#category 5 cyclone

[tomorrowusa]

Apparently Ron DeSantis feels that science is "woke" and therefore needs to be suppressed.

Ron DeSantis has been accused of a “catastrophic” approach to the climate crisis after he launched his campaign for US president by saying he rejects the “politicization of the weather” and questioning whether hurricanes hitting his home state of Florida have been worsened by climate change.

DeSantis, the Republican Florida governor who announced his bid for the White House via a glitch-heavy Twitter stream on Wednesday, has previously dismissed concerns about global heating as “leftwing stuff” and he expanded upon this theme during a Fox News interview following his campaign launch.

“People tried to say when we had [Hurricane] Ian that it was because of climate change but if you look at the first 60 years from 1900 to 1960 we had more major hurricanes hit Florida than the 60 years since then,” DeSantis told his interlocutor, the former Republican congressman Trey Gowdy.

“This is something that is a fact of life in the Sunshine state. I’ve always rejected the politicization of the weather.”

DeSantis is telling Floridians, "Don't believe your lyin' eyes – or your wet feet for that matter."

Environmental groups have also taken aim at DeSantis over a record on climate they say is no better than Donald Trump’s, his rival for the Republican presidential nomination.

While governor, DeSantis has adopted bills banning Florida’s cities from adopting 100% clean energy goals and barred the state’s pension fund from making investment decisions that consider the climate crisis due to what he called a corporate attempt to “impose an ideological agendaon the American people”. He has also attacked the US military for being “woke” for warning about the national security risks posed by climate impacts.

DeSantis is a ruthlessly ambitious putz who is fixated on accumulating power at all costs.

Warm seas act like jet fuel to tropical cyclones. The temperature of the North Atlantic has unmistakably increased over the past hundred years.

Maybe DeSantis will try to blame "woke thermometers".

The problem for Florida is not so much the number of hurricanes but the intensity of hurricanes.

Category 5 storms making landfall in the US used to be rare. But two (Hurricane Michael, Hurricane Ian) have hit Florida in just the past five years.

Maybe DeSantis cut his high school physics class to watch far right porn. So he may have missed the lesson about warmer air being able to hold larger amounts of moisture.

While wind speed gets the most media attention, it's moisture in the form of rain and storm surge which kills the most people in hurricanes.

We all remember how Trump tried to use a Sharpie to modify a map showing the path of Hurricane Dorian. DeSantis would probably burn the map and close down the National Hurricane Center for being "woke".

DeSantis as president of the US would be a danger to the planet.

[pearlesscentt]

kitchen floor picnic

it was finals week, or hell week as you’d affectionately call it, and due to the onslaught of deadlines, everything was in shambles. good thing, you have your boyfriend to weather that cyclone with you.

mingyu x reader, college!au, established relationship, fluff, 1.2k words

in contrast to science, sound traveled faster than light—literally at that very moment.

when MINGYU opened the door to your studio apartment, it was pitch black, and all he could hear were your soft snores and the whirring of the dinky air conditioner. he started walking in blindly, worried about waking you up if he dared to turn on the lights, so he just clutched the paper bag full of groceries and hoped for the best.

his luck seemed to run out within a few seconds, as it wasn't long before he tripped over something hard, making him yelp in pain.

“shit,” he cursed under his breath. when the noise registered, his head immediately snapped in your direction, and he sighed in relief when you remained fast asleep. he kneeled down to clutch the toe he had stubbed and reached for his phone. he fumbled with it before eventually clicking on the torch, realizing he tripped over your bicycle helmet lying haphazardly in the hallway.

she must've tossed it on the floor from exhaustion, he thought, picking it up to hang it on one of the hooks on the wall.

it was finals week, or hell week as you’d affectionately call it. “i might not survive,” you told him at the beginning of the week during an afternoon at the library. “in our next life, remind me never to study architecture. this is torture, i will never put myself through this again,” you groaned dramatically.

he reassured you of everything you were capable of because he knew by now that the theatrics were just a part of your process for acing your classes. if there was one thing he was sure of, it was that you were an exceptional student. that was why he could only chuckle as you spent the next fifteen minutes complaining about your program while also perfectly tracing the pencil marks with ease on the plan you were working on.

which brings MINGYU to his current predicament: he was standing in the middle of your apartment, unsure of what to do next. he turned on the downlights from the kitchen. it was still dark enough to not disturb your sleep, while being bright enough for him to see the current state of your place.

it was a mess—even the word felt like an understatement. it was a category 5 tropical cyclone. there were different drawing and drafting materials scattered everywhere, papers of different sizes covering every flat surface he could see, an unfinished scale model perched on top of your desk, a pile of clothes on your unmade bed (indistinguishable whether clean or dirty), and a bunch of empty energy drink cans and instant ramen cups. lastly, there you were on your loveseat sofa, sleeping soundly in a fetal position because of the drawing tube and t-square at the far end of it.

beep, beep, beep.

he flinched at the sound, his gaze shifting to the phone on the coffee table as it lit up due to the alarm. power nap alarm, he knew immediately. you moved in your sleep, reaching to turn it off.

after a few moments, you sat up, stretching your arms out. MINGYU watched, he couldn’t help but smile at how adorable you looked with your messy hair. soon enough, your eyes darted in his direction.

“hi,” he whispered with a little wave.

you furrowed your brows and blinked at him. it felt like an eternity before you spoke up, “shit, i’m hallucinating.”

“uh, i’m really here, babe.”

“gyu?”

