2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season Running Thread

Nothing like hundreds of people huddled in a hurricane shelter to stop the spread of Covid.

 

The southern Texas area struck hardest by coronavirus was hit with a hurricane, governor says - CNN

 

2020

 

I'm surprised we're already at H in the hurricane alphabet, but there's actually a decent reason for that, in addition to global temperature change.

One of the great benefits, or side effects, of having so many weather satellites is the ability to see systems form so early in their development. Before the 1980s, to be honest, we only knew of approaching tropical weather either by ship reports or them striking the Leeward or Windward Islands.

So perhaps as many as 50 percent of the systems we follow and name today wouldn't have even been noticed in the past, particularly if they spun themselves out of energy in the middle of the Atlantic. The whole idea of "invest" is relatively new, but so valuable.

We should never be caught without warning for storms the size and power of a 1900 Galveston or 1906 Key West. That doesn't mean a Camille, Andrew or Katrina won't still happen. But we certainly have more lead time in those kinds of events.

And yeah, the Force 13 weather geeks are awesome.

 

That's what happened with Hazel in 1954. Rather than days, people had hours' notice, and it was devastating.
One guy I follow mentioned next up is "I" which will happen this week, and it's still July.

 

Annual public service announcement:

If you are moving to South Florida, purchase a house built in 1993 or later. That's when the MUCH stronger building codes went into effect following 1992's Hurricane Andrew (FIRST storm that year, BTW, and not until mid-August).

 

That's like us. If a house is on the ground, you can bet it was built before '96 because that's when we got Fran and Bertha.
The crazy thing is, the few remaining old cinder block houses dating from the 50s or 60s are probably the most study. They are ground level and will get flooded, but you just mop out the water and are good to go.

 

Cinder block houses in Florida are usually concrete reinforced. You may have roof damage but unless you take a direct hit from a Cat 5, the thing's going to still be standing when you return. My brother bought a block house on Merritt Island built in 1960 with the idea of tearing it down, but the thing is so reinforced, he was forced to build an addition to the existing structure instead.

Wood frame houses in Florida are like expensive mobile homes. Neither one is a really great idea when a hurricane decides to have its way with you.

 

Not true. A well-built wood frame house, like old conch homes, can and have withstood many storms. Construction quality is key.

 

You got me there.

I actually deleted a sentence where I wrote, "Unfortunately, builders in south Florida got the idea of putting cheap stick built homes as an alternative, which didn't work out so good when Andrew came knocking."

 

And paid off building inspectors to look the other way, because it was cheaper to have a guy on your construction crew toss a brown bag of cash into the casually-open window of the inspector’s official vehicle than it was to actually build up to code in the first place. Then Andrew went through Homestead.