Ghostly Apparition on 28/8/2011 at 21:36
I never said it was a hoax, just that the threat was probably a bit overplayed by the media. While your supposition that it was the sheer size, added to the fact it was moving slow contributed to the belief that there was potential huge damage due to flooding is inherently true. I guess its always good to err on the side of caution. But one has to wonder how serious ppl will take the danger next time they say a terrible storm of the century is coming.
Well these guys in bathing suits flashing the reporter didn't seem to take it too serious lol
(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75f-YUntYRI&feature=player_embedded&has_verified=1)
frozenman on 29/8/2011 at 20:28
While I'm not denying that it was over-played by the media (etc it's always good to err...), when you have a slow-moving, potentially massive, but very unpredictable storm, it's really difficult for it to not become THE THING EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT.
It's been a while since I lived on the west coast, do you folks have weather like this? Isn't the weather on the west coast much more difficult to predict? Blizzards and snow-storms is another good example. "I heard it's comin' in late Saturday night? 7 inches? I heard 12 in FIVE HOURS" etc.
Ghostly Apparition on 29/8/2011 at 21:41
West coast weather may be difficult to predict in the winter when we get rainy season. But honestly for the months of July,August,and September they could put up a graphic saying sunny and hot and the weathermen could take off for 3 months and the weather report would be completely accurate. At least for southern California.
Starrfall on 29/8/2011 at 23:03
Yeah, as far as I'm concerned this is what summer looks like: (
http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KSAC/2011/8/29/MonthlyHistory.html#calendar)
The rain isn't that unpredictable: it generally falls October-March, although the amount we get each year varies (depending on surface temps in the pacific) you can usually get a reliable forecast a few days out. We get big snowstorms in winter, but the snow falls primarily in the mountains, so it doesn't affect the big population centers. Once in a while one of the major open passes over the mountains will be closed while they plow, smaller passes we just close.
Most of the time we just can't understand what you people are DOING living in places with such crappy weather.
I mean, (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134542) this thread was tongue in cheek, but honestly that's usually about the extent of our weather complaints: sometimes in the winter it's cloudy for a long time and rains.
CCCToad on 30/8/2011 at 11:00
Quote Posted by Ghostly Apparition
It certainly didn't live up to all the hype, by all accounts in the media this was supposed to be the hurricane of the century. How they came up with that conclusion when it was a category 1, well its the melodramatic media I suppose. If this was a movie that was hyped this much I'd be asking for my money back.
Its best to think of Television news not as actual news coverage, but more as "advertisements for events".
You also have to keep in mind that its just about Every year that they predict that its going to be the worst hurricane season yet. Gotta get people to tune into the weather channel somehow, I guess.
caffeinatedzombeh on 30/8/2011 at 12:39
Quote Posted by Starrfall
Yeah, as far as I'm concerned this is what summer looks like
You call that summer? Where's all the rain? Can't be summer without loads of rain.
I think what most of us are doing is living far away from the earthquakes and the volcanoes :) I will happily put up with a few clouds and the occasional bit of rain in exchange for the ground staying where it should be.
heywood on 1/9/2011 at 10:29
This storm was far more damaging than people realize. While the media was focusing on the relatively limited coastal damage and NYC, the storm went inland and dumped rainfall at rates high enough to cause biblical flooding in the Catskill mountains region of New York state and southern & central Vermont. The damage in these areas is widespread and catastrophic.
I've been getting reports from my Dad, who moved to the Catskills when he retired. He's still cut off from civilization because roads and bridges are damaged in every direction. His house is OK because he's up on a hill but most of the houses along Main St. in town are toast. They lost a woman in town when the flood picked up this motel and took it away:
Inline Image:
http://www.watershedpost.com/sites/default/files/images/Screen%20shot%202011-08-28%20at%201.00.06%20PM.img_assist_custom-479x424.pngHis wife helps run a co-op art gallery in the next town over, which is just out of the frame on this street:
(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxVF4yGlLNE)
Here's the supermarket and CVS that I shop at when visiting them:
(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgvjskhEOPQ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgvjskhEOPQ
Unfortunately, the majority of towns in the Catskills were similarly flooded and there are bridges out everywhere, roads with ravines cut through them, and so on.
About 45 min drive north of there is this modest creek I've gone wading in:
Inline Image:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Schoharie_Creek.jpg/250px-Schoharie_Creek.jpgIn less than 12 hours, it went from that to this:
Inline Image:
http://www.watershedpost.com/sites/default/files/Julia%20Reischel/vromannose.jpg?1314656465Here's another local pic. This bridge is now gone:
Inline Image:
http://www.watershedpost.com/sites/default/files/images/Screen%20shot%202011-08-28%20at%205.15.12%20PM.img_assist_custom-480x319.pngAnd from what I've read, Vermont is just as bad. The number of homes destroyed is far less than Katrina, but the infrastructure damage could turn out to be more expensive. Although Irene didn't take out a major city, it's impact is much more widespread.
One last link, this one funnier:
(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sP88s2WDyA&feature=related) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sP88s2WDyA&feature=related
june gloom on 1/9/2011 at 10:35
Yeah I have an uncle in Pennsylvania who watched parts of the neighborhood downhill from him roll away, and a friend on the eastern end of the state who's been without electricity or dance skills for most of the week.
