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Bozo
03-20-2006, 06:18 AM
Looks like some parts of Australia really gat hammered!
Was anybody from SF affedted?
Everybody Okay?

Bozo :mrgrn:
Buck
03-20-2006, 10:19 AM
I saw that on the news too. I believe that was in Northern Australia.
mubs
03-20-2006, 11:04 AM
Fortunately nobody died, a few were injured, but IIRC not seriously. Many houses were destroyed. I thought they built their homes out of brick and cement there, not wood like we do in the Western U.S.
CougTek
03-20-2006, 08:47 PM
Cyclones? At this time of the year? Wow, the weather is really fucked up.
Tannin
03-20-2006, 10:05 PM
I gather that it was a cat 5 cyclone - i.e., about as strong as they get. The famous Cyclone Tracy that razed Darwin in 1975 was "only" a cat 4. (Wasn't the recent Florida/Texas hurricane a cat 5?)

Amazing that no-one was killed. The destruction of property is supposed to be pretty bad, including 90% of this year's banana crop. (Don't tell Tea - she'll go ape!)
CougTek
03-20-2006, 10:30 PM
Just saw it on the news. At 290Km/h, its winds blew stronger than any of the hurricanes that formed in the Atlantic/Mexico golf last summer. It was quite a sea farth.
timwhit
03-20-2006, 10:43 PM
Just saw it on the news. At 290Km/h, its winds blew stronger than any of the hurricanes that formed in the Atlantic/Mexico golf last summer. It was quite a sea farth.

Apparently they measure wind speed differently down under than they do on this side of the world.

They are on different scales, over here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffir-Simpson_Hurricane_Scale) they use sustained winds and in Australia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_cyclone_classification_schemes)it is based on maximum wind gust. Kinds of hard to compare because in North America they always quote sustained wind speed.
Santilli
03-21-2006, 01:25 AM
I think it was Ineki that hit Kaui, when I was on Oahu. Winds hit 225 on the peaks of Kaui, before the wind gauges where blown off, and their supports blown down.

I slept through the whole thing, in a pillbox I lived in on the beach at Diamond head...

s
Bozo
03-21-2006, 06:48 AM
The weather channel (IIRC??) pointed out that Pacific ocean huricanes/cyclones are usually stronger than the Atlantic variety. The Pacific storms are over water longer and therefore draw more heat (energy) from the ocean.

Glad everybody is okay. :D

Bozo :mrgrn:
Tea
03-21-2006, 07:55 AM
Huh? I don't get it. How come you guys get proper hurricanes but we only get tiddly little cyclones? It's not fair!
paugie
03-21-2006, 08:53 AM
At 290Km/h, its winds blew stronger than any of the hurricanes that formed in the Atlantic/Mexico golf last summer.

That is stronger than any typhoon which has hit the Philippines. I've experienced "only" 220kph winds "near the center" which is how we measure our typhoons here. We had a storm called "Yoling" (yes, most of our typhoons are named after women, the same as yours in North America) which hit in 1971. The eye of the typhoon actually passed over Metro Manila. There was no power in places for as long as 2 weeks.

I saw my share of blown roofs then. Some of them cartwheeling whole over rice fields before they collapsed.
Bozo
03-21-2006, 12:56 PM
Tea, the next time a huricane is aimed for New Orleans, I'll see if I can have it re-directed to Oz :D

We don't want you to feel left out :wink:


Bozo :mrgrn:
Santilli
03-21-2006, 05:15 PM
http://www.video-hawaii.com/iniki.html


http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/graphics/tc_tracks/iniki.gif

http://www.video-hawaii.com/iniki/inikianim.gif


September 11, 1992, 5:29 a.m.- An island's inhabitants sleep peacefully, their dreams unaffected by the F-3 hurricane predicted to pass harmlessly many miles south of the islands. All is quiet, gentle trade winds blow silently over the island.

Siren5:30 a.m. - Civil Defense sirens around the island spring to life, their shrill cry abruptly ending sleep and replacing pleasant dreams with worries of safety and protection. Residents rush to their television and radios, horrified to find that Hurricane Iniki had quickly gained in strength to an F-5 rating, and abruptly turned directly towards them!

http://www.video-hawaii.com/iniki.html

I wonder what would have happened if Iniki would have gone right over
Honolulu?



S
Santilli
03-21-2006, 05:35 PM
From a NOAA report in Iniki, in PDF:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/assessments/iniki/iniki1.pdf

" a 217 MPH gust was reported by personnel at the USN radar site, at Makaha Ridge...."

But, the machinery was not calibrated, so it was not considered valid by NOAA.

Iniki apparently went from class three, to class 5 very quickly, and, the actual
sustained winds are in question, so NOAA has observations, but not a firm placing of 4,5, or higher.

S
Santilli
03-21-2006, 05:38 PM
After rereading that post, I can't help but think of Jaws, on a much larger scale...
:wink:

S
sechs
03-22-2006, 09:00 PM
Huh? I don't get it. How come you guys get proper hurricanes but we only get tiddly little cyclones? It's not fair!

Would you rather a typhoon? That sounds dangerous!
LiamC
03-22-2006, 09:42 PM
The Tempest was a much better fighter
Tannin
03-22-2006, 09:57 PM
Hmmm .....

Typhoon: location of natural phenomenon: SE Asia. Location of famous old aircraft: UK.

Hurricane: location of natural phenomenon: North America & etc. Location of famous old aircraft: UK.

Tornado: location of natural phenomenon: North America. Location of not very famous old and slightly more famous new aircraft: UK.

Cyclone: location of natural phenomenon: Australasia. Location of famous old aircraft engine: USA.

Do I see a pattern emerging here?

Which country will be first to manufacture an aircraft called "Blizzard"? South Africa seems a good bet.