trees by the house, but like with a tornado, there is a vortex which can spin things from even a mile away into your house. Does that happen with hurricanes?
I think what I am hearing is that there would be no special actions for someone on a cliff outside of hunker down in your own home and do standard prep with food, water, and power.
The big dangers to homes in a hurricane is storm surge (flooding) and high winds that destroy the structure (usually by tearing off the roof). Things flying into the house can damage windows and siding but don't normally have catastrophic
results if people stay inside.
It sounds like your location and structure standards have mitigated the big things to worry about in regards to the home.
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I'm not sure what advice can be given. Having insurance is about all I can say. If we get hit directly by a cat 4 or 5 hurricane your house will get damaged if not destroyed. I'm not sure even the shelters are true hurricane shelters. If it's not that strong then you will likely have damage and a lot of inconveniences. A tropical storm that hit Puna ended up with people without power for a few days to weeks and all sorts of other problems. No one knows how you'll be affected although obviously, a storm surge is unlikely to be a problem for you.
Get insurance, have a go bag and if you're stuck at home, plan how to survive.
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I point to Iselle. Technically a tropical storm when it made landfall.
No roads for days, no water for 6 days and no power for 10 days,
Plan accordingly.
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(06-30-2023, 10:26 AM)AaronM Wrote: I point to Iselle. Technically a tropical storm when it made landfall.
No roads for days, no water for 6 days and no power for 10 days,
Plan accordingly.
Well, that was my point. No one knows how much damage the next storm will cause, so make sure your insurance is current, have a go bag, and hope for the best. Most people recovered very quickly after Iselle but some isolated communities had a bad time. I had power after three days and always had water and could drive to Hilo after a little tree clearing on day one. As for Hilo, it was unaffected.
Who knows what the next storm will do
?
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07-11-2023, 04:01 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-11-2023, 04:02 PM by Durian Fiend.)
The FB Puna weatherman recently touched on this year's hurricane season outlook:
"As our summer season progresses sea surface temperatures to our west are warm and show additional warming over the previous week. To our east temperatures are below normal and show either no change or some slight cooling relative to normal seasonal levels (2nd chart). This is good for us because tropical storm threats approach us from the east or south, but not likely the west.
The difference in wind speed or direction at various altitudes, shear, weakens tropical storms. The long range tendency is for much higher than normal shear to our east in August, with near normal shear to our east in September (3rd chart).
Hopefully the cooler waters and higher shear will make for a quiet season."
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“A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy, educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership.” - Chinua Achebe
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Calvin surprised me today, being reported all of a sudden in all of my weather apps and resources. Heading for Hawaii currently, to arrive midweek next week. We've seen these paths this far out bunches of times, heading our way, then veering off. Time will tell. It's early in the hurricane season it seems! Many months more.