“mhm.”

“gyu!” your face lit up in recognition. standing up to make your way to him, you were quick but careful not to step on any of the clutter on the floor. “you’re really here.”

he opened his arms for you and gave you a warm hug. he rested his cheek on the top of your head as you melted into the embrace.

“why are you here?” you asked against his chest.

“for an intervention,” he joked before kissing your forehead. “i’m here to make you real food.”

judging by the state of your place, you had been living off instant ramen, any caffeinated drink you could find, and whatever was on sale in the nearby convenience store. your stomach growled for some real food.

“go do your thing while i cook,” he said with a laugh.

nodding, you settled on the floor by the coffee table and grabbed a technical pen nearby. you drew some finishing touches on the plan, continuing where you left off earlier before your nap.

it took about 30 minutes, using the shuffling sounds from the kitchen as your white noise while you were laser-focused on your task at hand.

“babe, time for dinner,” he called out softly.

when you looked over, he was holding two plates of what looked like katsu curry and rice with a proud smile on his face. suddenly, you wondered: where are we gonna eat?

noticing the change in your expression, he said, “hey, it’s fine, we could just eat here.”

“eat where?” you asked, walking over to him. even the small island in the kitchen was full of papers, you didn't even know which ones were important anymore; while the counter space between the single burner stove and the sink was not enough for both of you to eat comfortably.

“here.”

you raised your eyebrows at him while he placed both plates on the counter. then, he went toward the round dining table and retrieved two placemats from underneath a different set of papers.

“let’s eat here,” he said, placing the placemats on the floor, “like a picnic.”

frozen in place, you stood in front of him, still confused.

“don’t worry, i mopped earlier while i was waiting for this to simmer.” he took the plates again and motioned for you to sit. “we have picnics on the grass at the park and on the sand at the beach all the time, what difference does your kitchen floor make?”

with nothing to counter his argument, you obliged. you sat down cross-legged and used the counter behind you as a backrest. MINGYU followed suit, placing your respective plates on the placemats in front of you.

“are you sure you have time for this?”

“for sharing a meal with you? always.” he wrapped his arm around your shoulder to place a kiss on your temple. “besides, i've already finished all my exams earlier.”

you raised your eyebrows, thinking about the days; it was just last week when you shared schedules with each other to stay informed in case the workload made it hard to give updates.

“i’m sorry, i forgot your schedule,” you sighed in defeat. your eyes misty as you turned to face him, a pang of guilt starting to consume you. “you had mine memorized, but i couldn’t even recall yours.”

“hey, it's okay, i understand.”

“but still…”

“but still—nothing.” he shook his head to assure you, “we’re not here to keep score, baby. we're here to take care of each other. now, let’s eat, hm?”

as you took the first bite, warmth radiated through your body. sure, the food was good, but it was MINGYU’s steadfast presence that calmed your storms. the onslaught of deadlines and exams was eased by his unwavering love and care.

in the dim light of the kitchen, amidst the scattered papers and unfinished projects, you felt a profound sense of peace. not because he made the cyclone disappear, but because he was there to weather it with you.

author's note: just a little something bc i'm so soft for mingyu's acts of service and bc i missed writing here :(

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© 2024 PEARLESSCENTT. please do not steal my works.

[1hot-mess-express1]

Passenger princess

AN: Something short and cute while midterms are doing a number on my will to live Based on this prompt Satoru X reader (fluff, crack?) CW: Mentions of a car crash WC: 602

Satoru bursts through the front doors like a category 5 cyclone, his large frame nearly shaking the house as he makes his way over to you on the couch. Whatever show you are watching is long forgotten as you try desperately to slow your racing heart from the ever-present jump scare of Satoru Gojo. 

“Jesus Christ ‘Toru…do you have any idea how much you just—“Your chastising is quickly cut off as he wiggles his head into your lap, squeezing you tightly around your waist and burying his nose into your stomach. 

“Hey, baby?” he says, looking up at you with those ridiculously beautiful eyes, lips pulled into a wide grin. 

 With a sigh of defeat, your body begins to relax. You place your hand in his hair and brush through the unruly mop of white. He subtly leans into the touch as you try your best to sound still upset. “What do you want?” An eyebrow raises at him in suspicion. 

“Oh nothing, nothing at all, sugar. In fact, this is about what I can do for you, my wonderful, wonderful woman,” he moves to sit up rather quickly, startling you. His hands are on either side of you as his face nuzzles into your neck, leaving feather-light, ticklish kisses between words as he speaks. “Have I ever kiss told you kiss just how much kiss I love you kiss cause I love you kiss so so much kiss I don’t know what I’d ever—“ 

“You crashed the car again, didn’t you?” Your voice is weary as you close your eyes, knot your eyebrows, and instinctively raise your hand to your temples. 

 For a moment, he pauses, hardly breathing as if deciding whether or not he’s gonna tell the truth. That moment passes by quickly, however, and he’s right back to his usual over-excited self as he takes your hands in his and explains, “Yes! BUT I already sent it off to the shop, and I’m rich anyways, so it’s not like it’s expensive and look-“ he pulls his shirt off and stands up, assuming the pose of a starfish, “—not a scratch on me. You should see the other guy” he makes a ridiculous attempt at a sexy face.

Your face immediately drops at the insinuation of his words, hand flying to cover the audible gasp you unknowingly let out. It takes Satoru a moment to process what is going through your head. He stands there with a confused wrinkle in his brow before his eyes blow wide, and he quickly waves his arms around, shaking his head, “No, no, no, god no! It was a joke, baby, please, oh my god, no.” 

