Dangerous Hurricane Frances

[David Schuttler]

Click on top left picture for live cam. There is a crane at least 10 stories high . This is at Miami U . You can see it move with the wind

http://www.med.miami.edu/webcams.asp

 

[Cstok]

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/DATA/RT/ep...c-vis-loop.html

Check out this loop. Hurricane Howard in the East Pac. and Frances in the Atlantic.

 

[B Ozanne]

Anybody else think Geraldo will meet his maker tonight?


Edit from before...That lady who broke her rib wasn't hit with styrofoam, it was more like heavy duty drywall.

 

[Tim Vasquez]

Seems like in this digital/high-tech age we don't give props to the old school way of seeing hurricanes. This is how Frances probably would have looked on the old WSR-57 radars. It's simply NEXRAD mapped to B&W and photoshopped a bit. Ah yes... I can just see it now, on the front of an old Louis Battan hardcover. Hmmm, but somehow it still doesn't capture the crudeness of those old radar pics.

[Broken External Image]:http://www.stormtrack.org/francesbw.jpg

 

[Nick Smith]

My attempt...

 

[Tim Vasquez]

These black & white radar images are kind of interesting... I can't put my finger on it but they show a sort of texture and detail that doesn't come out in color images. The different types of convective structures are more readily apparent, for one.

(Nick, your attempt is definitely better, btw -- I'm sure it has Nixon's stamp of approval)

 

[Nick Smith]

Here's some actual WSR-57 radar photographs (and some log maps) from the Miami radar of Hurricane Cleo in 1964

ftp://ftp.nhc.noaa.gov/pub/storm_archives.../cleo/radarpic/

Pictures of the Miami SP-1M radar of Hurricane Donna in 1960

ftp://ftp.nhc.noaa.gov/pub/storm_archives...donna/radarpic/

The demise of the Miami WSR-57 after Andrew (from Roger Edwards)... Commissioned June 26, 1959 - Decommissioned by Andrew August 24, 1992

http://www.stormeyes.org/tornado/SkyPix/radown.htm

 

[B Ozanne]

The shelter situation in Florida looks dreadful. Could you imagine being couped in there since Thursday? If the lights went out then you are sweating it out. I've also heard reports that some shelters were damaged and flooded and the people had to be moved. I thought those shelters were supposed be the safe zones. There's going to be a big uproar from the shelter situation. I feel bad for those people who had no other options.

 

[Carrie Halliday]

After this season, do you think that they may stiffen the building codes in FL? Seems alot of the damage could have been avoided if they were more hurricane resistant. Hurricane clips for roofs, etc could help. I know they have codes in place now, but are they stiff enough? And why are mobile home parks so prevalent in a high wind area such as FL? That one really makes me wonder. I know cost is a factor, but geez........why live in a ticking time bomb. I know they have a tether system for them but in the winds generated down there, not sure if they will help that much.
Sorry for the rant, guess I just don't totally comprehend why there not a more proactive approach.

 

[Kevin Walter]

I just started the Wind Engineering program out here at Texas Tech, so I don't know much about this subject yet. However, I do know that some of the guys who surveyed the damage from Charley found mobile home parks where the tie downs were still solidly in place, but the walls and superstructure of the mobile home had been obliterated. In other cases, the tie downs had rusted and failed. There's still alot of research to be done in this field, but it basically boils down to the fact that economics override safety. The key is finding an economical way to make them safe.

I'll go ahead and get to work on that.

 

[Joel Wright]

A little off topic but what do hurricane forecasters at the NHC do the rest of the year outside of tropical season? I've often wondered that..

 

[Tim Vasquez]

I'm hearing conflicting information about the damage in Vero Beach and nearby. One media outlet reports "significant" damage, another reports only minor damage.

 

[David Schuttler]

More webcams.... Nice streaming vid. Just a little too south Ft.Meyers but still getting bands

http://web.naplesnews.com/sections/webcams/front.html

best one http://web.naplesnews.com/webcam/ftmyers_beach/

 

[B Ozanne]

Many confilicting reports. Geraldo's DEVASTATION is only minor damage to a Cantore.

When all is said and done I have a feeling the TPC nailed the landfall right on, even 5 days out or more. Intensity is another matter but better to ere in the direction they did.

Where are the Camille's of yesteryear? Do they still exist?

 

[B Ozanne]

A great moment on CNN last night (Saturday night) around midnight. Two correspondants were taking email questions just as the eywall was pounding them outside. The question was from a Canadaian who asked, "Why is the rain fresh water when the hurricane is sucking up so much salt water?"

The correpondants and achor in the studio were cracking up as they were trying to explain the complex question during the maelstrom. The meteorologist politely explained that water is not actually sucked into the storm and only pure H20 evaporates, leaving behind the salt. Better him than me, as I would not have been able to answer that question so politely.