Yahoo – AFP,
Marlowe HOOD, September 8, 2017
 |
As it flew across the Caribbean, Hurricane Irma generated winds averaging just
over 180 miles per hour for more than 33 hours, longer than any super-storm of
comparable power ever recorded (AFP Photo/Lionel CHAMOISEAU) |
Paris (AFP)
- Not even halfway into the 2017 hurricane season, and before Irma makes
landfall in Florida, tropical mega-storms in the Atlantic basin have already
broken several records, and challenged others, experts say.
A few that
stand out, so far:
So strong
for so long
As it swept
across the Caribbean, Hurricane Irma generated winds averaging just over 295
kilometres per hour (185 miles per hour) for more than 33 hours, longer than
any super-storm of comparable power ever recorded.
"Such
an intensity, for such a long period, has never been observed in the satellite
era" that began in the early 1970s, Etienne Kapikian, a forecaster at
Meteo France, said.
The runner
up is Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,000 people dead or missing in the
Philippines and packed winds of the same speed for 24 hours in 2013.
Atlantic
surge
Irma was
the first hurricane on record to reach Category 5 status -- the highest
intensity level -- while still in the Atlantic Ocean, before entering the balmy
waters of the Caribbean Sea, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
Tropical
storms draw strength from surface waters warmer than 26 degrees Celsius (79
degrees Fahrenheit).
The fact
that the swirling mass of clouds and water was able to turbo-charge over the
Atlantic -- whose waters are cooler than the Caribbean but warmer than a few
decades ago -- is consistent with global warming, scientists say.
Category 5
tropical storms produce sustained winds of at least 252 km/h for at least a
minute at a time. Irma has since dropped down to Category 4.
$10
billion cost
Hurricane
Irma has so far caused more than $10 billion (8.3 billion euros) in economic
losses across the Caribbean, making it the costliest storm ever for the
region's island nations and territories, according to the Center for Disaster
Management and Risk Reduction Technology, based in Karlsruhe, Germany.
The tally
is sure to rise as the storm hits the Bahamas on its way to Florida, but it has
already surpassed the damage record set by Hurricanes Ike in 2008, and Hugo in
1989, at $9.4 billion each in today's dollars.
Hardest hit
by Irma were Sint Maarten ($2.5 billion) and the US Virgin Islands ($2.45
billion), followed by Saint Martin ($1.55 billion) and the British Virgin
Islands ($1.4 billion), according to the estimate.
 |
Updated map
showing the forecast track of three powerful hurricanes in
the Atlantic. (AFP
Photo/AFP)
|
Rain,
rain, rain
Tropical
storm Harvey -- which made landfall in Texas as a Category 4 hurricane on
August 25 -- dumped more rain in places than any cyclone ever measured on the
continental United States.
In one area
southeast of Houston, Harvey unloaded more than 125 centimetres of water (nearly
50 inches), breaking the previous record (122 cm) set by cyclone Amelia.
Second-fastest hurricane
The highest
sustained wind speed ever registered for an Atlantic basin storm was 305 km/h
(190 mph), for Hurricane Allen, which caused several hundred deaths in Haiti
and over a billion dollars in damage.
With
consistent winds of 295 km/h, Irma shares the title of second-fastest hurricane
with Wilma (2005), Gilbert (1988) and the notorious "Labour Day"
storm that devastated southern Florida in 1935.
Three's a
crowd
Along with
Irma, the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico is host to two other hurricanes: the
Category 4 Jose, projected to leave inhabited islands largely untouched on its
northwest trajectory, and Category 2 Katia, due to make landfall in the Mexican
state of Veracruz.
Three-at-once
is not unprecedented, but it is rare -- it last occurred in 2010. Those storms,
however, spun harmlessly in the Atlantic, while this time, two of them are
hitting land.
The event
of four active hurricanes hitting at one time has happened twice -- in 1893 and
1998 when Hurricanes Georges, Ivan, Jeanne and Karl all raged simultaneously.
(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)
“… The Weather
Let's talk about the weather. We retreat to exactly what we told you before in this very chair. The water cycle is a cooling cycle, not a heating cycle. You're going to have more severe winters and storms. It's going to get colder. But it gets warmer before it gets colder. That is the cycle, and it has always been the cycle. You can see it in the rings of the trees and the cores of the ice. Don't let your scientists pull the political wool over your eyes for their own purposes. Start seeing these things for what they are. It's a recurring cycle based on four Earth alignment attributes, including the wobble (the precession). You're in this cycle. Prepare.
The beginnings of it will be with you from now at least until the end of the 2012 36-year window, and you can watch it work. The first thing that happens is that the ice melts at the poles, but not completely. It's the way it has happened before. As the redistribution of weight from the poles to the oceans of the earth takes place, the weight is redistributed to the crust, and that creates earthquakes. And the earthquakes that will be the most powerful are the ones that are closest to the poles. We told you that some time ago. So it's not a mystery that suddenly you have some of the most powerful earthquakes that you've ever had. Not only that, but a cooling ocean creates larger storms.
What do the conspiracists do with all this? "See? We're doomed. Here it comes," they say. "Here it comes! The end is here!" Twenty-two years ago, we gave you the information that is happening today. We told you about the weather. We told you to get ready for it, but we still haven't told you why the water cycle is needed. We've hinted at it since it is very controversial, and we'll lose many readers right here and now. Here's the prediction: The scientists are going to laugh and biologists are going to scratch their heads and roll their eyes.
The Refreshing of the Cycle of Life
When you change the temperature of the waters of the planet, it changes the life cycle of the ocean and it eventually renews itself. The life cycle of the planet has a limit to its viability over time. There has to be a refreshing of the very cycle of life, and this is what the water cycle does. Are there any places you've seen too many fish lately? Yes. Millions of salmon in the north. Odd that it was in Alaska, isn't it? Alaska is very close to the poles where the water temperature is being felt first. Oh, again the experts will tell you that this is not the reason. It's about hatcheries and rivers. But nobody predicted this, did they? Science is fast to give you reasons, but slow to give you logic in advance. They always seem to be surprised.
We are saying things we haven't said before. Again, watch for this, an actual change in the life cycle of the planet's oceans because of the water temperature shift. Biologists are going to have to start redesigning the paradigm of how everything works, including reefs, ocean bottoms, and how plankton survive and reproduce. Listen, this is not the first time that the life cycle has been refreshed! But again, this may take generations of humanity to complete. In the process, you may again lose species. This is normal. Gaia is slow, and Humans are impatient. Your textbooks may someday tell of how naive humanity was back in 2011 when they tried to blame weather changes on everything but a natural cycle. Now you know why there is a water cycle.
So what does that tell you about Gaia? Gaia is beginning the cycle of refreshing life on over-fished oceans. It tells you that in the cracks, there is love and caring about the Humans who live on the earth. There's a reason you're here. There's a plan here, and a benevolent Universe and quantum energy with intelligent design. All is there for you, precious, sacred Human Being. …”