“Oh my god ‘Toru, I can’t leave you alone for a second,” you hand your head in your hands, letting out a low groan, but when you peek at him through your fingers, you can’t help but feel a little sorry for him with the sweet pout he’s sporting, intensely inspecting his shoe to avoid having to look you in the eye. You roll your eyes and let out a sigh of defeat before opening your arms. Satoru doesn’t need to be told twice, immediately burying his face in your stomach as you run your fingers through his hair. 

“What am I going to do with you, mister?” you ask with a small, uneasy smile. 

“Never leave my side again, obviously,” Satoru chuckles as if it’s the most obvious solution to your current predicament. He might be right, but maybe you’ll start by taking his driving privileges from him first; he certainly makes a cute passenger princess.

[olliewrites-stuff]

In Which You Play Orpheus

In which you play Orpheus,

And you are broken-hearted and desolate.

The loss of your Eurydice for the

Second and final time

Carves your soul into

Mourning lyrics in a language

Only the bereft can decipher.

In which you stand there, frozen,

Mourning the first and only time

Turning towards your lover

Has ended in heart-break.

In which you play Orpheus,

But this time,

The Gods decide to make you

Suffer

Instead of ending you.

In which you are Orpheus and

You have just lost your Eurydice,

But also,

In which you have been granted

Immortality

Until reaching an age the Gods decide

Your existence on this plane

Without HER

Can cease.

In which you are newly-immortal,

And your immortality is certain -

And you refuse to disclose just how

You know it to be fact.

In which those pages of your book -

With the screaming and the

Crying and the

Desperate clutching,

Are stuck together never to be read aloud,

And that's how you prefer it to be.

In which you are Orpheus,

And you can't escape Her.

She whispers through the trees.

She cries desperately for you

In the thunderstorms.

The cheeky quirk of Her lip is

Reflected on other people’s faces …

And it HURTS.

By Gods,

It HURTS.

The absence in your life

And soul so profound that you

Cannot breathe.

In which you attend the group sessions,

Just like your friends suggested,

But the way in which the facilitator

Says Her name makes you

Clench your fists and

Refuse to make eye-contact with

Anyone.

This suffering is overwhelming,

But sharing it would be like

Sharing what little of Her

You have left, and -

You're not strong enough to let that go.

In which you lose control one day,

Throwing a chair across the room

When the soft-spoken woman

To your right,

Who is wearing her hair like She used to,

Speaks your name in Her timbre.

In which you become a cyclone,

A Category 5 descending on the home

You used to share,

Snatching up all of Her things and

Hurling them into a space

Never to be seen again.

Everything seems to pause as you

Come across a picture of

The two of you.

Everything gets deceivingly quiet

As the eye of Cyclone Orpheus

Overtakes you.

Your eyes dart from smiling eyes to

Lovestruck smile,

And all of a sudden,

The storm is back in action.

Smashing,

Crashing,

Banging,

Screaming,

Crying -

Your rage is

s u f f o c a t i n g

and

t e r r i f y i n g,

But FUCK

Does it feel good to cause damage,

Even though the chaos you can create

Is no match for the damage

She caused YOU, and -

...You've ripped the picture in half

And are suddenly human again,

Kneeling in the centre of your carnage

As you realise what you’ve done.

In which you quietly and reverently

Pack up the rest of Her belongings,

Vowing to actually attempt

Living

The rest of your life.

For Her if no-one else.

In which time passes and

You lose track of it;

Surviving one day becomes

Surviving two,

Then three,

And soon,

Years,

Decades - maybe even centuries -

Pass,

And it’s only after you catch yourself

Smiling as you think of the sweet

Grecian girl with the dazzling smile

You’ve bumped into a few times,

That you realise you’re not

Occupied with thoughts of

Your Eurydice.

In which you graze your shoulder as you

Scramble to where you’d left all of Her stuff

To collect dust.

Light floods the space as you scurry to

Surround yourself in Her presence again,

To prove you haven’t stopped

Thinking about Her,

That you haven’t given up on Her,

That you haven’t

f o r g o t t e n

Her.

"See? See!

I’ve still got that scarf you wore every year,

And that photo album from that one time...

And see, see?

Look at all the SHIT I have that

Proves I can’t live without you!"

You stop.

Breathe in and out deeply…

In which you play Orpheus,

And have lost your Eurydice.

In which you realise that between

Forcing yourself to be busy

So you didn’t have time to grieve,

And doing your best to live

As She would have wanted,

You had found a way to grieve.

To move on.

To live without her.

In which you no longer grieve,

But can still hear Her

Softly whispering through the trees.

You can hear Her in the thunderstorms.

You can see the cheeky quirk of Her lip

In people you’ve since befriended.

And you are okay.

The reminders bring back

Fond memories, now,

Reminding you of the time you DID

Get to spend with Her,

And the happiness you felt then

That you can recognise again now.

In which you play an immortal Orpheus who

Has lost his Eurydice,

And you realise She is gone,

But not forgotten.

