Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: Pablo on 29/08/2005 04:56:52
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I mean, only three category 5 hurricanes have made land fall in the US since 1935, but the last two are closer together, Andrew (1992) and now Katrina. Not to mention the high activity of last year, What is causing this unstability? A change on the Earth's tilt?...
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2005/s1448052.htm
Pablo Gonzalez
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Nobody told me the Earth's tilt had changed! [:)]
A lot of places have been experiencing extremes of weather over the last few years, many attribute it to climate change. I don't know if the hurricane activity you mention is associated with that or not but I wouldn't be surprised if increased heat and humidity led to more frequent and powerful hurricanes.
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The water in the Atlantic Ocean is warmer now than it has been in the past 30 years. For some reason, the temperature fluctuates, and when it is higher, we have more, and more powerful hurricanes than when it is colder.
The reasons for the warming water are complex, as most climate problems are.
"F = ma, E = mc^2, and you can't push a string."
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Category 4 Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. What's next? http://www.canada.com/fortstjohn/story.html?id=adf5fc5c-d443-4462-b3d0-79998220f5a9
Pablo Gonzalez
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The last such hurricane was Andrew. They come every few years with such force. Katrina hit a highly built up area with dikes that were known vulnerabilities. It also hit an area known for a long time for it's political corruption, so not much of the disaster preperation money ever got to someplace to do some good (lined too many politicians pockets).
So the combination of a poor plan of action by the locals, and a very near miss (yes it could have been much worse) has left us with the worst natural disaster we have ever seen.
There are photos of row upon row of city and school buses that could have been used to evacute people, but wern't. There is a story about several people who "stoled" some of these buses to evaculate their neighborhoods. They are being arrested.
The incompetant local leadership are now trying to blame the federal government for their own incompetence, when it is law that the federal government cannot act until the state governer invites them to. I.e. the Feds could not do the preplanning, nor take charge until after the disaster occured.
To defend the locals, this storm was a weak storm when it finished with Florida. It gained its strength while crossing the Gulf of Mexico in a very short time.
David