Tag archive: Sturm

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Hurricane Helene

Atlantic storms with PNAs (Personal-Named Asteroids) equating to their designated names, which find these connected to the Sun when they make landfall, often prove to be among the worst, most powerful and destructive hurricanes on record, not to mention the most expensive.  Such was the case with Hurricane Irma, which made landfall in Florida on 10 September 2017, with the Sun conjunct asteroid Irma (estimated cost $65 billion); and Hurricane Maria, which made landfall in Puerto Rico ten days later, with asteroid Maria exactly squared the Sun (estimated cost $115 billion).  And such is the case now, with Hurricane Helene striking Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane, the largest ever to hit the region, on September 26th, under a precise conjunction of the Sun with asteroid Helena (with an early estimate of the storm’s damage at $95-110 billion).

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Debby Down(pour)er

Hurricane Debby made landfall as a Category 1 storm in the small town of Steinhatchee, in Florida’s Big Bend, at about 7 AM EDT on August 5, 2024.  Debby had been named as a Tropical Storm just two days before, an unusually short interval between naming and effect.  Winds began falling rapidly shortly after Debby went inland, and she was downgraded to Tropical Storm status again within a few hours, but Debby’s impact is expected to be felt in the arena of rain, with as much as 30” predicted in some regions.  Already as of this writing (August 6), Debby has dropped some 16” in Manatee County, Florida, and historic flooding is expected in Georgia and the Carolinas.

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The 2024 Iowa Caucus

I’m not sure why anyone pays attention to the Iowa caucuses anymore, considering its Republican voters have only picked their Party’s eventual presidential nominee twice since the 1960s, and only one of those went on to win the general election.  But Iowa is the time-honored kickoff to the quadrennial American presidential passion play regardless, and one must observe the conventions and traditions that make the country what it is.

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Hurricane Idalia Swamps Northern Florida

On 30 August 2023 the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season kicked off with a bang, as Hurricane Idalia battered the northern Florida coast with 125 mph winds and a 7-foot storm surge, making landfall as a category 3 storm at Keaton Beach, in the Sunshine State’s Big Bend region, at 7:45 AM EDT.  Earlier projections had seen the storm coming ashore somewhat further south, in more populous areas, but despite the already swampy terrain and smaller communities in its path, Idalia is estimated to have caused some $9 billion+ in damage.  Thankfully, loss of life was minimal, with three traffic-related fatalities attributed to Idalia’s effects.

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Vermont Flooding

After a very dry spring in much of the eastern US evoked widespread drought conditions, the climate change worm turned dramatically in late June and early July 2023, deluging these same areas with more rain than they could handle.  Vermont quickly became the poster child for Northeast flooding, with new records set for rainfall in the Green Mountain State.  Wastewater treatment facilities were among the hardest-hit, with 33 impacted statewide, and the plant in Johnson inundated by eight feet of water, leaving “total destruction” in its wake, with “just the shell of a building” remaining. 

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ian from space

Hurricane Season Heats Up

After a fairly somnolent summer, the Atlantic hurricane season has been working overtime to make up the deficit, with two powerful storms wreaking havoc up and down the east coast of North America in the last week of September.  Hurricane Fiona devastated areas of the Canadian Maritimes on the 24th, while Hurricane Ian pounded central Florida on the 28th with nightmarish winds and massive flooding, traversed the Sunshine State, then refueled in the Atlantic and turned its sights on the Carolinas.

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