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What the big deal with Hurricanes?

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  • 28-08-2012 9:28pm
    #1
    irishguy
    Registered Users Posts: 3,299 ✭✭✭


    Just curious as why there is a big deal made of tropical storms/Cat 1 Hurricanes, such as Issac? You would get those kind of winds in Ireland. So why do the ones in the caribbean get some much coverage?


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    #2
    Su Campu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,279 ✭✭✭Su Campu


    The don't....until there is a danger of them hitting the US, then the world goes crazy. They could kill hundreds in the Caribbean and they wouldn't make headline news.


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    #3
    irishguy
    Registered Users Posts: 3,299 ✭✭✭irishguy


    Su Campu wrote: »
    The don't....until there is a danger of them hitting the US, then the world goes crazy. They could kill hundreds in the Caribbean and they wouldn't make headline news.

    But why do they make a big deal when it hits the US? Is it that the houses are made of wood and are damaged easier?


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    #4
    golden lane
    Registered Users Posts: 1,364 ✭✭✭golden lane


    tune into the local news in the gulf of mexico........

    we, in the west are not very interested in other countries...besides the usa.....

    there is also the usual tropical storms....that turn into hurricanes when they reach the landmass of the usa......


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    #5
    irishgeo
    Registered Users Posts: 9,409 ✭✭✭irishgeo


    We get CAT 5 wind speeds most winters, maybe not as much rain.

    One reason we don't have as much damage us our houses are not made of wood.


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    #6
    smellslikeshoes
    Registered Users Posts: 3,354 ✭✭✭smellslikeshoes


    irishguy wrote: »
    You would get those kind of winds in Ireland.


    Gusts maybe but would be very very rare for us to get anything like the same speed sustained wind. It really would be a once in a few hundred years situation, Night of the big winds would be an example of something in that sort of league and that was 170 years ago and was the most damaging storm for 300 previous to it.
    If we got the 74–95 mph sustained winds of a Cat 1 for the length of time it takes a hurricane to pass the country would be a disaster zone.
    irishgeo wrote: »
    We get CAT 5 wind speeds most winters, maybe not as much rain.
    K_1 wrote: »
    We get cat 5 gusts, not sustained wind speeds, massive difference.

    Neither. Cat 5 is >157mph sustained winds, we don't get anywhere close to that ever.


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    #7
    TheMilkyPirate
    Registered Users Posts: 5,987 ✭✭✭TheMilkyPirate


    irishgeo wrote: »
    We get CAT 5 wind speeds most winters, maybe not as much rain.

    One reason we don't have as much damage us our houses are not made of wood.

    The highest gust ever recorded in Ireland is over 40mph less than the sustained wind speed of a CAT5 hurricane. So no, We don't.


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    #8
    Mr Cumulonimbus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,463 ✭✭✭Mr Cumulonimbus


    K_1 wrote: »
    We get cat 5 gusts, not sustained wind speeds, massive difference.

    Cat 5 is 156+ mph. Gusts like this maybe very rarely on the highest mountain tops.


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    #9
    Su Campu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,279 ✭✭✭Su Campu


    irishguy wrote: »
    But why do they make a big deal when it hits the US? Is it that the houses are made of wood and are damaged easier?

    Well there is that too, but for many countries (Ireland included) the sun rises and sets in the States, and all things related make the news, including months of run up to the Presidential elections....:rolleyes:

    But let's not take this off topic!


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    #10
    notnumber
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,564 ✭✭✭notnumber


    irishguy wrote: »
    But why do they make a big deal when it hits the US? Is it that the houses are made of wood and are damaged easier?

    We do not get 10-20 (predicated) inches of rain in Ireland..yes we do get hurricane force winds occasionally but never sustained and massive ocean surges to boot! Why would'nt they make a big deal of it? Would you prefer people where uninformed?
    If you mean why is it on Irish news? well that should be obvious considering our links to the us. Im sure you thread was started in good faith not having a go..even though it TS/CAT 1/2 could still cause massive damage.


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    #11
    irishgeo
    Registered Users Posts: 9,409 ✭✭✭irishgeo


    i mean have jumped the gun on the wind speeds.

    but have to admit the fact most of the houses in the hurricane zone are timber frame which massively increases the damage done.


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    #12
    Harps
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,548 ✭✭✭Harps


    Its very rare that we'd ever get a storm comparable to a cat 1 hurricane in this country. We get a storm once every few years that might just about reach cat 1 hurricane winds for 10 minutes at Malin Head but rarely any more than that and rain totals and storm surge are nowhere near comparable. If a storm with sustained hurricane force winds was bearing down on Dublin I'm sure there'd be a big deal made of it!

