Well, it looks like Hurricane Joaquin is going to give the mainland a miss. That means a remarkable streak will continue: it’s been almost ten years since a major hurricane last struck the continental United States, higher levels of CO2 notwithstanding.
Just sayin’.
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Hurricane Sandy?
Wasn’t even a Category 1 when it made landfall.
Hurricane Sandy was a Category 3 when it struck Cuba, ninety miles away from Florida. It is the largest Atlantic hurricane in recorded history, and is second only to Katrina in the damage it caused. It flooded areas which have never been flooded before, displaced countless numbers of people, and its damage has not been fully repaired, over three years later.
Your assertion is that Hurricane Sandy was not a “major hurricane?”
Yup. I didn’t say major hurricanes hadn’t hit Cuba, or other places on Earth. I repeat: Sandy, as destructive as it was (mostly due to timing and precise location), was not even a Category 1 when it struck the mainland.
You don’t seem to appreciate how remarkable this streak is, but then you probably don’t pay as much attention to matters meteorological as I do. (When I was a young boy, I thought I’d probably study weather for a living when I grew up, and it fascinates me still.) But don’t take my word for it: here’s the Washington Post.
This streak would be an extraordinary anomaly even if Sandy had been a Category 3 all the way.
The notion that the hurricane which ranks #1 in size, and #2 in damage, is somehow not a major hurricane, is a hilariously indefensible proposition, along with similar howlers which deny the existence of global warming, posit a giant conspiracy among scientists to falsify data, give more credence to charlatans like Christopher Monckton than actual scientists, and the rest of the unfounded dogma which defines science denialism. If you want to insist on such risible fatuities: it’s a free country, nobody will stop you, and you’ll have plenty of company among the credulous and excitable inhabitants of the right wing bubble.
As Jonathan Swift noted: “It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into”.
What-ever. Tomorrow I will go to Golden Gate Park for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, the annual free concert which takes place on the same hallowed ground where Jerry, Jimi, Janis, Jorma, and Jack performed in days of yore. While the first three are long gone, Jorma and Jack live in the neighborhood, so Hot Tuna will be a can’t-miss. Then I’ll go to another stage for Joe Jackson and Boz Scaggs. I’ll have to leave it to others to stand up for science, empiricism, and quantifiable data.
My goodness, Peter, you are a stubborn cuss (and more than a little paranoid here, it seems).
Sandy was obviously a terribly destructive storm. What distinguishes hurricane categories, though (and what distinguishes hurricanes from “tropical storms”, etc.), is wind velocity. The only reason the much-depleted Sandy was so destructive at landfall was that its northern flank, where winds blow from east to west, hit squarely upon New York Harbor — which is a natural funnel for storm surge — right at high tide. (As your President is fond of saying, it “punched above its weight”.)
That there has been an abnormal quiet spell in Category-3-or-higher hurricane landfalls on the U.S. mainland is not a controversial proposition, is entirely based upon “quantifiable data”, and has nothing whatsoever to do with Christopher Monckton, “right-wing bubbles” (which now, apparently, include the Washington Post!) or anything else. There’s no debate about this, nor could there be. It’s just a curious meteorological fact.
Your quote from Swift is apt.
Let the OEM have his silly-ass nitpick. How much less remarkable is it that in ten years there has been only one major hurricane making landfall on our mainland?
Well, exactly, Henry. And of course there are plenty of “actual scientists” who question the global-warmist orthodoxy. I think the problem is more that they aren’t true Scotsmen.
Matthew 7:24-27
Well whatever force it is I just wish you’d keep your hurricanes to yourselves! This Joaquin-thingie is now heading ‘over here’ with potentially dire consequences. Honestly, living next door to noisy neighbours is hell!
I do apologize, David. I’ll see what I can do.
Malcolm can prevent a hurricane from making landfall on the U.S. mainland, but I doubt he can do the same for “over there”.