[extropy-chat] FWD (PvT) An Anniversary

[Terry W. Colvin]

While we have been watching the fiasco unfold in NOLA, the anniversary 
of another disastrous storm passed quietly and without much notice in 
the Press. On September 2, 1935-70 years ago, the most intense hurricane 
to ever strike the US slammed into the Florida Keys. This was the 
infamous Labor Day Hurricane. It was a very compact storm that bombed 
into a Cat 5 storm in a short time. The pressure in the storm as it 
passed over Matacumbe Key was 892mb-the lowest pressure ever measured in 
the US and was to stand as the lowest pressure measure in an Atlantic 
Basin Storm until Gilbert's 888mb reading in 1988. The winds in the 
storm were estimated to have been as high as 200mph sustained. Not until 
Camille in 1969 was a Cat 5 to visit our shores.
 
Now for Katrina, not a Cat 5 at landfall but it has sadly verified all 
predictions as to what could happen in NOLA in such a situation. It's 
quickly becoming obvious that this will become the greatest natural 
disaster ever in the history of the US with a death toll usually 
reserved for less develop countries. Also obvious that all levels of 
Government have failed abysmally in their response. This is most 
disturbing for now Al Qaida knows how weak we are. I can imagine that 
the people in NHC have to be sad and angry at what has happened for they 
did an outstanding job of forecasting the track of the storm and of 
putting out the warnings only to have the idiots in NOLA crap it all away.
 
We have one last (and minor) period of monsoonal moisture and flow in 
here now for some shower and boomer activity through the weekend and 
then we will probably shut the monsoon down for another year. Typhoon 
Nabi has weakened a bit to 120kt and is expected to pass NE of Okinawa 
and then head for Korea.
 
Steve
 

-- 
"Only a zit on the wart on the heinie of progress." Copyright 1992, Frank Rice


Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1 at mindspring.com >
     Alternate: < fortean1 at msn.com >
Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html >
Sites: * Fortean Times * Mystic's Haven * TLCB *
      U.S. Message Text Formatting (USMTF) Program
------------
Member: Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood (TLCB) Mailing List
   TLCB Web Site: < http://www.tlc-brotherhood.org > [Southeast Asia
veterans, Allies, CIA/NSA, and "steenkeen" contractors are welcome.]