© O.M.A

[weirdmageddon]

milton rapidly intensified from a category 1 to a category 5 hurricane in under 24 hours. it will hopefully SLIGHTLY “weaken” in wind speed before fall due to wind shear, but i don’t like using the word weaken because it’s a major hurricane no matter what and it’s likely not enough to offset catastrophic damage.

tampa bay area has not been directly hit since 1921, the infrastructure may not be adequate. a category 5 tropical cyclone is without exaggeration the most powerful class of storm capable of being produced on planet earth

i’m in sarasota which is right in the crosshairs of hurricane milton. i think i will be safe physically because i am so so so so lucky to live in a building made of solid concrete + hurricane proof glass and i’m not in an evacuation/flood zone. i live on the first floor so if a tree falls on the building it will hit the roof which is the second floor. so i’ll probably bunker in the bathroom which is the safest room in my complex in the center of the building away from windows.

what i’m more worried about is being without power or water for a long time. it’s very hot and humid and without air conditioning florida is swamp-ass swamp-taint sweat hell.

we have a huge stack of water bottles that we copped in preparation for helene and thank god we didnt have to use it. flashlights and batteries, portable chargers, usb powered fan that i can use a car phone charger and a 9-volt battery attached by a little metal spring from a mechanical pen to activate (awesome hack i did back in 2017 with irma), a box of snacks, plenty of weed edibles (for me), wine (for my mom) and we will be feasting on peanut butter and bread.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Yale Climate Connections:

fter a spectacular burst of rapid intensification, Hurricane Helene made landfall just east of the mouth of the Aucilla River, about 10 miles west-southwest of Perry, Florida, at about 11:10 p.m. EDT Thursday. Top sustained winds were estimated at 140 mph, making Helene a Category 4 hurricane at landfall. We’ll have much more on Helene’s many impacts—some still unfolding on Friday—in our next Eye in the Storm post.

Helene’s landfall gives the U.S. a record eight Cat 4 or Cat 5 Atlantic hurricane landfalls in the past eight years (2017-2024), seven of them being continental U.S. landfalls. That’s as many Cat 4 and 5 landfalls as occurred in the prior 57 years. The only comparable beating the U.S. has taken from Category 4 and 5 landfalling hurricanes occurred in the six years from 1945 to 1950, when five Category 4 hurricanes hit South Florida.

With the U.S. taking such a beating from extreme hurricanes in recent years, it’s worth reviewing how climate change is contributing to making hurricanes worse.

Climate change makes the strongest hurricanes stronger

As far back as 1987, MIT hurricane scientist Kerry Emanuel theorized that the wind speeds in hurricanes can be expected to increase about 5% for every increase of one degree Celsius (1.8°F) in tropical ocean temperature, assuming that the average wind speed near the surface of the tropical oceans does not change. Computer modeling has found a slightly smaller magnitude (4%) for the increase.

According to NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch, sea surface temperatures along Helene’s path through the western Caribbean and eastern Gulf of Mexico were about 1-2 degrees Celsius (1.8-3.6°F) above the long-term average. Using the theoretical results above, this increase in sea surface temperatures equated to a 50-100% increase in Helene’s destructive power.

Global warming increases hurricane rainfall

One of the more confident predictions we can make for hurricanes in the future is that they will dump more rain. Global warming increases the rate at which ocean water evaporates into the air, and increases the amount of water vapor the atmosphere contains when fully saturated. This result is about 7% more water vapor in saturated air for every 1°C of ocean warming. This increase in atmospheric water vapor can cause a much larger increase in hurricane rainfall than one might surmise, since water vapor retains the heat energy that was required to evaporate the water, and when the water vapor condenses into rain, this latent heat is released. The extra heat helps power the hurricane, making it larger and more intense, allowing it to pull in water vapor from an even larger area and thus dump more rain.

Climate change causes more rapidly intensifying hurricanes

As discussed in detail in our 2020 post, rapidly intensifying hurricanes like Helene, Ida, Michael, Laura, and Harvey that strengthen just before landfall are among the most dangerous storms as they can catch forecasters and populations off guard, risking inadequate evacuation efforts and large casualties. Unfortunately, not only is human-caused climate change making the strongest hurricanes stronger, but it is also making dangerous rapidly intensifying hurricanes like Helene more common.

According to research published in 2019 in Nature Communications, “Recent increases in tropical cyclone intensification rates,” Atlantic hurricanes showed “highly unusual” upward trends in rapid intensification during the period 1982–2009, trends that can be explained only by including human-caused climate change as a contributing cause. The largest change occurred in the strongest 5% of storms: For those, 24-hour intensification rates increased by about 3-4 mph per decade between 1982 and 2009.

Sea level rise increases storm surge damage

Of the six tide gauges with long-term periods of record along the west coast of Florida, Helene set an all-time high water record at three of them (Cedar Key, Clearwater Beach, and St. Petersburg) – in all three cases just before or just after midnight Thursday night – and came in second or third place behind Hurricane Ian of 2022 and Hurricane Irma of 2017 at the other two (Ft. Myers and Naples). Sea level rise made these records easier to set. Sea level rise since 1947 at the St. Petersburg, Fla., tide gauge has been about 3.09 mm per year, or about 0.3 meters (1.0 feet) if extrapolated to a 100-year period (Figure 1). A substantial portion of this sea level rise is the result of human-caused global warming; the global sea level rise since 1900 is estimated to be about 7.5 inches (0.19 meters). Most of this rise has occurred because of melting of glaciers and because water expands when heated. Over the past 10 years, sea level rise has accelerated along the Florida coast, and the rate has been about 7 mm per year (2.3 feet per century) at St. Petersburg. Changes in ocean circulation and wind patterns, with climate change a potential contributing factor, are thought to be the reason for the acceleration.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

A massive "bomb cyclone" is set to explode off the U.S. West Coast with hurricane force winds, flooding rains, and enormous mountain snow from Category 5 atmospheric river. Central pressure will fall almost 70 mb / 24 hours reaching 942 mb—similar to Category 4 hurricane.

