Sunday, August 28, 2011

I have plenty to post...

...but, it isn't appropriate right now.  


Tomorrow.


Thank you.

Isolated locations like the Barrier Islands of NC and distant places in Vermont may need helicopters from the Coast Guard AFTER the hurricane passes.

That is especially true for medical transportation if there are no passable bridges or roads or flooding is expected to continue.


Thank you.




Irene Sweeps Flooding, Havoc Across Vermont (click title to entry - thank you)

Sunday, 08/28/11 4:04pm


(Host) Tropical Storm Irene has swept flooding and destruction across Vermont.  One woman is missing and was last seen floating in the Deerfield River.
As VPR's Ross Sneyd reports, state officials say no one should be on the roads at this hour.
(Sneyd) From the Deerfield Valley in the south to the Champlain Valley in the west, Irene is dropping tremendous amounts of water.
And the water is jumping its banks, undermining roads and creating havoc.
Transportation Secretary Brian Searles says Vermonters should not head out, even if the rain stops....


Taking the time to 'talk reality' has its reasons.


Of the Big Cities, Philadelphia Is Hard Hit

This article was reported by Kim SeversonBrian Stelter, Dan Barry, Sabrina Tavernise and Campbell Robertson and was written by Stuart Emmrich. (click title to entry - thank you)



...In Philadelphia, which lies between the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers, residents in low-lying areas woke up to rising water. Mark McDonald, spokesman for the Philadelphia mayor, Michael Nutter, said water levels were 15 feet above normal in some areas, and were not expected to stop rising until 2 p.m. Sunday. The waters were approaching the highest level ever recorded — 17 feet in 1869, he said. “There are many streams and creeks, and they are all above flood stage now,” Mr. McDonald said by telephone.
The storm, which dumped at least six inches of rain on the city, caused the collapse of seven buildings there, he said. Though nobody was injured, at one building — a six-story structure at 734 South 17th Street, just south of Center City, 20 residents had to be evacuated to safety. The airport, which closed at 10:30 Saturday night, would probably not reopen before late Sunday afternoon, Mr. McDonald said, though subways and buses would begin running around noon....



Known (click here) as the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, (click here) has one of the richest histories of any city in the United States. The city was founded in 1681 by Captain William Markham under the direction of William Penn, who saw the area as a refuge for Quakers. Philadelphia quickly became the cultural and industrial center of the then British colonies. From 1774 to 1776, the First and Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia to discuss uniting the colonies and breaking away from the British Empire. In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed in Independence Hall, located in the heart of the city. Philadelphia served as the capital of the United States from 1781 until the national government moved to Washington, D.C., in 1800.
Today, the Philadelphia metropolitan area houses a population of more than 6 million people and remains one of the industrial centers of the country. In the above image, the Delaware River, which separates New Jersey from Philadelphia, can be seen running along the southeastern edge of the city. Developed areas in and around the city are gray. The patchwork of off-white and green land around the city is farmland. The dark brown areas in the lower righthand corner of the image are the Pine Barrens, which are wetlands in western New Jersey.
This simulated color image was acquired by the Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) on April 24, 2000.

CNN states 15 dead in 6 states. That seems like a lot for a Cat 1 storm.


Hurricane Irene had led to the deaths of 14 people in five states as of this morning: (click title to entry - thank you)
VIRGINIA
A King William County man killed when a tree fell on him is the fourth confirmed fatality related to Hurricane Irene. Virginia Department of Emergency Management officials say the man was cutting a tree when another fell on him shortly before 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
Newport News authorities report that 11-year-old Zahir Robinson was killed when a large tree crashed through his apartment shortly after noon. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The boy's mother, who was in the apartment, was not injured....
North Anna Power Station, Virginia

Aug 28 (Reuters) - Dominion Resources (click here) reduced output to 50 percent at its two-unit 2,100-megawatt Millstone nuclear power generating station in Connecticut on Sunday as Tropical Storm Irene moved through the state, a company spokesman said.
The units began reducing output ahead of the storm on Saturday to help maintain grid stability in the event that severe wind reached the station, the company said.
"Reducing power helps maintain grid stability because in the event that the units go offline, there will be less of a shock to the grid if they are not operating at 100 percent," said Kenneth Holt, a Dominion spokesman. 
(Reporting by Eileen O'Grady and Jeanine Prezioso; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

This was yesterday in North Carolina. "...and the sea turned to foam."