    A cat 5 has sustained winds of over 250kph, as baraca said the strongest gust ever recorded in this country was about 180kph so there's not a hope we'd ever get anything remotely close to a cat 5

    Video below of a cat 4 hurricane shredding a steel petrol station to pieces, Isaac is only forecast to be a cat 2 but will still have dangerous gusts, it doesn't matter what a building is made of if its hit by something like this



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    #13
    dfx-
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 15,667 Mod ✭✭✭✭dfx-


    irishguy wrote: »
    Just curious as why there is a big deal made of tropical storms/Cat 1 Hurricanes, such as Issac? You would get those kind of winds in Ireland. So why do the ones in the caribbean get some much coverage?

    You can get tornadoes in Ireland also, but you'd still go storm chasing in the US.

    Question in general, how would Bolaven have compared in area to for example the US?


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    #14
    ZX7R
    Registered Users Posts: 3,428 ✭✭✭ZX7R


    irishguy wrote: »
    Just curious as why there is a big deal made of tropical storms/Cat 1 Hurricanes, such as Issac? You would get those kind of winds in Ireland. So why do the ones in the Caribbean get some much coverage?
    I think this tipe of weather makes big new because it is a huge weather fonnomanuim,by having it in the news will hopefully save lives ,if you are following the other tread about hurricane Issac you will see how the likes of su campo ect, post very interesting information.i for one enjoy there posts and am learning about how weather works from all posters in all the weather forms,If we were to ever get this type of weather in Ireland at least,we would have more information about having this type of weather in the news


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    #15
    Jpmarn
    Registered Users Posts: 1,480 ✭✭✭Jpmarn


    They are capable of delivering almost 6 months of average rainfall we get in Ireland in one go.


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    #16
    wexie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,480 ✭✭✭wexie


    irishgeo wrote: »
    but have to admit the fact most of the houses in the hurricane zone are timber frame which massively increases the damage done.

    They build them like that because it's cheaper and easier to rebuild them.
    If your house gets hit with a flying pickup truck it doesn't really matter too much if it's timberframe or bricks and mortar.


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    #17
    irishgeo
    Registered Users Posts: 9,409 ✭✭✭irishgeo


    wexie wrote: »
    They build them like that because it's cheaper and easier to rebuild them.
    If your house gets hit with a flying pickup truck it doesn't really matter too much if it's timberframe or bricks and mortar.

    true.:D


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    #18
    M.T. Cranium
    Registered Users Posts: 14,399 ✭✭✭✭M.T. Cranium


    The point was being made yesterday with the approach of Isaac that roughly 95% of all deaths associated with hurricanes are related to water and not wind. Now of course, the wind may produce the water in the case of a storm surge, but this thread generally started with the premise that the wind speeds were not that big a deal. That remains true, for most landfalling hurricanes, only a very small area sees much wind damage to homes. Much larger areas see storm surges and flooding. Flooding can become a combined issue of runoff from heavy rainfalls and backing up of coastal rivers as storm surge blocks their estuaries.

    If Ireland did have regular landfalling hurricanes on the same scale as the eastern U.S., based somewhat on New England and/or eastern Canada's history with them, the issues would be somewhat muted because most coastal regions are somewhat elevated if not hilly, unlike the large expanses of almost flat coastal terrain in the southern U.S. and as you say, home construction standards are generally higher in the northern climates.

    However, I would suggest that the "big wind" event in January 1839 seems to have hit about at the intensity of a cat-2 or cat-3 hurricane so that might provide a bit of a comparison. The storm that hit southeast England in October 1987 was barely at cat-1 hurricane intensity, the Daniel Defoe storm of 1703 maybe about a cat-1/2 borderline. Some well-known more recent windstorms may have peaked around cat-1 intensity in a few locations but were generally at strong TS levels for most. Compare with Isaac yesterday, some oil platforms were reporting 6-9 hours of 60 knot winds gusting to 90, while surface stations on land (marsh) had 45 knots gusting to 70, possibly a bit higher. Those numbers are near the high end of what we have seen in similarly exposed locations from recent autumn or winter storms in Ireland. But if a 12-foot storm surge hit western Ireland, it would be much less of an issue than in southern Louisiana where 90% of the terrain is at or just above sea level (or even below and behind protective barriers).


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