Jul 26, 2020 06:43 PM
(This post was last modified: Jul 26, 2020 07:21 PM by Yazata.)
Is nearing Hawaii, out in the Pacific. I'm in touch with a guy in Hawaii who reports that Pearl Harbor is clearing out (Navy ships ride out hurricanes at sea), planes are tied down at military bases and civilian airports, and businesses are boarding up.
He says that people in Hawaii are anxious and worried.
But the hurricane seems to be weakening and may miss the islands to the north. (Perhaps not by enough to reduce the force much.) The guy I'm talking to lives near the beach in Maui and is concerned about storm surge.
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_cp2.sh...t#contents
KHON live TV coverage
https://www.khon2.com/live-stream/
They have a U. of Hawaii atmospheric science professor on who says that they expected it to weaken, but it isn't weakening as much as hoped.
He says that there's two forces acting. One is ocean temperatures that feed energy into hurricanes, and ocean temperatures are moderately high around Hawaii. Not enough to grow a hurricane a lot, but not enough to weaken it much either.
The other force is wind-shear. This is the difference between wind direction at different altitudes. In Hawaii, higher level winds typically blow one way and low level winds might blow the opposite way. This causes hurricanes nearing Hawaii to break down and become disorganized, which is why Hawaii has fewer hurricanes than one would expect from its location. Wind-shear is kryptonite for hurricanes.
The problem now is that while wind shear is currently present, it's less than expected. So Douglas is hanging together longer than they anticipated.
He says that people in Hawaii are anxious and worried.
But the hurricane seems to be weakening and may miss the islands to the north. (Perhaps not by enough to reduce the force much.) The guy I'm talking to lives near the beach in Maui and is concerned about storm surge.
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_cp2.sh...t#contents
KHON live TV coverage
https://www.khon2.com/live-stream/
They have a U. of Hawaii atmospheric science professor on who says that they expected it to weaken, but it isn't weakening as much as hoped.
He says that there's two forces acting. One is ocean temperatures that feed energy into hurricanes, and ocean temperatures are moderately high around Hawaii. Not enough to grow a hurricane a lot, but not enough to weaken it much either.
The other force is wind-shear. This is the difference between wind direction at different altitudes. In Hawaii, higher level winds typically blow one way and low level winds might blow the opposite way. This causes hurricanes nearing Hawaii to break down and become disorganized, which is why Hawaii has fewer hurricanes than one would expect from its location. Wind-shear is kryptonite for hurricanes.
The problem now is that while wind shear is currently present, it's less than expected. So Douglas is hanging together longer than they anticipated.