Posted by Jack Graham on July 22, 2008 at 10:30 PM
Since most good photographers ( and there are MANY here in this forum!) watch the weather closely I have a question and an observation.
OK, folks, a non photographic ( kind of) question. Before moving to this wonderful area, I've been to Oregon many , many times. I've now lived here one year. I've been to the coast during some the the storms last winter. I see the power in images here on NPN as well as on the news etc. I see winds over 100 MPH reported many, many times during the rainy season on the Oregon coast. Oregonians seem to just deal with it!
here's my question.
I watch the national news, the Weather Channel ( just mainly for a few laughs as they are the least predictable) etc. I see this current "hurricane" Dolly with 70-80 MPH winds and people are evacuating, the weather channel has they "Storm Chasers" there etc.
I bet most of you get the picture too. It's the lead story on all new areas.!!!! hear things like "Here's a news alert... Hurricane Dolly yada yada yada.......
Why don't the winter storms that batter the PNW that are in my opinion just as big as this "hurricane" get that kind of coverage. Wasn't the Dec storm last year way worse than this hurricane Dolly.
Being raised on the east coast, am I wrong in that this is an "east coast phenomena" or is it that we are too far away for the media to cover our storms? ( not that I really care.... but......
I will guarantee that the Dec storm last year caused more damage than this Dolly storm times 10. Whats the deal?
JG
Posted by Edward Thomas on July 22, 2008 at 10:37 PM
Hi JG,
Forget about the storms on the coast, Eastern Oregon, and particularly the Baker City/La Grande area kind of routinely gets 70 MPH winds. I guess it's not a problem if you know they are frequent, you just landscape/build accordingly.
The humorous answer is, of course, that the rest of the country is just a bunch of woosies...
It's not so much the wind speed as it is the cumulative energy of a storm that matters most. I lived in hurricane country and saw/experienced the power and consequences of hurricane Hugo. I also lived next to the National Wind Technology Center near Boulder, CO and we frequently had winds of 70-80mph, and occasionally in excess of 100 mph. There's simply no comparison.
A storm of moderate mass and peak winds of 100mph is a whole lot different than the mass and sustained power of a hurricane... not to mention the storm surge. It's the difference between being hit by a car doing 100 mph and being hit by a dozen freight trains doing 100mph. After Hugo, there was no beach left in many areas, and inland, it literally erased the landscape.
Dolly is no Hugo, but it's the potential to blow up that has people concerned. And rightfully so, imo.
And another thought.. The coastal areas of Oregon aren't near as populated as the places back east where the hurricane's hit. If the storms last winter hit the Portland area with the force as they hit the coast, then it would be big news.
Posted by Edward Thomas on July 23, 2008 at 12:07 AM
Erik has a point. I was 12 hours ahead of the 4 MILLION people who left Houston for Rita. Funny how at 9PM on Tuesday night there was no one on the road with me headed for Tenn, and 12 hours later it was wall to wall stranded people!
The other difference is that hurricane wind speeds are reported as "sustained" velocities, whereas most of the numbers you see reported for winds on the coast are "gust speeds". Of course, the media will only report the highest wind gust they can find.
-Arlen
Posted by Curtis Knight on July 23, 2008 at 12:01 PM
The difference is that people don't routinely die from our storms. there's nothing for the media to sensationalize. hurricanes, tornadoes, and the severe thunder storms they produce, kill people. Racking up a death toll makes for more exciting headlines.
Posted by Chuck Beatty on July 24, 2008 at 6:23 PM
Jack, It's because hurricanes take a while to develop and the news teams have time to fly some schmuck down to stand on the beach in the wind and rain with a microphone in his hand and tell us "Well, it sure is raining and blowing here!" That and the fact that the hurricanes have names--it gives them some personality. Maybe you folks out there should name your winter storms instead of calling them that "@#$% storm!"
As a meteorologist who has been through many tropical storms as well as PacNW windstorms, i have to pipe in (fashionably late). I think the responses so far pretty much cover it. Population is a big factor, especially since the max winds in the pacnw coastal storms are usually confined to a relatively small area. The sustained winds in the hurricane are usually significantly stronger (even a weak hurricane is 75+, while a strong coastal storm might only be 50+ with much higher gusts). And of course, the hurricane has more romantic mystique and makes better press. But some Pacnw storms clearly rank right up there with hurricanes (Columbus day storm is a classic example).
Discussion
10 repliesOK, folks, a non photographic ( kind of) question. Before moving to this wonderful area, I've been to Oregon many , many times. I've now lived here one year. I've been to the coast during some the the storms last winter. I see the power in images here on NPN as well as on the news etc. I see winds over 100 MPH reported many, many times during the rainy season on the Oregon coast. Oregonians seem to just deal with it!
here's my question.
I watch the national news, the Weather Channel ( just mainly for a few laughs as they are the least predictable) etc. I see this current "hurricane" Dolly with 70-80 MPH winds and people are evacuating, the weather channel has they "Storm Chasers" there etc.
I bet most of you get the picture too. It's the lead story on all new areas.!!!! hear things like "Here's a news alert... Hurricane Dolly yada yada yada.......
Why don't the winter storms that batter the PNW that are in my opinion just as big as this "hurricane" get that kind of coverage. Wasn't the Dec storm last year way worse than this hurricane Dolly.
Being raised on the east coast, am I wrong in that this is an "east coast phenomena" or is it that we are too far away for the media to cover our storms? ( not that I really care.... but......
I will guarantee that the Dec storm last year caused more damage than this Dolly storm times 10. Whats the deal?
JG
Forget about the storms on the coast, Eastern Oregon, and particularly the Baker City/La Grande area kind of routinely gets 70 MPH winds. I guess it's not a problem if you know they are frequent, you just landscape/build accordingly.
The humorous answer is, of course, that the rest of the country is just a bunch of woosies...
Edward
A storm of moderate mass and peak winds of 100mph is a whole lot different than the mass and sustained power of a hurricane... not to mention the storm surge. It's the difference between being hit by a car doing 100 mph and being hit by a dozen freight trains doing 100mph. After Hugo, there was no beach left in many areas, and inland, it literally erased the landscape.
Dolly is no Hugo, but it's the potential to blow up that has people concerned. And rightfully so, imo.
The other difference is that hurricane wind speeds are reported as "sustained" velocities, whereas most of the numbers you see reported for winds on the coast are "gust speeds". Of course, the media will only report the highest wind gust they can find.
-Arlen
aside from the wind speeds, I have actually been witness to it snowing very hard on the beach....a rarity.