October 24, 2015
Hurricane Patricia, (click here) the most poweful hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, severely weakened overnight after it made landfall in the Mexican state of Jalisco. The storm was downgraded to a tropical storm early Saturday morning, and the National Weather Service downgraded it again to a tropical depression at 10 a.m. local time.
While officials have warned that the massive rainfall brought by Patricia could still cause flooding and landslides, residents in most of the states where the storm made landfall awoke to find minimal damage.
Yesterday, there was reporting on "The Weather Channel" by an onsite weather journalist about clear skies and no rain followed by severe wins and then the landfall of the eye/center. The pressures were down to 930 millibars through out the landfall.
There were many bands and Patricia was more classic, but, not identically a class storm than Joaquin. The bands most likely were moving at a very high velocity and would carry the characteristic of an eye wall. So, there would be what seemed like a repeating eye wall.
There have been 28 named storms in the East Pacific this year. (click here)
Hurricane Floyd, (click here) a category five, had torrential rains. The rains of the peripheral storm arrived to the east coast of the USA a full twelve hours before the eye. People were trapped by the rain, not the eye wall. People drown because they had no idea of the of storm arrival and it's most dangerous part. The eye wall can kill from high velocity winds, but, the flooding kills with it's first evidence of arrival. And the area Floyd covered was enormous. The diameter was over 500 miles across. The drive from Washington, DC is about that long.
To note: There were only 11 named storms in the Atlantic in 2015. A decade earlier there were 31 named storms in the Atlantic which included Katrina. That same year there were 17 for the entire season in the east Pacific.
It is my contention there has been a shift in the locations of concentration of storms to the east Pacific because of the drag placed on the air mass of the troposphere by Coriolis and a hot planet. In the Pacific there is much more surface area to the ocean and allows more normal dynamics than the Atlantic.
The hurricane dynamic of North America, which has two coasts of these storms. The dynamic oscillated from 2006 to 2011, was stable in 2012 and flipped coasts in 2013.
Patricia winds were as high as 200 mph. Category 5 starts at 157 mph. The categories are not completely based in wind velocity, but, also the physical damage and it's central pressure in millibars. Category 4 ranges from 130-156 mph. It might be time to entertain where a Category 6 starts which can include the amount of rain delivered.
In addition to its unprecedented 200-mph (320-kph) sustained winds earlier Friday, Hurricane Patricia now holds the record for lowest pressure in any hurricane on record. With a minimum central pressure of 880 millibars (25.99 inches of mercury) at the 4 a.m. CDT advisory, Patricia broke the record of 882 millibars set by Wilma in the Atlantic Basin almost exactly 10 years ago. Around 1 p.m. CDT Friday, the minimum central pressure reached its lowest point, 879 millibars (25.96 inches of mercury)....
There have been 28 named storms in the East Pacific this year. (click here)
To note: There were only 11 named storms in the Atlantic in 2015. A decade earlier there were 31 named storms in the Atlantic which included Katrina. That same year there were 17 for the entire season in the east Pacific.
It is my contention there has been a shift in the locations of concentration of storms to the east Pacific because of the drag placed on the air mass of the troposphere by Coriolis and a hot planet. In the Pacific there is much more surface area to the ocean and allows more normal dynamics than the Atlantic.
The hurricane dynamic of North America, which has two coasts of these storms. The dynamic oscillated from 2006 to 2011, was stable in 2012 and flipped coasts in 2013.
Patricia winds were as high as 200 mph. Category 5 starts at 157 mph. The categories are not completely based in wind velocity, but, also the physical damage and it's central pressure in millibars. Category 4 ranges from 130-156 mph. It might be time to entertain where a Category 6 starts which can include the amount of rain delivered.
In addition to its unprecedented 200-mph (320-kph) sustained winds earlier Friday, Hurricane Patricia now holds the record for lowest pressure in any hurricane on record. With a minimum central pressure of 880 millibars (25.99 inches of mercury) at the 4 a.m. CDT advisory, Patricia broke the record of 882 millibars set by Wilma in the Atlantic Basin almost exactly 10 years ago. Around 1 p.m. CDT Friday, the minimum central pressure reached its lowest point, 879 millibars (25.96 inches of mercury)....
