On the other hand, if names really don't matter, should it be important at all if they decide to not reuse a name? It's literally just deleting a name from a list of possible names. It's not like it requires much time, effort, or resources, and considering the random nature of assigning names to storms, the likelihood that any one particular name would come up again is pretty low anyway.
It's part of the whole Seven-Year Rule thing. When something is important enough to break that then they remove the name.
A hurricane Max has just got that designation off Mexico. And will probably lose it soon again as it's already landfallig. Another storm Norma is moving north.
Jose is down to tropical storm strength but is expected to stabilize. Two other systems south of Cape Verde may become tropical storms in the next days.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanAs flooded Houston neighborhoods dry out, residents wonder: Are they worth the risk?
. My personal sense is that they aren't but then resettling people is difficult.
Texas officials: Hurricane Harvey death toll at 82, ‘mass casualties have absolutely not happened’
.
Not exclusively about Hurricanes, but an interesting piece on how DRAAAMATIC their media coverage was
. The days where "preventing panic" in response to impending disasters was a consideration in disaster preparedness are apparently over.
It depends on where you're talking about. All the coverage I saw from actually in the path of the storm was pretty even-keeled. They didn't downplay things at all, but they weren't screaming about "BIGGEST STORM IN HISTORY OMG!" either. All of the papers that article quotes were hundreds of miles from the impact zone, for example.
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.I was mostly following the non-Floridian coverage, so.
Two more tropical storms have formed: Lee and Maria
. Now Lee is forecast to decay again due to wind shear just like Jose, but Maria is forecast
to not only develop into a hurricane and possibly a major one, but to follow a similar track to Irma. So many of the islands that were ravaged by Irma could be devastated all over again.
Here we go.
Maria is now a hurricane and there is a good chance it will become a big one in the next few days. It seems that it will run a little more south than forecast, though.
Apparently on the US Virgin Islands there is still no communication, so the "watch out" is being passed on orally.
edited 17th Sep '17 2:55:05 PM by SeptimusHeap
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanLooks like Maria is up to a Category 3, and looking at the NOAA data
it's headed straight for Puerto Rico.
I did just read on Wikipedia (and backed by a source) that if Irma had run directly for Florida after passing the Turks and Caicos Islands, it may have become the strongest (by windspeed) hurricane in the North Atlantic Ocean ever, with windspeeds of up to 200 miles per hour. Possibly keeping such windspeeds until landfall considering that a) Irma only slowly responded to the land interaction with Cuba and b) Florida's flat and lake-y/swamp-y terrain is much less effective at weakening an incoming hurricane than Cuba.
FYI, 200 miles per hour is a high end tornado windspeed, about 4-5 on that newfangled "Enhanced Fujita scale" or about enough to flatten strong buildings. Florida dodged a big bullet, there.
eta: Maria is now up to Cat 4. And it has a tiny eye ("pinhole eye") indicating that it is strengthening rapidly.
edited 18th Sep '17 1:53:40 PM by SeptimusHeap
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanMaria is Cat 5 now.
Do hurricanes gain strength that fast or is it rare? I honestly thought it was impossible for hurricanes to rapidly gain power that fast under a day until now...
edited 18th Sep '17 5:13:53 PM by Raddishes
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Storms can and do intensify pretty quickly if they hit the right spot of deep warm water.
Still, it's pretty unusual to have two Category 5 storms happening back to back in the Atlantic.
On a different subject, it seems like Hurricane Jose is going to be doing another loop in the sea
, possibly back towards land this time. People in the Northeast should probably keep an eye out.
edited 18th Sep '17 5:27:46 PM by Mio
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Not sure on the averages, but Maria is definitely strengthening at an alarming speed. Looking at the NOAA public advisories, it became a Category 5 storm
just 2 hours and 45 minutes after becoming a Category 4 storm.
Or at least the official weather advisories were issued 2 hours and 45 minutes apart, but I doubt the actual time was much longer then that and may of been even shorter.
edited 18th Sep '17 5:29:59 PM by Falrinn
MARIA MAKES LANDFALL ON DOMINICA
—————————————————————————-
LOCATION...15.3N 61.3W
ABOUT 0 MI...0 KM SE OF DOMINICA
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...160 MPH...260 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT...WNW OR 295 DEGREES AT 9 MPH...15 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...924 MB...27.29 INCHES
Dominica's Prime Minister's posted on Facebook his roof blew off.
edited 18th Sep '17 7:42:34 PM by tclittle
"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."Anyhow, it looks like the interaction with Dominica has put it back to Cat 4 but the island has taken a heavy hit from its first ever Cat 5 hit. According to their prime minister - who had to be evacuated themselves - there is widespread destruction, with roofs being blown off and the like.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

For the record, there is a committee of the WMO that decides on names. Any WMO member state can ask for removal if a storm causes sufficient damage or death toll and if a consensus exists it will be removed. That committee meets between the seasons and takes decisions on the previous season's names then. Names can also be retired for other reasons - "Adolph", "Israel" and "Isis" were retired because they were controversial in the NE Pacific. "Patricia" was retired because it was so strong; presumably to avoid Tempting Fate. "Tip" however is still used in the Pacific, as is "Talim".
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman