Hurricane Irma has become even stronger than the most extreme forecasts were projecting. According to the National Hurricane Center, Irma had sustained winds of 185 miles per hour at one point on Tuesday. That makes it the strongest Atlantic hurricane in history “outside the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean”. I was criticized for suggesting that Irma could become so powerful that it could potentially be labeled a “category 6” storm if such a thing existed. Well, now it has actually happened. If you extrapolate the Saffir-Simpson scale, “category 6” would begin at 158 knots, which would be 181.8 miles per hour. Since Irma has surpassed that mark, I believe that it is entirely reasonable if people want to refer to it as a “category 6” storm.
Of course some meteorologists will get very heated with you when you use the term “category 6” because no such category exists at this point.
But we need some way to describe an Atlantic hurricane with sustained winds of 185 miles per hour. “Category 5” simply does not do such a storm justice, and yes, Hurricane Irma is the type of storm that could wipe entire cities off the map if it came ashore at this power.
We don’t know where this immensely powerful storm will make landfall in the U.S. yet, but you don’t want to be there when it does. I don’t want to freak people out, but the truth is that the best thing you can do is to get as far away from this storm as you can.
Just remember what happened in Houston. The people were told not to evacuate, and that turned out to be an absolutely disastrous decision.
This is not just another storm. This is a history making event, and if Irma slams directly into one of our major cities as a category 5 storm, it could potentially make Hurricane Harvey look like a Sunday picnic. The following are some of the key things that you need to know about Hurricane Irma…
#1 According to the Miami Herald, Hurricane Irma had sustained winds of 185 miles per hour on Tuesday afternoon…
Irma continued to explode into a powerful storm Tuesday afternoon, with winds increasing to 185 mph, National Hurricane Center forecasters said in a 2 p.m. advisory.
As the storm continued to track westward, islands in its path raced to complete last minute preparations. The Leeward Islands are expected to get hit with “catastrophic” winds tonight, forecasters said, with the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico slammed tomorrow. In Puerto Rico, the governor asked President Donald Trump to declare a state of emergency, while the electric company warned Irma’s fierce winds could leave the island without power for four to six months.
#2 The NOAA is saying that Irma is “the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic — outside the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico.”
#3 As mentioned above, if you extrapolate the Saffir-Simpson scale, Irma could be considered a category 6 storm…
While few are willing to admit it yet, according to meteorologist Ryan Maye, Hurricane Irma is still intensifying, with winds up to 155-knots (180 mph) and that extrapolating Saffir-Simpson scale, 158-knots would be Category 6.
Yes, I know that a “category 6” does not exist yet, but perhaps it is about time that scientists got together and updated the scale in light of the dangerous new realities that we are now facing.
#4 Hurricane Irma is so enormously powerful that it is even “showing up on seismometers”…
Hurricane Irma is so strong it’s showing up on seismometers — equipment designed to measure earthquakes.
“What we’re seeing in the seismogram are low-pitched hums that gradually become stronger as the hurricane gets closer to the seismometer on the island of Guadeloupe,” said Stephen Hicks, a seismologist at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.
#5 In all of U.S. history, only three category 5 hurricanes have ever hit the United States – an unnamed storm in 1935, Hurricane Camille in 1969, and Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
#6 A state of emergency has already been declared for every single county in the state of Florida.
#7 If you are in the “danger zone” and you have not already stockpiled food, water and supplies, it is probably already too late. Reports of “panic prepping” are coming in from all over Florida, and down in Puerto Rico many stores are already out of all the most important supplies…
On Tuesday, the lines for fast-dwindling gas, food, water and hardware were interminable and anxiety mounted. One hardware store in San Juan had been nearly picked clean by afternoon.
“This has been like this for the last three days,” said Juan Carlos Ramirez, the store manager. “We’ve sold all of the most necessary items — flashlight, batteries, plywood.”
One of my readers made the point the other day that this isn’t the kind of storm that you can “prepare” for.
And my reader was precisely correct. You can’t “get prepared” for a hurricane with sustained winds of 185 miles per hour. Such a storm will snap homes like toothpicks.
If I was in Florida, I would be heading north immediately. Those that wait could find themselves in absolutely nightmarish traffic jams.
And if I lived on the Gulf coast, I would be watching this storm very, very carefully.
Because the waters in the Gulf of Mexico are so warm, there is the possibility that Irma could get even stronger if it slides to the south of Florida.
Let us hope that it does not happen, but a scenario in which Irma makes landfall along the Gulf coast as a category 5 storm would probably be the worst of all potential possibilities.
If such a scenario plays out, please get out of the path of this storm. Trying to “ride this storm out” would do you no good whatsoever.
Makati1 on Wed, 6th Sep 2017 5:26 pm
There are always fools who think they are exceptional and don’t have to leave. I hope my family there are all smarter than that. We shall see.
Makati1 on Wed, 6th Sep 2017 6:12 pm
In other news: Water VS Fire.
“Well-placed fears about storms on the Gulf coast are dominating national headlines, but the scourge of wildfires throughout the west is also straining resources, threatening wildlife, prompting vast evacuations, and endangering air quality for millions of people.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-06/hurricanes-slam-south-shocking-images-show-western-us-literally-fire
Rock and a hard place?
Apneaman on Wed, 6th Sep 2017 7:06 pm
Why would Jesus loving denier boy who, along with his hot wife, runs the economic collapse retard blog be using the science of hurricane modeling when it’s the same science and methods as climate science which him and others like him deny?
Hurricanes are a hoax created by an evil cabal of liberal meteorologists looking to squeeze you for grant money. Stay home with the windows open. You’ll be fine.
Apneaman on Wed, 6th Sep 2017 7:16 pm
When the technological bubble POPS! because the humans triggered a shift in planetary physics.
MOMMY! MOMMY! HELP! HELP!
Residents plead for help as provincial disaster relief team surveys Windsor flood damage
Homeowners clean up after August rains, even as some wait to learn if they’ll get relief for 2016 floods
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-flooding-disaster-relief-1.4275161
The bailouts and subsidized flood insurance and high dollar rescue squads cannot be maintained much longer. There will be less and less then none at all. Like I predicted. AGW consequences will break the bank. Not glamours and exciting like all them Hollywood and TV dystopian shows eh?
Makati1 on Wed, 6th Sep 2017 7:32 pm
It appears that the US is headed for a Trillion Dollar Catastrophe year. Harvey, Irma, maybe Jose and who knows how many more before Christmas? The entire Atlantic, up to about Boston, has hurricane hot water. (80F+)
The wildfires in the West have not ended and probably won’t for the foreseeable future. Drought is still a topic in many areas of the country. And on and on.
I wonder how long it will take before the last credit card is maxed out and the last ‘home equity’ loan is gone? When that happens, it is game over. Buckle up!
Apneaman on Wed, 6th Sep 2017 7:43 pm
Models Show Irma Tracking Toward 88 Degree (F) Waters Before Setting Sights on Florida, Georgia and South Carolina
“Irma tapping extremely hot sea surface temperatures in the range of 88 degrees Fahrenheit (about 3.5 F hotter than average)”
https://robertscribbler.com/2017/09/06/models-show-irma-tracking-toward-88-degree-f-waters-before-setting-sights-on-florida-georgia-and-south-carolina/
Apneaman on Wed, 6th Sep 2017 8:12 pm
Mak, here in Vancouver for the last 5-7 days I have been breathing smokey, hazy dead air and the sky is a surreal hazy orange glow like the scene in some Syfy movie on a strange dystopia planet. It’s like someone CGIed the sky. This is the second extended period of smoke & haze this year which was preceded by the worst west coast winter (ice & snow for months and months when it usually came every other year or so and stayed for a couple of days) I ever saw. It was hazy skies just two years ago as well and that year BC spent the most ever fighting wildfires. This years wildfire “season” (not over) has broken the record for area burnt and money spent fighting them. 2017 record is likely to be broken within a handful of years. In a decade wildfire season will be 12 months. Large swaths of Western N America are tinder dry and burnt or burning…….but it’s all a grant money hoax. Actually, in BC they practice a different form of denial. Bat shit crazy with the arson stories and careless smoker stories and careless campers stories and angry shouts of fines and jail time from all the SUV driving McMansion living hockey mom’s and corporate dads. The root cause of the drying, AGW, is mentioned but real quick like then on to the scapegoating and ‘opinions’. Again, if one believes in the concept of ‘deserving’ in this instance then they deserve it. I believe the humans are incapable of being anything than what they are, but the timing and order of suffering was never a lock. The humans refusal or inability to man up and be truthful is causing maximum suffering. It’s nothing compared to what’s coming. When the rescue resources are no longer there then N American disasters will look more like 3rd world with higher death tolls and destruction and little rebuilding or help from the government. As the resilience breaks down the frequency and intensity of all these AGW and overshoot consequences increases. That’s a sad combination.
Makati1 on Wed, 6th Sep 2017 8:41 pm
Ap, I think we will begin to see less and less “rebuilding” after a catastrophe. Millions are going to find out that their destroyed home is NOT covered by their insurance. Real insurance is going to cost more than they can afford, if it is even available in the future.
The governments are broke. All off them. Federal, State and Local. Collectable taxes are dropping Soon even rebuilding necessary infrastructure will become impossible. It may take a few more years, but, yes, 3rd world America is fast becoming reality.
