Hurricane Irene of 2011 now rated history's 6th most damaging hurricane
New damage estimates released last month by NOAA now place the damage from 2011's Hurricane Irene at $15.8 billion, making the storm the 6th costliest hurricane and 10th costliest weather-related disaster in U.S. history. Irene hit North Carolina on August 27, 2011, as a Category 1 hurricane with 85 mph winds, and made landfalls the next day in New Jersey and New York City as a tropical storm. Most of the damage from Irene occurred because of the tremendous fresh water flooding the storm's rains brought to much of New England. Irene is now rated as the most expensive Category 1 hurricane to hit the U.S. The previous record was held by Hurricane Agnes of 1972, whose floods did $11.8 billion in damage in the Northeast. NOAA also announced that the name Irene had been retired from the list of active hurricane names. Irene was the only named retired in 2011, and was the 76th name to be retired since 1954. The name Irene was replaced with Irma, which is next scheduled be used in 2017.
Figure 1. True-color MODIS image of Hurricane Irene over North Carolina taken at 11:35 am EDT August 27, 2011. At the time, Irene was a Category 1 hurricane with 85 mph winds. Image credit: NASA.
At last month's 30th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology of the American Meteorological Society, Paul Ruscher of Florida State University explained how Irene's storm surge came within 8 inches of flooding New York City's subway system, which would have caused devastating damage. At the current global rate of sea level rise of 3.1 mm/year, a repeat of Irene 65 years from now would be capable of flooding the subway system, if no action is taken. Since sea level rise is expected to accelerate as the planet warms in coming decades, an Irene-type storm surge would likely be capable of flooding the NYC subway system much sooner than that. To read more about New York City's vulnerability, see Andrew Freedman's analysis at Climate Central, Climate Change Could Cripple New York’s Transportation, or my November 2011 blog post, Hurricane Irene: New York City dodges a potential storm surge mega-disaster.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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TS Allison in 2001 was retired and remains the only Tropical Storm to be given that distinction.
Da drought continues.
sheri
Such is the current state of human nature - tomorrow is not my problem. It's the new NIMBY.
What did I miss over the past couple of days?
I've been playing around with this Link a bit today and noticed that these storms can and do hit everywhere. So being prepared is the best advice. Thanks to Pat and Largo for pointing that out already this morning. The inland locations were interesting. Columbus Georgia and here have had the same number of storms track within a 65 mile radius of each. Although not at the same intensities. But Eloise 1975 made it halfway through Alabama as a cat 3! Wow!
May 2, 2012
Imagine if Irene had remained a cat 3 up until that final landfall....
Looking at the levels to the north made me wonder, was '93 a nina/neutral transition?
What's up Baha? Maybe we would have 2-3 times that amount
Here's the animated version. Impressive mid level spin here.
Link
May 2, 2012
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That assumes a linear melt rate for glaciers, while evidence suggests the melt rate is presently increasing exponentially, doubling every 5 to 10 years.
This means 8 inches of mean sea level rise is more like 25 years out, at the most, not 65 years.
The disappearance of early and late season snow packs for N. America and Asia will be both dramatic and shocking during the next 10 years.
"Wallace S. Broecker, Newberry Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory...warned of an underestimated threat posed by the buildup of greenhouse gases -- an abrupt collapse of the oceans' prevailing circulation system that could send temperatures across Europe plummeting in a span of 10 years.
...winter temperatures in the North Atlantic region would fall by 20 or more degrees Fahrenheit within 10 years. Dublin would acquire the climate of Spitsbergen, 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle..."
Don't see how. If that were true, high greenhouse gas levels would automaticly induce an ice age. There would be no warm interglacials except in response to large changes in Earth's orbit and/or tilt... and the natural increase in the Sun's heat due to aging in an extremely longterm eventually
Also don't see how a bit of extra-salty extra-cold brine (from sea-ice formation) dropping to the seabed could exert a force on ocean circulation anywhere near comparable to the Coriolis effect. So an abrupt collapse seems unlikely... though gradual small shifts could occur.
From a fairly recent study comparing actual measurements of the GulfStream circulation against actual measurements of the changes in brine (dropping from near surface to deep underwater), results showed that the currently-used thermohaline-cycle models are WAY off in their predictions; ie predicting a MUCH larger drop in the northernGulfStream speed and flow volume than what is actually being measured.
