Was Irene Overblown?

[TXiceman]

You cannot down play any hurricane. Problem is if it is a slow news period the talking heads on TV look for any thing to be news and repeat and repeat and repeat.

Ken

[RJay]

Originally Posted by TXiceman

You cannot down play any hurricane. Problem is if it is a slow news period the talking heads on TV look for any thing to be news and repeat and repeat and repeat.

Ken

Hi Ken,
A hurricane can be down played just as easily as hyped but nether serves us well. Was Irene hyped? Was this the storm of the century as reported?

[UFO Pilot]

Originally Posted by LadyFitz...

Btw, George Will is an idiot.

I can think of a lot of columnists who are idiots and George Will isn't one of them. You are entitled to your own opinion.

[Francesca]

Here's a Washington, D.C. fellow that went to work just as usual during Irene...


"Photos have emerged on Facebook of a lone Tomb Sentinel, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), walking his tour in humble reverence at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during Hurricane Irene in Arlington National Cemetery this afternoon. Members of The Old Guard have guarded the Tomb “every second, of every day regardless of weather or holidays” since April 6, 1948

[Air Baron]

Originally Posted by RJay

If you were in the direct path of the storm you probably experienced the worst of conditions, but was this storm overblown by the media?

We went thru the northern eyewall of category 5 Andrew, the worst quadrant. The terrifying winds, especially one gust over 200 mph, destroyed much of our house. Luckily it was a dry, fast-moving storm. Neighborhoods only a mile north of us had little or no damage at all, yet many people all over south Florida claim they "went thru" Hurricane Andrew. People have many misconceptions about hurricanes. Only in one aspect are they akin to giant tornadoes.

Irene was a wet, slow moving storm that skirted the coast and died of old age. The media sells advertising so they beat their drums to draw viewers. The National Hurricane Center tried many times to explain the inadequacies of categorizing hurricanes with numbers 1 thru 5 according to wind speed alone. There are many variations in other storm conditions and projected paths that need to be considered. I seriously doubt if switching to some sort of a threat level warning system would even help. Unfortunately a large portion of the population is infected with a severe case of the normalcy bias...

[Bill Adams]

This was absolutely NOT overblown. If there was a guy walking up the street with a machine and the police just let him do his thing would you think that the police had not properly protected you? On the other hand, since the guy with the machine gun is likely to kill someone in his path, would you not prefer to know that he was coming in your direction so you could make an informed decision?

[hondo122]

The original path had her coming right over Wells ME, where I sit righting this, the storm turned west and hit western Vermont. We had plenty of rain but only 40-50 mile winds. I thought we got of easy. Last night the tail came through pulled in the slides lost power at exactly 11 PM felt like a tractor trailer was passing all night. Got power back at 6 PM tonight. Got comped another night so leaving for home Wednesday. I don't think it was over hyped. The country blew it with Katrina no one wants to blow another on their watch!!!

[hondo122]

Originally Posted by Francesca

Here's a Washington, D.C. fellow that went to work just as usual during Irene...


"Photos have emerged on Facebook of a lone Tomb Sentinel, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), walking his tour in humble reverence at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during Hurricane Irene in Arlington National Cemetery this afternoon. Members of The Old Guard have guarded the Tomb “every second, of every day regardless of weather or holidays” since April 6, 1948

They Honor our Hero's and themselves.

[diandtom]

Not to us being overblown. I got three large pine trees on the ground and two more with limbs hanging in the top.The RV shelter got blown off its foundation and leaning to the left. The fiver was between the house and garage so it did ok.

[RickO]

I really see it as two questions or issues:

First, I think we all understand and agree upon how the media works. As pointed out they are there to get you to watch "one more commercial"... that's it. Running of 24 hour non stop coverage seems over done but IMHO they can prempt as many hours of reality shows they like and replace it with at least some degree of information on something important going on.

But.... they didn't make this stuff up. I thought that there were frequent reports from government agencies in charge of such things and Bloomberg and Christie were on the tube frequently. Frankly I watched a lot of coverage and didn't come away with a feeling that this was "The Storm of the Century"... just that it was headed for the Big Apple and that made it a big deal.

So, did the politicians over react by evacuating? IMO, no.

I should add that I'm traveling and have DNS so my primary network feeds were from NYC.


Rick

[RJay]

Originally Posted by Bill Adams

This was absolutely NOT overblown. If there was a guy walking up the street with a machine and the police just let him do his thing would you think that the police had not properly protected you? On the other hand, since the guy with the machine gun is likely to kill someone in his path, would you not prefer to know that he was coming in your direction so you could make an informed decision?

Exactly! I would want to know that there was only one man who had one machine gun, not two men, one with a machine gun and another with a pistol. I want to know exactly what I'm faced with so I can prepare appropriately. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Wayne M]

No, it was not overblown. One fifth (1/5) of this country was affected by Hurricane Irene. CT, DE, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ, NY, VA, VT, were all stricken with some type of disaster, some mild, some more devistating, and some tragic. So how do you prepare someone for something that is really unpredictable. Information regarding paths, winds, and everything associated with hurricanes are based on "Models." Many times those predictions are right on the money. Living on the Gulf Coast, we take hurricanes very seriously. A Cat 1 storm can destroy many things, and can take lives. Many times Cat 3's are predicted for this area and the turn out to be Cat 1 or Cat 2, and with a lot of prayer and hope, they go somewhere else. I personally just want to know one is coming. I'm leaving town.

Consider a 60 mile an hour ground wind in New York City. What in the world do you think it will be 60 stories up.

A quote from The University of Florida:
"The speed and turbulence of hurricane winds change
dramatically as the storm moves from open water to land. However, the
methodology to estimate hurricane wind behavior is based on measurements
over the open ocean."

If Irene had stayed over the open water before it hit a land mass around NYC, things may have been a lot different. A degree in fluid dynamics is needed to ascertain wind velocity above the normal measured 10 ft AGL (Above Ground Level)

Hurricanes are fed by water above 80F. The warmer the water, the more energy is given to the storm. So again, I say no, it was not overblown. Had it stayed out over water longer the tragedy could have been much different/worse.

What was reported was based on the model predictions.

[Wayne M]

Wish I could edit my post. So add this.

If it was overblown, tell it to the LA Times. And, tell it to the 2500 people stranded on Hatteras Island, NC

Irene strands 2,500 on North Carolina's Hatteras Island - latimes.com

I can't understand why they were still there.

And what about Vermont. It was stated that the "ground was saturated." So what. Irene is the one that caused the present devestation.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nati...n-vermont.html

And, tell these poor souls it was overblown.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nati...-a-bullet.html

And what about these photos? Do they indicate it was overblown hype

http://framework.latimes.com/2011/08...ene-photos/#/0

So far, Irene has taken 15 lives. Tell their families it was overblown hype.

[Route 66]

Based on news reports like this, it was not overblown.

The storm, which killed at least 40 people across 11 states, is still being felt all over the region. Nearly 5 million homes and businesses in a dozen states were still without electricity, and utilities warned it might be a week or more before some people get their power back.

Read more: Millions Still Face Power Outages, Major Flooding In Irene's Wake | FoxNews.com