Apneaman on Wed, 6th Sep 2017 9:06 pm
Mak there are millions of die hard, just world, personal responsibility, bla bla bla capitalists that are going to be scared shit-less when their socialist taxpayer funded subsidies come to a halt.
Opinion: The crazy math of government flood insurance
Insurance rates are subsidized, saddling taxpayers with a big bill.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-things-politicians-wont-tell-you-about-femas-flood-insurance-2017-08-28
I notice this peculiar American phenomenon when I lived there. All these people who benefit and prosper because of many government programs, but but but you can’t use the word ‘social program’ because that’s pinko commie scum. They can’t get subsidized and mom and dad can get monthly cheques and medicaid and same for the whole family, but socialism is evil. Not even socialism, but anything that is deemed a a socialist policy except if you are collecting then we all silent. Isn’t the fire department socialist? Get rid of it. Privatize it. Can you imagine your house on fire, but they won’t turn the hose on until you swipe your debit or VISA card….Fire chief glances down at the wireless card reader -‘Ok fellas it says APPROVED…turn the hose on!’
Apneaman on Wed, 6th Sep 2017 9:54 pm
Not the root cause – development is not what has put 7% more moisture in the atmosphere since I was born. Not directly. It stems from the same short termisim, denier and greed mentality.
Engineers 20 years ago warned of flooding risk
http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/engineers-20-years-ago-warned-of-flooding-risk
“Do nothing and accept risk of flooding”: Engineers 20 years ago warned of flooding risk in Houston area
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/09/06/hurricane-harvey-houston-flooding-warning/
Now the small time scapegoating.
Houston-Based Law Firm Files Class Action for Flooding Victims
http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/Houston-Based-Law-Firm-Files-Class-Action-for-Flooding-Victims-639094
Plenty of malfeasance and disregard for public safety in Houston. The same warnings were given in Calgary then they had a big flood in 2010 – very little done, then in 2013 they had the big 6 billion dollar flood. Why should anyone be surprised that the puppet politicians and captured bureaucrats and regulators act like this?
20 years ago from the engineers, but that pales in comparison to 30 years of ever increasing warnings from the scientific community based on sound science. Literally tens of thousands of warnings and model predictions and data collection (paleo climate record), real time changes. Did they say there will be an AGW Jacked hurricane hit Houston in August 2017? Nope. What they said was there is more moisture in the atmosphere so you will get bigger rain bombs and the combination of a loaded atmosphere and warmer ocean temps with Jack the fuck out of hurricanes. Where do you think the hurricane gets it energy from? They warned they would be more powerful and they warned about the rain and the planet has been getting shit kicked with record breaking rain bombs for a few years running now and it’s getting worse.
So when they rebuild who is deciding on how robust the infrastructure should be? The atmosphere is only going to become more loaded with moisture. OK lets add 10 feet to the height of thereservoir or maybe it should be 20? Who paying? How did all that energy and resources they sunk into protecting New Orleans after Katrina work out? Not so well. Got hammered by a no name storm last year that dumped more rain than Katrina.
No-name storm dumped three times as much rain in Louisiana as Hurricane Katrina
“This multibillion-dollar disaster is a devastating example of the damage water can do and proves that a hurricane is not required to leave behind a flooding catastrophe.”
“What makes the rainfall output most remarkable is that it didn’t originate from tropical storm or depression, but just a weak area of low pressure that tapped into a unusually deep tropical moisture stream — fueled by warmer-than-normal ocean waters.
[How an oddball, nameless storm unleashed a disastrous deluge in Louisiana]
Ryan Maue, a meteorologist for WeatherBell Analytics, computed that the no-name storm deposited the equivalent of 7.1 trillion gallons of water on Louisiana. “Enough water fell that it could fill Lake Pontchartrain about four times,” he said.
Hurricane Katrina, by comparison, only left behind about 2.3 trillion gallons of rainwater in the state.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/08/19/no-name-storm-dumped-three-times-as-much-rain-in-louisiana-as-hurricane-katrina/
b>7.1 trillion gallons of water
That’s MOARB
Mother
Of
All
Rain
Bombs
They barely saw it coming and gave very little warning. The humans are both literally and figuratively in over their heads. Funny how little that N.O. no name AGW Jacked Rain Bomb was talked about. Almost like it never happened. Shhhhh….maybe it will all go away if we don’t talk about it. Tell yourselves.
Makati1 on Wed, 6th Sep 2017 11:23 pm
Ap, yes, you are correct. The US is a Socialist/Fascist government. It has not been a democracy since … well at least the last 100 years. I get one, just one, of those bennies. Social Security. Not Medicare or any others. I do not rely on it and have other income streams and backup for the day it stops. I figure I have a few more years to break even on what I was forced to pay in for almost 50 years. I hope it lasts that long, but it doesn’t look like it will.
