There's no shortage of online news and predictions about Sandy, but we found this piece from The Atlantic's senior editor Alexis Madrigal; check this out:
She's huge. She's strong and might get stronger. She's strange. She's directing the might of her storm surge right at New York City.
Hurricane Sandy has already caused her first damage in New York: the subway system will be shut as of 7pm tonight. Meteorologists are scared, so city planners are scared.
For many, the hullabaloo raises memories of Irene, which despite causing $15.6 billion worth of damages in the United States, did not live up to its pre-arrival hype.
By almost all measures, this storm looks like it could be worse: higher winds, a path through a more populated area, worse storm surge, and a greater chance it'll linger. The atmospherics, you might say, all point to this being the worst storm in recent history.
I've been watching weather nerds freak out about a few different graphs over the last several days, which they've sent around like sports fans would tweet a particularly vicious hit in the NFL. You don't want to look, but you also can't help it.
Dr. Ryan Maue, a meteorologist at WeatherBELL, put out this animated GIF of the storm's approach yesterday. "This is unprecedented --absolutely stunning upper-level configuration pinwheeling #Sandy on-shore like ping-pong ball," he tweeted. It shows how cold air to the north and west of the storm spin Sandy into the mid-atlantic coastline. (Nota bene: his models also show very high winds at skyscraper altitudes.)
This morning, the Wall Street Journal's Eric Holthaus (@WSJweather), tweeted the following map. "Oh my.... I have never seen so much purple on this graphic. By far. Never," he said. "Folks, please take this storm seriously." The storm is strong *and* huge. And when it encounters the cold air from the north and west, it will develop renewed strength thanks to that interaction, a process known as "baroclinic enhancement."
Alexis' comment about the public interest in Sandy is interesting. We got a bit of it last night when we flicked over to CNN when we got home from dinner after hearing about the tsunami warnings. One or two of the journalists covering the story almost seems a little deflated when the threatened one-to-two metre waves did not eventuate.
We're likely to be bombarded with Sandy stories in the next couple of days. We've just seen on Twitter that British Airways has just cancelled all flights in and out of New York, and that all Federal buildings in DC will be closed on Monday (US time). Officials are taking Sandy seriously, and it would seem that they have good cause.
Hurricane Sandy; coming to a news channel near you very soon!
12 comments:
Why would God do this?
Incomprehensible!
Take your trolling elsewhere Pauline or whoever you are.
FYI
Holly Walker Posted October 29, 2012 at 12:35 PM
Thanks for the questions and sorry for any confusion.
A lobbying disclosure regime would shed light on the interactions between organisations like Business NZ and MPs from any party. Business NZ would be required to declare, in this case, that they talked to National MPs about the Paid Parental Leave Bill. That leaves journalists/the public/opposition MPs free to question Government on the nature of those interactions.
It would work exactly the same way for interactions between Labour and unions over the same bill. The end result is a clearer picture of who is influencing MPs, about what.
The definitions in the bill as drafted are too wide, which we have publicly acknowledged. This was done originally to ensure that it didn’t allow the easy avoidance of coverage under the bill, but now is the time for the committee to work through the details to ensure a robust and appropriate definition of lobbying and lobbyist for the NZ political context.
"This is unprecedented..."
Indeed. But not unexpected. Those with an intelligent grasp of global warming knew this sort of event would present itself and say it will be one of many of increasing frequency. You'll have to start building up your store of synomyms for 'devastating', KS. You are going to need them.
I'm struggling to work out the relevance of your comment FYI. Has someone been lobbying Holly Walker over hurricanes?
@ Weatherman - I thought the term "global warming" was no longer in vogue, and had been replaced by the equally obvious "climate change". After all, the climate has been changing ever since the beginning of time. That the climate is currently in a period of change and extremes is not disputed. That it is wholly as a result of man's inhumanity to man is far more debatable.
No-one has suggested that global warming is "wholly as a result" of man's activities, Keeping Stock. They have though, determined through scientific study, that man's industry has contributed significantly to the warming and that we have created a potentially disastrous situation, one that should be avoided if at all possible. Unfortunately, Government's such as ours have chosen to keep to their 'development' agendas and refused to make the changes needed. And now we have 'Sandy'. She will be followed by many more of increasing destructiveness.
We are foolish beings indeed.
There are some however, who can see the situation for how it is. You, KS, cannot number yourself among them, sadly. Your God must be appalled!
Weatherman,
No they have not determined that man's industrial activity is the cause of the increase in warming. It has been shown that CO2 increases AFTER warming with a lag of about 800 years. In addition, the warming effect of CO2 is exponential. That means that, at current levels, a doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere would have about a 0.1 C degree effect. An increase in CO2 would also increase crop production because plants use CO2 in combination with sunlight to build their structures.
If industrialisation is the major cause of the current warming, what caused the Roman warm period or the Medieval warm period when there was no industrial development? You seem to have the answers, so I would appreciate your scientific explanation for those anomalies.
Michael in Nelson
Michael in Nelson.
God must be appalled by you and your shallow ignorance as well!
Hope you enjoy the reports of Sandy's progress.
My thoughts are with all those living on the Eastern Coast of the US and Canada. The size of this storm is awe inspiring, but also I would imagine a little scary if you are living in its path. I hope that there is no (or at least limited) loss of life.
weatherman, you are a typical leftie moron who has no idea about the world and how it works, BTW,Michael in Nelson is a REAL qualified scientist and god has NOTHING to do with it.
Crikey KS, you really do invite some idiot trolls,
Medusa
I don't invite them Medusa; they just seem to find me irresistable!
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