[Robert Scott Horton]

[bekolxeram]

7x03 analysis part 2 — Too many Cats

Tommy flew a helicopter into a Category 5 hurricane, at least the show told us so. Is it even possible for an aircraft to fly in those conditions? Today, we are going to figure out just how strong the storm actually is canonically, and how realistic our beloved weewoo show is.

TW: Hurricane, extreme weather, natural disaster

What is the difference between a tropical storm and a hurricane? What even is a hurricane?

Both tropical storm and hurricane are tropical cyclones, just of different strength. A tropical cyclone is a rotating storm system with a low pressure center. The center, or the eye of the storm, sucks in warm moist air from an oceanic environment and it feeds into the generation of storm clouds that organize themselves into a spiral pattern due to the Earth's rotation, aka Coriolis effect.

A tropical cyclone is classified by its maximum sustained wind.

So if it's below 62 km/h, it's a tropical Depression. if it's between 63-118 km/h, it's a Tropical Storm. A Category 5 hurricane though has a maximum sustained wind speed of over 252 km/h.

A strong enough tropical cyclone is called a hurricane in North America, a typhoon in East Asian, and a cyclone in the Indian Ocean (including Australia).

How strong is the storm in 7x03 actually?

We first see the storm at the end of 7x01, when First Mate Kenneth tells Captain Ochoa there is a strengthening tropical storm in the ship's path. Captain Ochoa decides to reverse course back to LA and instructs Kenneth to alert the Coast Guard, but they get interrupted by the cartel.

Fast forward to 7x02, the next mention of the storm comes from Karen. When Hen is sent home by Chief Simpson, she tries to call Athena, but it goes straight to voicemail. Karen tells her cell service is probably spotty out at sea because of the hurricane, which has just got upgraded.

It's recently upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane, as we can see from Karen's tablet.

Then Hen goes to Maddie to ask the Coast Guard to look for Bathena's cruise ship. When Hen shows Maddie the ship tracking app on her phone, the time is 10:28. (I'm guessing PM because it's already dark outside during the Kyle Ortiz call.)

By the time Chief Simpson comes by to reinstate Hen, she's already talking about a Cat 5 hurricane. That can't be more than an hour or two later.

So which one is it? Is it a Cat 2 or a Cat 5? Who should I trust?

Tommy. Whenever he flies, his safety depends on his understanding of the local wind condition and weather. You should listen to him:

So it's a Cat 5, at least by the time the 118 set off on their journey to save Bathena.

Can a tropical storm intensify into a Cat 5 hurricane in hours?

No, not in real life. The record for most rapid intensification of a tropical cyclone is Hurricane Patricia in 2015, but it still took 24 hours. This doesn't mean the storm in 7x03 is completely made up. I believe I might have found the real life inspiration behind it.

Hurricane Otis (2023)

An area of low pressure formed on October 15, 2023 over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico. While it was during a significant El Niño period and the ocean temperature was record-breaking-ly high, strong vertical wind shear condition near the storm was predicted to hinder its development. It was originally forecasted to make landfall as a mere tropical storm. People in Acapulco went to bed on October 23 expecting moderate wind and light rainfall, many stopped seeking out updates of the storm.

In the early hours of October 24, meteorologists at the NHC recognized from satellite images that tropical storm Otis was rapidly intensifying into a hurricane. The NHC officially upgraded the storm to a Cat 1 hurricane at 13:00 CDT and sent out a hurricane hunter aircraft to accurately measure the actual wind speed of the cyclone.

Satellite images provide a pretty good model to estimate the strength of a tropical cyclone, but the most reliable way to measure wind speed is still to fly an aircraft into it and physically measure it. When the hurricane hunter managed to fly into the eyewall of Otis, everyone realized they made a huge mistake: Otis had already become a Cat 3 hurricane, and it was expected to strengthen even more. It takes time to process data received from the hurricane hunter, so operationally the NHC still classified Otis as a Cat 1 hurricane until the next advisory was scheduled to come out, which was at 16:00 CDT, but by that time, Otis was already near Cat 4 strength. It was then officially upgraded to a Cat 5 hurricane at 22:00 CDT.

While Otis did take around 24 hours to intensify from a tropical storm to a catastrophic hurricane, if you just look at the NHC advisories, it pretty much jumped from a Cat 1 into a Cat 5 in 9 hours. It caused extensive damage to Acapulco when it made landfall because the city was severely underprepared. I suspect the cruise ship disaster arc was inspired by hurricane Otis because it happened just a month after the writer strike ended. Also, in 7x02 Maddie, a 911 dispatcher, was not aware that the tropical storm had already strengthened into a hurricane, which mirrors the unexpected development of hurricane Otis.

As the storm in universe was going back at sea and not making landfall, the authority was probably in even less of a hurry to find out what the actual strength of the cyclone was. So it could take them even longer to send in weather reconnaissance aircrafts. I can imagine the 911-verse version of the storm jumping from a Cat 2 to a Cat 5 officially in mere hours.

Can a helicopter fly in a Cat 5 hurricane?

