New Mega Hurricane

[GT98]

Wilma...most powerful storm ever recorded in the Atlantic...amazing.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/10/19/wilma/

[ZokesPro]

That's a lot of hurricane's in such a short period of time, weird!

[KvHagedorn]

Wow.. this one popped up really quickly.

[Nowhere]

Fred mus have been bad or something...

Seriously...Zokes, I don't think it's weird. We basically know why it's happening (I'm not getting into the reasons behind the cause of stronger hurricanes, just the cause itself)

[GT98]

Well the thing too is that its seems like all these disasters are getting reported more often. ever since the Tsunami, it seems like the world is going to hell in a hand basket, when its there already. Only 2 more weeks of hurricane season...unless we start getting them in November.

[ZokesPro]

Fred mus have been bad or something...

Seriously...Zokes, I don't think it's weird. We basically know why it's happening (I'm not getting into the reasons behind the cause of stronger hurricanes, just the cause itself)

I don't think the hurricane itself is weird, just the fact that this is the third one (or fourth) in such a short time.

[Nowhere]

Doesn't mean its weird, given the circumstances. It might even become the norm...

[ZokesPro]

True, but these events are getting more and more frequent, doesn't that disturb even a little bit?

[KvHagedorn]

This year and last year have been pretty bad, but don't turn a short term variability into a long term one. The Gulf has been warmer during other periods, which produced lots of storms. The 60s were pretty bad, as were the 30s, so a calmer period should follow, lets hope. Doesn't mean the next warm period won't be even warmer though.

[Nowhere]

Disturbing - yes. But not necesserily totally weird...

[Jessterw]

The only strange thing is the increase in landfalls of these storms. Also let us not forget that other parts of the globe routinely get storms just as bad in greater numbers.

[agallag]

Oh crap. My brother and sister-in-law are in Tulum right now. This is not good...

[Wombat]

The only strange thing is the increase in landfalls of these storms. Also let us not forget that other parts of the globe routinely get storms just as bad in greater numbers.

No, it's not just the number of landfalls. Wilma has tied 2005 for "most named storms" record, and we still have quite a lot of hurricane season left.

[Jessterw]

We're talking 12 versus the normal 8, which really isn't that large a jump considering we have a historic precedent for it. Let's keep in mind that the recorded history of hurricanes, in the manner we're referencing, is relatively brief, so we really don't know what is normal in the grand scheme of things.

And quite a lot of hurricane season left? It's almost over. Sure there might be another hurricane or so, but it will be a good number of years before we will know if this is an increasing trend or simply a rough patch.

[agallag]

I just had this converstation with my brother over his blackberry.

Me: So, are you getting the hell out of Dodge or what?

Him: Nope, can't - it's gonna be awesome!

Crazy bugger. He's basically stranded in his hotel. The airport is mayhem, and his tour operator is not able to send any planes anyway. The hotel supposedly is built to handle storms like this, so as long as he stays well above ground, and away from the windows, he should be okay. Knowing him though, he'll be trying to get some good footage of the storm.