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Hurricane Irma Reaches 185 MPH, Trailing Only Allen As Strongest Atlantic Storm On Record (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: We are quickly running out of adjectives to describe the destructive potential of Hurricane Irma. As of 2pm ET on Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center upgraded the storm's sustained winds to 185mph. This is near-record speed for a storm in the Atlantic basin, which includes the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico. Such high, sustained winds tie Irma for the second-strongest storm on record in the Atlantic, along with Hurricane Wilma (2005), Hurricane Gilbert (1998), and the 1935 Florida Keys hurricane. Only Hurricane Allen, which reached 190 mph in 1980 before striking a relatively unpopulated area of Texas, reached a higher wind speed. Globally, the all-time record for hurricanes is held by Patricia, which reached a staggering 215 mph in the Pacific Ocean in 2015. Although sustained winds capture the most public attention, meteorologists generally measure the intensity of a storm based upon central pressures, which are considerably lower than sea-level pressure on Earth, 1,013 millibars. Typhoon Tip, in 1979, holds this record at 870 millibars. For now, at least, Irma has a relatively high central pressure of 927 millibars. Why the storm has such an odd wind-speed-pressure relationship isn't entirely clear. According to the National Hurricane Center, Irma is expected to bring catastrophic winds and potential storm surges to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and the UK territory of Turks and Caicos this week. The Florida Keys could get hit by late Saturday night or Sunday.

9 of 318 comments (clear)

  1. Two storms of unusual magnitude .... by whoever57 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Two storms of unusual magnitude, exceptional temperatures in parts of CA, but hey, climate change is worldwide con, right?

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    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    1. Re:Two storms of unusual magnitude .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Doctor A: If you don't stop smoking, you'll die within 10 years.
      Doctor B: If you don't stop smoking, you'll die within 5 years.
      Patient: "Sheesh, I knew all the smoking paranoia was hokum... the doctors can't even agree"

      You tell me, how does a scientist describe increased variability in climate changes? Yes, it's still going to rain, it's still going to snow. There will be hurricanes. But long-term trend changes are observable and they are alarming. The highs get higher and severity of events will increase. And even when models are inaccurate, they are consistently inaccurate pointing to the same concern. No, humans can't destroy the earth, but we can make it a pretty damn difficult place for us to live on.

    2. Re:Two storms of unusual magnitude .... by riverat1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Actually it appears the past decade has been pretty normal for the number of major hurricanes. It's just that when they don't hit the Continental United States nobody here pays much attention to them.

  2. Re:Winter is coming by hey! · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Weather may not be climate, but the statistical behavior of weather certainly is.

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    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  3. Re:Not a con, a religion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I personally attend conferences where climate change is debated, there is no squashing of debate that I have observed. In addition, there is a large number of independent measurements and data that are generally painting the same picture. Theorizing that it has all been manipulated for political gain is not to be taken seriously; if a political actor, even with colluding scientists, could do that it would be the mother of all hoodwinks, bigger than a fake moon landing, closer to our President is a robot and about the same as US govt collusion with alien life forms conspiracies. The orchestration of manipulations would be truly impressive.

    Do not mistake continued scientific debate on climate observations for lack of consensus, there is quite good consensus among those that study the climate that it's changing. Roll back 100 years, or even now, and I'm sure scientists can be found that assert the Earth is flat, but in reality "all scientists agree", by consensus, the Earth is an oblate spheroid, aka round-ish. General consensus is as good as it will get in science.

    You assert that the issue has traversed from science to politics and your reference is brietbart.com, one of the most political and myopic outlets of psuedo-information? Hilarious irony, 2 points.

  4. Re:Winter is coming by hey! · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Who is doing that? We have the entire history of recorded meteorology to draw upon; it's quite easy to identify a single storm as a statistical outlier.

    Generally any data point more than 1.5 IQRs above the third quartile is an outlier, and should be a rare bird. Of course you do on occasion run into a rare bird, but if you start seeing them on a regular basis that means either you are having implausibly strange luck or something underlying has changed.

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    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  5. Re: Confessions of a Public Defender by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Around blacks, never relax!

  6. Erase Miami by JimSadler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hurricanes seem to come in two types. There are storms in which wind is the problem and storms in which rain is the real enemy and the winds quite tolerable. What happened to Houston was a wet storm that will cause massive property damage and very few deaths. Katrina was a wind storm that force the damns and levies to fail causing huge numbers of deaths. Irma is a wind storm and more so it is hell on a stick. If that storm strikes Miami I would expect almost all homes and buildings to be leveled. Winds of 185 mph. with gusts at 225 mph are sever enough to pretty much erase a city from the face of the Earth. there are about two million people in Miami. Evacuation is impossible. I am 110 miles north of Miami and a potential victim of this storm. God help Houston if this storm happens to strike them. Now I see on the radar that there are two more hurricanes trailing Irma. Now every right winger should shout at once "There is no global warming." That way when they open their pie hole I can shove a brick down their throats.

  7. Ok, time to MAN UP... by wisebabo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Are you willing to go on the PERMANENT record (thanks to the never forgetting Internet) so that people you care about (friends, spouses, children, grandchildren) know that you:

    Denied the overwhelming scientific consensus on Climate Change?
    Thought Obamacare was a disaster?
    Refused to believe in Evolution? (This is my particular interest, I am a genetic engineer. Now that we can see Evolution happening right down to the molecular level, disputing it is laughable. Not to mention "Nothing in Biology makes sense without it").

    Or for that matter:
    Think the Federal Government was planning to take over Texas in 2015 (The "Jade" something or other exercise)?
    Believe that there is a Pizza parlor in Washington D.C. that was a front for Democratic pedophiles?
    Think that because Trump criticized Clinton on Goldman Sachs he wouldn't end up in their pocket?

    I could go on but you get the picture. How many times do you have to be proven WRONG and been a victim of FAKE NEWS before you learn some critical thinking? Not only are you hurting the republic by voting for idiots (Bush) or frauds (Trump) but you are really hurting yourselves by believing that these leaders will help you (the working class) instead of just making them and their super rich friends richer, and by making stupid decisions like buying waterfront property in places like Texas and Florida.

    Anyway, if thinking won't get you to reflect on your positions; maybe shame will. How about you tell the ones you care about the social media accounts like slashdot where you post things? Assuming you at least have the balls to not post Anonymously, tell them your username. Let them see what you really think. (I have, in fact I'm proud to show them).

    Of course if Climate Change really is a hoax, and the Republicans come up with a much better replacement to Obamacare and God LITERALLY created the animals in one go (and forever fixed their attributes), then your friends and children and grandchildren will see you as the genius you are!