Technically yes, but the chopper won't be doing the flying. The aforementioned NOAA Hurricane Hunter is a Lockheed P-3 Orion specifically modified and fortified for weather information collection. If this four-engined workhorse has to fight tooth and nail against crosswind and turbulence in order to fly into the eye of the storm, a small single engine helicopter definitely would not fair any better. It would end up getting tossed around, a particular strong downdraft might slam it into the ocean, or a prolong bout of severe turbulence might rip it apart. Luckily in 7x03, Tommy is not actually flying into a hurricane, he's trailing behind it.

NOAA Lockheed WP-3D Orion Hurricane Hunter

In a blink-and-you-miss-it exchange between Buck and Tommy, after Tommy says "a Cat 5 hurricane passed through here", Buck asks why he means by "passed through" and what they are flying in at the moment.

"iNTermITteNt sHOweRs"

When looking at the cross section of a tropical cyclone, you can see rows of rainbands around the eyewall, increasing in size the closer it is to the center of the storm. If you have ever experienced a tropical cyclone making landfall, you would know it starts with sporadic bouts of rainfall (aka intermittent showers), which then gradually increase in frequency and severity as the storm approaches. Once you are within 100-200 km of the eye, wind speed would become violent while the rainbands become so wide and close together it basically keeps raining until you are right under the eye.

These are radar images of hurricane Irma (2017) making landfall in Florida. Bands of moderate to heavy rainfall spread across the inner core region of the cyclone, with still pretty consistent light to moderate precipitation between the gaps. But in the area further away from the eye in the southwest and southeast quadrants, you can see more squall line like patterns. Precipitation would abruptly begin and stop as you fly in and out of those outer lumps of clouds.

Wind speed in that area is no where near hurricane level even for a Cat 5 cyclone, it is typically under 100 km/h. That does not mean it is a safe condition to fly in. Because the outer rainbands of a cyclone are less affected by the storm's vortex dynamics, they behave more like regular thunderstorms. As you know, thunderstorms are big no-no's for aviation safety. In fact, the outer rainbands of a typhoon once contributed to a plane crash in Taiwan.

Conclusion

The hurricane in 7x03 is likely based on reality, albeit with a bit of exaggeration and a shortened timeline for dramatic effect. It is possible to fly and control a helicopter in this specific condition, but the danger is still quite high. Flying into a thunderstorm has a whole different set of risks associated with it, which I will tell you all about next time. Yes, part 3 of this series is "how to crash a helicopter with weather", so stay tuned.

[beardedmrbean]

A powerful bomb cyclone fueled by a Category 5 atmospheric river is expected to explode across the West Coast of the U.S. this week, threatening to unleash hurricane-force winds, catastrophic flooding, and massive snowfall in the mountains.

The intense mid-latitude storm is expected to hit Tuesday through Thursday, potentially affecting millions of Americans from Washington State down to Oregon and Northern California.

Some areas along the California coast could see level 4 impacts, which is in the "extreme" category, Weather Nation TV reported.

As reported by Newsweek, up to 21 inches of rainfall is expected in parts of Northern California this week, following a round of heavy rain and snow that arrived last week affecting the Pacific Northwest. River and flash flooding is likely in these areas.

"This intense storm system is expected to bring major impacts to areas of the Northwest and northern California with heavy rain, strong winds, and big swells," reported Weather Nation TV.

"The storm system will have potential to more than double that pressure drop, with forecast models showing a drop of 50-60 mb (millibars) in less than a day, starting at over 1,000 mb Monday night, possibly dropping below 950 mb by Tuesday night."

Meteorologist Ryan Maue, former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, advised on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday, that central pressure will fall almost 70 mb in 24 hours reaching 942 mb, similar to a Category 4 hurricane.

The Category 5 atmospheric river—a designation reserved for the most extreme rain events—will funnel vast amounts of water vapor into the region, which could trigger widespread flooding and landslides.

Atmospheric rivers are narrow channels in the atmosphere that can carry a large amount of moisture with them. They form when cold air from the Arctic meets warm, moist air from the tropics, cooling it to form heavy precipitation.

A so-called "bomb cyclone" is when a cold mass of air collides with a warm mass, intensifying a cyclone, bringing more violent winds and a greater likelihood of coastal flooding.

Bombogenesis, or "bomb out," is the term reserved for low-pressure systems that intensify rapidly, typically with a pressure drop of at least 24 mb in 24 hours, as reported by Weather Nation TV, confirming that this definition changes based on latitude.

A map shows areas on the West Coast that will be affected by the bomb cyclone and atmospheric river weather systems.

The extreme nature of this storm raises questions about the influence of climate change on weather patterns. Warmer ocean temperatures are believed to intensify atmospheric rivers, making such events more frequent and severe.

Experts have linked severe storms such as these to climate change pushing more moisture into the atmosphere and energizing weather systems, as reported by Newsweek.

"There's more moisture in the atmosphere, so there's more moisture that falls out of it," Chris Brierley, a professor of climate science at University College London, who specializes in climate modeling, previously told Newsweek.

"The [increased] severity is something we have projected for quite a while, and is something that we're seeing across the board with storms—that when it rains, it rains more, just purely from a thermodynamic response of a warmer atmosphere and a higher saturation of vapor pressure," he added.

Newsweek contacted additional climate experts for comment on Monday via email.

As the West Coast braces for the storm, residents in low-lying areas are advised to prepare to leave if flash flood warnings are issued. Weather Nation advised that areas along the coast could also see strong enough winds to down trees and power lines, primarily from Tuesday into Wednesday.

Residents in affected states should continue to monitor updates from the National Weather Service (NWS), weather stations, and local authorities as the situation develops.

