IRENE’S aftermath, 18 dead, $3 Billion in damage, 6 Million loose power. This is just below what I mentioned, on-air, would happen last week...
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MUCH, Much less than had she come in as a MAJOR hurricane. Irene ended being a mere Category 1 hurricane at landfall in North Carolina and just a massive Tropical Storm as she pressed through the coastal areas of the Mid-Atlantic through the Northeast.
I wouldn’t call it lucky, the signs were there, even as it was unfolding… The Hurricane was almost too massive to recover from the multiple eye-wall replacement cycles, as the “eye” collapsed, so too did the highest winds and along with that the much more extensive storm surge.
Too much hype?, “cried wolf” again? Too soon to tell…
Forecasting Hurricanes is one thing, the reaction people have to these forecasts can be very mysterious at times. I have seen this vary from one county/parish to the next…
With Irene hitting the North Carolina coast line, the drought of hurricanes NOT to hit the United States has ended at 1,078 days, I believe this is the longest duration to go without a hurricane directly impacting the United States since the 1870′s.
2135 days?
This is the number of days the United States has gone without being hit by a MAJOR HURRICANE, this I am fairly sure is a record drought of the most costliest/destructive / deadliest type of hurricanes…
2135 days and counting…
The last Major to hit the United States? Wilma in October of 2005. October 24th, 2005. Want to keep the count? Here’s a days calculator… http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html
What about TD 12??? Well, clearly Irene has gotten a lot of peoples attention… We will look at this tomorrow…
I would rather the NHC erred on the top side then they low ball a storm resulting in a catastrophe. Yeah it was a cat 1 at land fall but the pressure was far lower than normal for that category storm when it landed. Slow moving tropical storms do dump a ton of water as we can see from the after event reports now too! All in all, I would give everyone a passing grade and avoid the political commentary some seem to just have to add.
My ex-husband lives in Virginia with our 19-year old daughter. When I messaged her, asking if they were prepared, she told me that she had been told it wouldn’t be for very long. In other words, they had not prepared, and didn’t think they needed to. Well, they were without power from Saturday until Friday afternoon, and had very little water and canned food. Caution is one thing, complacency is downright dangerous! Living in Florida, we’ve seen many storms turn at the last minute, so I think that may be what he was thinking.