"As a meteorologist, Hurricane Ian is the nightmare storm I worry about most"

[Nevilledog]

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"In my darkest dreams, it's the worst kind of storm I can conjure" -- a meteorologist explains how terrible Hurricane Ian has become.

arstechnica.com
As a meteorologist, Hurricane Ian is the nightmare storm I worry about most
This is the kind of storm that destroys a community forever.
10:11 AM · Sep 28, 2022

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/09/as-a-meteorologist-hurricane-ian-is-the-nightmare-storm-i-worry-about-most/

I have lived near the Texas coast for two decades and written about hurricanes professionally for nearly as long. When you do that, you think a lot about what would become of your home should the worst happen.

Well, the worst is happening in Southwest Florida today.

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Hurricane Ian has undergone a remarkable period of intensification during the last 24 hours. After crossing the western end of Cuba and knocking that island nation's power grid offline, Ian started to weaken a bit Tuesday following this brief interaction with land. It also underwent an "eyewall replacement cycle," in which the centermost bands of the storm contract and are replaced by a new ring of storms farther out. Often this process temporarily weakens a storm, but Ian was hardly fazed.

Following this cycle, by sunrise on Wednesday morning, Ian was larger and more powerful than ever before, with 155 mph winds. At this intensity, it would become the fifth most powerful hurricane to strike the United States in more than 150 years of records when it slams into the Southwest Florida coast later today, likely near Ft. Myers.

*snip*

[malaise]

1. Shhhhhhhhhhhh'

Will be one of the worst hurricanes in US history

Take a good look at Naples - this is catastrophic

[2naSalit]

3. Guy has the info!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017771206

I've been watching all morning.

[Cha]

4. Mahalo, 2naSalit.. I wonder how

St Pete is doing & Gainesville.. there's where my nephew and sister and her family are.

[Solly Mack]

2. 'People will be forced to swim' (extreme weather scientist on Hurricane Ian)

Very scary.

Needham, an extreme weather and disaster scientist with the GeoTrek project, said Wednesday ...

“I think a lot of people will be forced to swim or wade in the water for their survival,” he said, speaking from a town in the path of Ian. “It will be like a raging river.”

Scroll down to second part of article.

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. I think it would be worse if it was coming in from the Atlantic coast

Not a meteorologist, did not sleep at Holiday Inn Express last night.

The heaviest winds in a northern hemisphere hurricane are on the north side. When hitting the Gulf Coast (west) of Florida these winds are coming from inland. If it was hitting the Atlantic side (east), these stronger winds would be coming from the sea and - I think -generate a higher storm surge.

[Blues Heron]

6. Your prob thinking that because in a west moving storm the front right quadrant is on the north side

In an east moving storm like this(NE), the front right quadrant is on the south side, but also coming in from the ocean. Surge depends a lot on the geography of he coast and the slope of the seabed.

In general the front right is worst because you have the forward speed of the storm itself added to the wind speed

[crickets]

7. Very helpful - thanks.

I'm in the SW corner of GA over the panhandle. It's always tense waiting for the storm to land, and today has been an unpleasant mixture of horror and relief. Relief that the storm has moved eastward and will miss us for the most part, horror at what FL is going through right now. Stay safe, everyone.