[meret118]

Category 1 hurricanes have wind speeds of 74—95 mph, Category 2 of 96—110 mph, Category 3 of 111—129 mph, Category 4 of 130—156 mph, and Category 5 hurricanes have winds of 157 mph or higher.

A study published by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory meteorologists in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in February this year proposed that a new Category 6 is needed for hurricanes that reach wind speeds of 192 mph or higher.

. . .

"Of the 197 [tropical cyclones] that were classified as category 5 during the 42-[year] period 1980 to 2021, which comprises the period of highest quality and most consistent data, half of them occurred in the last 17 y of the period. Five of those storms exceeded our hypothetical category 6 and all of these occurred in the last 9 y of the record," the researchers wrote in the paper.

"The most intense of these hypothetical category 6 storms, Patricia, occurred in the Eastern Pacific making landfall in Jalisco, Mexico, as a category 4 storm. The remaining category 6 storms all occurred in the Western Pacific."

Patricia—which hit in October 2015—reached wind speeds of 216 mph, while the other four western Pacific typhoons all reached 195-196 mph. The researchers note that the chance of storms potentially reaching Category 6 intensity has "more than doubled" since 1979.

Ali Sarhadi, an assistant Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, told Newsweek: "There is strong agreement that the frequency and intensity of major tropical cyclones (Category 3 and above) are likely to increase as a result of climate change. This is driven by rising ocean temperatures, which provide more thermal energy to fuel tropical cyclones, and the increased capacity of a warmer atmosphere to hold moisture, leading to heavier rainfall during the landfall of these storms."

[nextdoor-loser]

Hello! As y'all probably know by now, musicals are a BIG interest of mine. So I decided to make a list of all musicals I ever listened to. Mainly because I like categorizing stuff.

Feel free to use this to recommend me something (I'm trying to make to 100 musicals lol), or use this as a recommendation list for yourself (I tried to put my favorites on top, but don't take the placements to heart)

Before we start, some ground rules: I'm focusing on stage productions and concept albuns. There might be *some* movies. I'm not counting Disney or this would be twice the size.

Also, I count "listened to" as in "I listened to most/all of the songs and know enough of the plot".

• Hamilton (My favorite by far. Nothing can compare. Best thing ever. I'll never get tired of it.)

LIST:

S TIER: These are my general faves. I like most of the songs and know the plot back to back. Can probably talk for hours about them.

• Jesus Christ Superstar (not even religious, but man, this has me on a chokehold)

• Epic: the musical (not finished but it's alredy good like that)

• Falsettos

• Spies Are Forever (criminally underrated, if not any other, watch this one, it's free on YouTube)

• Hadestown

• Warriors

• In the Heights

• Twisted

• Les Miserables

• Company

• Legally blonde

A TIER: Really good musicals! Like 9/10 stuff. I think most of them are in this category.

• The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals

• Be More Chill

• Heathers

• Come From Away

• A Chorus Line

• Dear Evan Hansen

• Ryde The Cyclone

• The Count Of Mount Cristo

• Waitress

• Into the Woods

• The Unnoficial Bridgerton Musical (no, I'm not proud of myself. In my defense, it's kinda of a banger)

• Tick tick boom

• The Last 5 Years

• A Very Potter Trilogy (can't separate them)

• Chicago

• Sweeney Todd

• Something Rotten

• A new brain

• Newsies

• Grease

• Bare

• Nerdy Prudes Must Die

• Wicked

• Six

B TIER: Also good musicals, I just don't listen to them as much as the others and don't have many opinions about it.

• Anastasia

• Beetlejuice

• The Prom

• 1776

• Mean girls

• The Great Gatsby

• Some Like It Hot

• Joseph Tecnhocolor Coat

• Starship

• The Lighting Thief

• 36 Questions

• The Mad Ones

• Mamma Mia

• Matilda

• Carrie the musical

• Firebringer

• 21 chump street

• Black Friday

C TIER: They're fine. Might have some bangers, but I probably wouldn't think of them immediately when asked. Or maybe there's not enough content to justify putting them up.

• Spongebob Squarepants, the new musical

• Shrek the musical

• Dr Horrible Sing-along

• The Theory of Relativity

• Catch Me If You Can

• Beloved King (only what's available on YouTube/Spotify)

• Ordinary Days

• The book of mormon

• 35MM

• Holy Musical B@man

• Trail to Oregon

• Avenue Q

• Me & My Dick

[tomorrowusa]

Project 2025, written by members of the Trump administration and Trump's political cronies, wants to get rid of NOAA which includes the National Hurricane Center. They are hardcore climate deniers who wish to erase all evidence of climate change to protect the fossil fuel industry.

While no two hurricanes are alike, there is something potentially worrisome about Category 4 Hurricane Helene. It has been the latest in rapidly intensifying storms. The era of rapid intensification probably began in 1992 with Cat 5 Hurricane Andrew. But Helene moved through the Gulf of Mexico at a rapid rate for a hurricane at such latitudes. At one point it was moving at 24 MPH/44 KmH. What that means is that its momentum took it further inland with less loss of intensity than a slower moving storm.

So at 2 AM Friday, Helene was still a full-blown hurricane well into inland (as opposed to coastal) Georgia.

People in Savannah were probably astonished to have a hurricane 150 miles to the west rather than one 150 miles to the east.

With rapid intensification AND rapid movement of hurricanes, areas further inland are now in greater danger. The Trump/Project 2025 destruction of our ability to monitor cyclones would do to climate and meteorology what the destruction of Roe v. Wade has done to reproductive health.

