Just weeks after hurricane Florence battered the US southeast with historic rains and flooding, another major hurricane is now bearing down on the Florida panhandle with 145 mph (~240 kph) winds and heavy rains forecast. From Ars Technica:
Hurricane Michael continued to intensify during Tuesday night, bringing an unprecedentedly strong storm to the northwest Florida coast on Wednesday. This is a serious situation for the Florida Panhandle and downstream areas in southeastern Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
As of the National Hurricane Center's 9am ET update, Michael had 145mph sustained winds, solidly in the range of a Category-4 major hurricane. Winds along the Florida coast were already rising above tropical storm strength at the time, all but closing the window for further evacuations as the storm nears shore and moves inland later today.
Perhaps most concerning, Michael's central pressure continued to fall during the overnight hours, down to 933 millibars by Wednesday morning. This is an indication of the storm's organization, and with Michael's satellite appearance actually improving as the storm approaches land, some slight further intensification is possible today before landfall near Panama City. If Michael's central pressure falls further, to 930 millibars, it would rank among the 10 most intense hurricanes to make landfall in the US on record in terms of central pressure.
Meteorologists are reacting to the rapidly intensifying storm with some measure of alarm. Mike Bettes, a meteorologist with The Weather Channel, noted on Twitter Wednesday morning that his crew was pulling out of Apalachicola, a small coastal community to the right of Michael's projected landfall that will likely bear the brunt of the storm's winds and surge.
If you are in the path of this storm, please take whatever measures necessary to keep yourself safe.
(Score: 3, Informative) by RedBear on Wednesday October 10 2018, @03:46PM (7 children)
Watching the Weather Channel right now. They just upgraded the wind speeds from 145 to 150mph. Category 5 is sustained wind speeds of 156+ mph. The pressure is reported as down to 923mb, even lower than the 933-930 mentioned in the summary. The outer edge of the storm is just barely making landfall now, so there seems to be a minor possibility that it can continue to strengthen just enough to qualify as a Cat 5 before it starts losing power as it travels over land.
Fun times.
¯\_ʕ◔.◔ʔ_/¯ LOL. I dunno. I'm just a bear.
... Peace out. Got bear stuff to do. 彡ʕ⌐■.■ʔ
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @03:54PM (2 children)
Check the live feeds, there's still people on the beaches.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Wednesday October 10 2018, @04:20PM (1 child)
.
.
Do you have any links you'd like to share?
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @04:53PM
Had to hunt for it, was live and now finished. [youtu.be] Dunno which beach that is?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @07:38PM
So, surfs up?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday October 10 2018, @07:45PM
Andrew was similar strength when it hit Miami, but I believe the total affected area was smaller (and more densely populated).
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @09:23PM (1 child)
Its all just "evolution" folks. The new-age mamma earth is angry at naughty naughty US. "I'll scrub behind your ears!" she screams, "Never play with pollution again! I've told you a million times..."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @11:19PM
Well, she is.... Though humans are only one of many species she has given birth to. If they wipe themselves out, another will come about.