Mary Jane's Last Dance (sexandpolitics) wrote,
@ 2008-08-18 03:56:00

Current mood:	nerdy
Entry tags:	hurricane

Hurray hurricane season! Tropical Storm Fay is heading towards where I am, in coastal central Florida. I've gone through this before, but not in Florida -- I weathered Hurricane Isabel in Virginia in '03, and the flooding with Gaston a year later (why those bastards didn't retire the name is beyond me, it left plenty of damage).

I got bored tonight and wondered, what was the largest and/or most powerful tropical cyclone on record? Hint: It's not Katrina or Wilma (though Wilma's officially #2)

It's Super Typhoon Tip, with 190 MPH winds. Think about that thing hitting the mainland. In fact, if theoretically, we placed it in the Atlantic and had it heading towards the mainland, it would have made an impact long before it made landfall -- it was more than a third of the size of the continental U.S.

All right. Enough nerd talk for now. :P

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glaceon
2008-08-18 12:20 pm UTC (link)

Weird. I think Wikipedia is wrong though...Hurricane Andrew had winds over 215 MPH yet on Wikipedia it says 175mph. Then again, I trust wikipedia about as much as I trust my aunt amy, which is nearly zilch. I'd say Andrew is the strongest according to articles I've read up on the other night.

I'm preparing for Fay as well. I'm a survivor of Andrew, Charley, Katrina, and god knows what else. XD

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	glaceon 2008-08-18 12:21 pm UTC (link)
	and Wilma didn't beat Charley or Andrew. XD (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sexandpolitics 2008-08-18 07:14 pm UTC (link)
	Not necessarily in damage, but its official barometric pressure at its peak (which really tells a hurricane's intensity) beat Andrew and especially Charley by a long shot. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	glaceon 2008-08-18 07:16 pm UTC (link)
	the 'worst' hurricanes are usually judged by wind speed and how much damage it did and its size as well as death tolls. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

sexandpolitics
2008-08-18 07:55 pm UTC (link)

But not the "most powerful".

Andrew may have made landfall as a Category 5... but so did Hurricane Camille in '69. Technically, Hurricane Camille was more powerful than Andrew, with max sustained winds at 190 MPH, which held during landfall, compared to Andrew's 160 MPH at landfall. It also held the damage record until Andrew came along -- but it also hit Mississippi, rather than the extremely populated peninsula of Florida.

The most powerful cyclone on record, Typhoon Tip, made landfall in Japan as a Cat 1. They rarely make landfall at their prime strength.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

sexandpolitics
2008-08-18 07:37 pm UTC (link)

It was rumored to have had gusts up to 215 MPH, but weather organizations measure wind strength by its sustained winds, which are recorded over the time span of a minute or longer. Andrew's were officially 175MPH, though they were thought to be 150 MPH for twelve years. Andrew was reclassified as a Cat 5 in this decade because they extensively went over data and upgraded technology.

Mom says I should have been a meteorologist. XD

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	glaceon 2008-08-18 07:40 pm UTC (link)
	I wanted to be a meteorologist back in elementary school. x3 Weather has always fascinated me. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sexandpolitics 2008-08-18 07:57 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, so did I. I used to watch the weather channel for hours on end. I was fascinated with the punch that Mother Nature could put out, with freak hurricanes and huge tornadoes. I used to watch all of those tornado hunter shows they did. XD (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	glaceon 2008-08-18 07:59 pm UTC (link)
	Oh me too! I dont feel like such a freak now! XD HAHA! I used to fight with my brother James over the TV(We had the biiiig satellite back in the day). I wanted my damn weather channel! XD (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sexandpolitics 2008-08-18 08:19 pm UTC (link)
	I remember those ginormous satellite dishes! They were so big you could probably sleep in one. When I visited my uncle's house in Tappahannock, a bunch of the neighbors had 'em. When I was young, I wanted to take a siesta in one. XD (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	glaceon 2008-08-18 08:21 pm UTC (link)
	Lightning destroyed ours. Struck it right on the nose one night....scared the living crap out of me! I should scan pics of the damage. The surge through our house was incredible. Burn marks on the walls and carpet where it fried a stereo and destroyed a VCR and TV....oi...x.x; (Reply to this)(Parent)

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