[mindblowingscience]

With warmer oceans serving as fuel, Atlantic hurricanes are now more than twice as likely as before to rapidly intensify from wimpy minor hurricanes to powerful and catastrophic, a study said Thursday. Last month Hurricane Lee went from barely a hurricane at 80 mph (129 kph) to the most powerful Category 5 hurricane with 155 mph (249 kph) winds in 24 hours. In 2017, before it devastated Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria went from a Category 1 storm with 90 mph (145 kph) to a top-of-the-chart whopper with 160 mph (257 kph) winds in just 15 hours. The study looked at 830 Atlantic tropical cyclones since 1971. It found that in the last 20 years, 8.1% of the time storms powered from a Category 1 minor storm to a major hurricane in just 24 hours. That happened only 3.2% of the time from 1971 to 1990, according to a study in the journal Scientific Reports. Category 1 hurricanes top out at 95 mph (153 kph) and a hurricane has to have at least 111 mph (178 kph) winds to become major.

Continue Reading.

[log6]

As many of you know, my blog(s) have a years long tradition of closely following the annual Atlantic Hurricane Season. I've slacked off in the last couple years but expect a return to day by day updates as I will be on a Caribbean island for the coming months. This hurricane season promises to be one of our craziest yet- it's barely July and the Atlantic has already yielded two storms, one of which (Hurricane Beryl) has already reached Category 5. All-time record sea surface temperatures, the latest El Niño Southern Oscillation, one of the hottest and strongest we've ever seen, weakening to a neutral phase, leaving extremely hot seas in the Main Development Area of the Atlantic Ocean. With the ENSO further shifting into La Niña, which has a stabilizing effect on the Atlantic atmosphere, neutralizing the wind shear generated by El Niño that impedes cyclone formation, we're looking at a vastly above average hurricane season. The average expected Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) for an Atlantic Hurricane Season is between 72 and 111 units, but this year estimates for total ACE put the season above 200 points in almost all estimates by various sources, with all predicting more named storms than the average 14. Some estimates are unprecedented: up to 33±6 named storms, with an overwhelming majority of forecasters expecting more than 5 major hurricanes this season. As trade winds continue to shift, and the monsoon trough deepens over western Africa in preparation for the rainy season, only time will tell how bad the 2025 Atlantic Hurricane Season will be, but it does not bode well. I will be watching the Inter-Tropical Convegence Zone closely. With that, it's my honor and privilege to introduce our coverage of the Atlantic Hurricane Season of the year 2024!

#hs2024

[phinnyexplainsathing]

Hurricane Wilma (2005)

Hello! This is my first post other than my intro, Can you believe it? Anyhoo!

Hurricane Wilma was the most intense tropical cyclone in the Atlantic ever recorded! Her rapid intensification led to an astounding 24 hour pressure drop of 97 mbars! (Or 2.9 inHG)

It set a new basin record, breaking the prior record of 899 set by Hurricane Allen in 1980!

At its peak, Wilma’s eye contracted to a record breaking 2.1 miles! (3.7 km)

But How did this record breaking hurricane get to be so intense?

Well it all started from a tropical depression that formed Near Jamaica on October 15th, Gradually it headed westwards towards the Gulf of Mexico. Two days later it intensified into a tropical storm, Turned Southward and gained the name Wilma.

Shortly after this it underwent Explosive Intensification, and In only 24 hours became a raging Category 5 with wind speeds of 185 mph (295 kmph)

However as it crept towards the Yucatán Peninsula it began its winds decreased and became 150 mph (240 kmph), Still pretty strong but not as strong.

After crossing the Yucatán, it emerged as a Category Two, However As it came barreling towards the towards Florida it re-intensified into a Category 3, and and Hit Cape Ramano with winds of 120 mph (190 kmph)

After it hit Florida, it roared back into a category 3 one last time before accelerating Northeastward and weakening into an Extratropical Cyclone southeast of Nova Scotia.

It cost 26.5 billion dollars, 52 lives across the Caribbean, Mexico and The States, and Will go and has definitely gone down in the history books as an absolute monster of a storm.

I hope you found this interesting!!!! :3

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Olivia Little at MMFA:

TikTok users are asking Amazon’s Alexa unanswerable questions about the outcome of rapidly strengthening Hurricane Milton, which is forecast to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday. Unfortunately, Alexa is providing users with inaccurate answers, sparking panic and conspiracy theories that have already garnered over a million views on TikTok. Users are asking variations of the same question: “Alexa, what kind of hurricane was Hurricane Milton?”

“From fandom.com: Hurricane Milton was an extremely powerful Category 5 hurricane that caused widespread damage across its path in October 2024,” responded Alexa in multiple videos. (Although Media Matters couldn’t replicate the response, Alexa did tell us the death toll and monetary damages of a hurricane that has not yet made landfall when we asked if there were any fatalities from Hurricane Milton).  Alexa’s response cites fandom.com, a fan-generated entertainment and gaming platform. Within fandom is the Hypothetical Hurricanes Wiki, a “wiki-based comprehensive database of hypothetical tropical cyclone articles that anyone can edit.” One user ends the video by shaking his head and saying, “They’ve already predicted the outcome, I wonder why?” That video has over 738,300 views.

An Amazon Alexa error is causing conspiracy theories about Hurricane Milton to percolate. This is on top of Hurricane Helene-related conspiracies that have popped up.