Waves crashed into Avalon Pier as Hurricane Irene struck Kill Devil Hills, N.C., on Saturday.

This storm has no intention of slowing down. It is better defined now than ever.

August 28, 2011
1140.17z
UNISYS Infrared Northeast USA Satellite (click title to entry - thank you)


I believe what is being seen at this point is a reduction in its diameter which will concentrate the remaining velocity in a tighter circle.  Another way to say it, is that the 'spinning top' will be fueled by its own 'energy' being drawn into its center.  It is why the 'loft' of the center clouds is higher.  


From the media coverage (and I looked at most if not all of it) the areas being hit that have buildings, walkways and amusement rides are going to have to be inspected before use again.  There is some real power in that storm surge, so it cannot simply be treated as flooding, it is more than that.  It is like the water is turned into a 'propulsive' INSTRUMENT.  Water can take on the characteristic of 'bullet like' or 'torpedo-like' velocity.  So, basically where the impact of the tides are happening is like an object hitting it, not just flooding.


The storm is still receiving 'hot water vapor' as fuel from the tropics as well.


August 28, 2011
1230.14z
UNISYS Water Vapor Goes East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)


The loops may not be perfect as UNISYS stated there may be some interruption of the signal during the storm.  They are doing a great job though.  It isn't as interrupted as one might expect.


I believe as the hurricane heads north to the Arctic Circle it is transforming a bit to what most meteorologists call "A Mid-Latitude Vortex."  See, the dynamics for those vortices are already at work on a chronic basis.  While expecting Irene to diminish into a Tropical Storm is correct as it enters cooler latitudes and waters is correct, that is not taking into consideration the "Climate Crisis" dynamics that is supporting it as well.  Irene will remain a high velocity vortex all the way into the Arctic Circle no different than the 'usual' vortexes do on a daily basis.  Irene especially will because of an inexhaustible water vapor flow off the Equator.


Canada is going to receive these winds as well.  The summer of 2011 is going to result in a large loss of ice in the Arctic Ocean due to this hurricane.  Years ago, and I can find the date in my notes, there was a hurricane that went in the peninsula resulting in incredible loss of ice.  That is exactly what is going to result here.


The year was 2002, Antarctica Peninsula.  I'll try to find the image, but, this is the release from NASA.  The image is below and click the highlighted article link below.  Thank you.


The storm that caused this melting on the Peninsula in 2002 started south of Australia and I have that saved on an old disk.  I am not gong to get it out now.  It requires a computer that reads that disk and I don't have it turned on at the moment.  But, I watched it roll across the coldest ocean in the world to land directly on the Peninsula without contact with any other land mass.  I am sure there were some ship warnings for the region at the time.  But, it was a hurricane.  It had an 'eye.'  I don't believe it ever received a name.  That is what is being witnessed now with Irene.  Irene is headed for the Arctic Circle to 'cool off' and cost Earth more of its ice reserves.

The SeaWinds instrument on NASA’s Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat))click here) spacecraft captured these near-real-time backscatter images of melting on the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea between October 27 (left) and October 29 (right), 2002--the earliest documented melting event on the ice shelf since radar data began to be collected in the late 1970s. The melting extended as far south as 68 degrees south and resulted from a cyclone that delivered warm air to the region. The image on the right also shows a noticeable recession in the sea-ice margin to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula. The darker grey values of the melt region indicate radar backscatter coefficients that are reduced by approximately 10 decibels from their typical end of winter values.