When those bennies are cut, or end, the shit will hit the fan big time. TPTB know that and will do everything possible to prevent it, but only the Weimer Republic System will do that, for a while. I read a tat that over half of Americans get some form of government money. Not to mention indirect subsidies for everything. I am glad I do not live in the US anymore. Better to watch the show outside the gulag.
Cloggie on Thu, 7th Sep 2017 4:11 am
Dutch military helicopter arrives at Sint Maarten from Willemstad, Curaçao, ahead of marine vessels for damage assessment on Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius (that played a key role in the American war of independence as a hub for Dutch weapons for American anti-British insurgents) and Saba:
http://www.nu.nl/binnenland/4911248/dodental-orkaan-irma-bovenwindse-eilanden-stijgt-tien.html
According to some economists this is “good for the economy”. One thing is clear, the building sector will profit mightily from this, the tourist sector not so much.
https://nos.nl/artikel/2191735-militairen-nemen-schade-irma-op-op-sint-maarten-sint-eustatius-en-saba.html
DerHundistlos on Thu, 7th Sep 2017 4:19 am
The fleas are the worst I have ever seen. I am sure it is due to the mildest winter on record. Chicago went 77 days without snow on the ground- a record. The poor wildlife must be suffering the tortures of hell. Why doesn’t the 6th mass extinction crises visit itself upon the parasites, which are instead thriving. A friend of mine who works for the Minnesota Department of Conservation told me that the Moose are just covered in ticks and many have died. But who cares as long as there’s gas for the ATVs, powerboats, and snowmobiles.
I have concluded everything boils down to a battle between good and evil. Yep, it’s just that simple.
Cloggie on Thu, 7th Sep 2017 4:46 am
Girls that don’t get enough attention can be very dangerous:
https://twitter.com/grant_gilmore?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Cloggie on Thu, 7th Sep 2017 4:48 am
Wrong URL, click on the picture:
https://twitter.com/grant_gilmore/status/905372723140026370
There are also Katia and Jose.
URL in previous post is still a good source for up-to-date information about the storm(s).
Apneaman on Thu, 7th Sep 2017 12:49 pm
BBC mentions the economic collapse retard blog and this article.
An article titled “Category 6? If Hurricane Irma Becomes The Strongest Hurricane In History, It Could Wipe Entire Cities Off The Map” published last week on the blog The Economic Collapse was shared more than two million times from blogs and Facebook pages such as Sons of Liberty Media and Freedom Outpost.
Although the article did not categorically state that the hurricane had been classified as ‘Category 6’, it implied there was serious scientific suggestion it should be, and some on Twitter understood it to be.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-41187164
Seriously, there are hundreds of excellent meteorology blogs run by pros or highly self educated amateurs (obsessed with meteorology which you can’t buy at any price).
This one is the best I have come across. American blog Cat6 on the weather underground site run by 2 highly experienced pros. Just the science and facts. No preaching.
Hurricane Irma an Extreme Storm Surge Threat to the U.S. and Bahamas
Dr. Jeff Masters · September 6, 2017, 8:26 PM EDT
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/hurricane-irma-extreme-storm-surge-threat-us-and-bahamas
the economic collapse retard blog is run by a christian fundamentalist lawyer and climate/reality denier and exists solely to rattle your amygdala so you will buy his cheap drop shipping endtimes survival junk.
This weeks special = Water proof tactical cammo bible(KJ) with a built in multi tool ONLY $129.99!!!!!!
onlooker on Thu, 7th Sep 2017 1:05 pm
Yes and the Beast is looking to get stronger
“Hurricanes feed off of warm water at the surface of the ocean—the greater the temperature difference between the surface and the mid-levels of the atmosphere, the more potential energy a storm has. As a general rule, sea surface temperatures of about 26.5° Celsius are warm enough to allow hurricanes to strengthen.
Unfortunately, over the next two or three days Irma will move over an area of ocean just north of the Caribbean Sea even warmer than the waters it is now crossing. In fact, the waters between Cuba and the Bahamas are warmer than 30° Celsius.
Alas, the current wind shear environment along Irma’s path is favorable for the storm’s organization. Wind shear may increase as the storm approaches the southern Florida coast, but by then it may be too late to matter a whole lot.”
JuanP on Thu, 7th Sep 2017 4:15 pm
As of right now Miami is well supplied. There is fuel, plywood, tarps, lumber, flashlights, radios, water, batteries, food, FAKs, and anything you might need.
Cloggie on Fri, 8th Sep 2017 4:57 am
Saint-Martin (F), the day after. Look who is looting, I mean, saving electronics from water damage:
https://www.geenstijl.nl/5138457/st-maarten-inwoners-redden-elektronica-van-allesverwoestende-waterschade/
Jewels, flat screens, everything is brought to more elevated parts of the island.