https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2023/08/31/idalia-update/
By Paul Homewood
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2023/08/30/hurricane-idalia/
Paul Homewood: There have been suggestions that the rapid intensification of Idalia was somehow unprecedented.
This is nonsense.
Idalia went from a tropical storm, with winds of 60 kts (69 mph), to a Cat 3 hurricane at landfall, with winds of 125 mph, in the space of about 32 hours.
http://rammb-data.cira.colostate.edu/tc_realtime/storm.asp?storm_identifier=al102023
But that was nothing compared to the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, by far the strongest to hit the US. This went from a tropical storm to a Cat 5 , with winds of 185 mph, all in the space of less than two days.
We must also remember, of course, that we now have satellite updates every six hours, plus frequent hurricane hunter flights, to give us almost hourly data for these bigger storms.
In 1935, they had little idea what was happening out at sea, and so often had no idea how quickly storms intensified.
http://www.hurricanescience.org/history/storms/1930s/LaborDay/
Trail of Destruction
Even the weakest hurricanes can be devastating to anybody in their path. But as the impacts from Idalia become clear, it seems that it was much less catastrophic than forecast, and certainly not in the same league as Ian last year.
Storm surge, according to Fox, never seems to have got much above 6 ft, much less than the 15 ft forecast before landfall. That however is still enough to inundate places like Cedar Key, a group of low lying islands which took the brunt of Idalia, and which are now more than a few feet above sea level for the most part.
Rainfall was not excessive either by hurricane standards. And as the storm tracked across Georgia, the expected catastrophic rainfall did not materialise – totals of up to in Georgia for example.
Fortunately it also appears that there have been no deaths identified so far, as a direct result of the storm.
#
Climate Analyst Paul Homewood: “There have been suggestions that the rapid intensification of Idalia was somehow unprecedented. This is nonsense. Idalia went from a tropical storm, with winds of 60 kts (69 mph), to a Cat 3 hurricane at landfall, with winds of 125 mph, in the space of about 32 hours.
But that was nothing compared to the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, by far the strongest to hit the US. This went from a tropical storm to a Cat 5 , with winds of 185 mph, all in the space of less than two days. We must also remember, of course, that we now have satellite updates every six hours, plus frequent hurricane hunter flights, to give us almost hourly data for these bigger storms. In 1935, they had little idea what was happening out at sea, and so often had no idea how quickly storms intensified.
#