Why isn't the NHC on this thing!?!?!?
SARCASM FLAG: ON (LEVEL OVER 9000)
I love these little MCVs though, they are really cool features to look at, as they look a lot like tropical systems, but aren't.
Oh, and also I will begin issuing UNOFFICIAL forecasts for the hurricane season from my own Liberal Forecasting Center, where every blob with a little spin will be tagged as an invest, and we will err on the side of stronger-than-it-really-is. We are in no way affiliated with the NHC, so please refer to them for official forecasts.
Would you please not use those video icons?
I just don't need that kind of stimulation early in the morning.... ;o)
Thanks! Didn't connect that the events were (near)simultaneously happening worldwide, or that they signaled a ClimateChange until you posted that article.
run from the water, hide from the wind. be prepared.
Sounds more like a localized "ice age". Not a global one.
The Earth would continue to heat. If ocean heat was not transported northward then it would build more closer to the equator. (Stronger hurricanes?)
It might mean an increase in Arctic sea ice, to the extent that observed melting is due to imported warmer water. (Colder high latitudes and warmer tropical waters = even stronger hurricanes?)
Also all those damn folks on the NW side evacuating when their not supposed to....like in Tomball
Yeah, their reasoning is flawed.
Global warming is not going to cause an ice age, regardless of ocean currents.
In a few more decades, the north Atlantic between 40N and 60N will warm so much from the greenhouse effect that ocean currents will be irrelevant.
In about 10 years, summer time sea ice will be totally gone in the Arctic, and winter time sea ice volume will be about 25% less than what it is now, except whatever ice bergs are calving off Greenland and Iceland faster than they actually melt.
The positive albedo feedback for N. America and Eurasia, both on land and over water will be much greater than it is now for spring and autumn, and for latitudes below 66N, it will even be a factor in the deep of winter.
The real warming starts when Greenland and Antarctica finish melting. Right now, the ice buffers global temperature increase due to the heat of fusion.
Yep. During Rita, I just sat back and chuckled at all the people evacuating. (and how badly TX was prepared for it)
Next time around, I'm staying home... I have the food, grill, and liquor, my neighbor has the guns. If we get storm surge flooding up where I am... we have bigger problems. (my house has an elevation of 155' ASL)
Why mow when you have the perfectly reasonable excuse of "I can't until the yard dries. Mowing right now will cause ruts all over the place." Should be able to hold out until the lawn starts turning brown.
Clouds might even be a net positive feedback!
In a decade or less, the first arctic summer meltdown happens.
In two or three decades, the meltdown will be happening in June or July, during the longest days of the year, and there will only be a month or two worth of thin sea ice during the year.
The positive albedo feedback at that point amounts to a couple hundred watts per square meter of present-day June or July ice that is missing at that time.
This does not stop or slow down. It just gets worse and worse, as long as there is more CO2 to support it happening.
Exponential meltdown projections by month and year.
Yawn....
The belief that European temperatures would NOT plummet actually makes sense (at least on the surface, pun not intended). Logically speaking, the prevailing ocean currents on the Western side of North America are of the cold type, yet the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia/SE Alaska enjoy extremely mild temperatures with a strong maritime influence.
Whether the ocean is cool or warm, the ocean will always have a moderating effect, especially near the costs and on islands (i.e. the British Isles). I don't understand the alarm that Europe would be plunged into an ice age, although studies have shown that in the past, Europe has experience profound cooling in very short periods of time. And those periods of cooling haven't necessarily been accompanied by drastic cooling in other areas of the globe. One would assume the interior of Europe would end up being much cooler as opposed to the coast line.
I think the jury is still out on this issue and the alarmists on both sides should take a second look at their beliefs and panic.
What's up wannabe?
I know. It's hard to understand, so that bores you.
Wait a few more years and you'll get it.
Poor guy.
Interesting little feature. Too bad it will likely die out before coming here
Actually ECFL has a 50% chance of thunderstorms this weekend, highest it's been in a while.
Sure looking pretty pathetic on Water Vapor Loop though.
Wall Street closes
215 here in Hockley.
This is
This is getting interesting.
Link
You should read up on this one. Very interesting articles published for it, including the mummy Oetzi they found in Switzerland a few years back from this period.
Looks like its trying to get a spin going.
The Southern part of the country badly needs an El Nino. If not this summer, then it needs to happen this fall and winter.
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