Hurricane Maria

[PedroDaGr8]

Went from a Cat 1 to Cat 5 in only 20 hours, with it taking only 2 hours to go from a 4 to a 5, breaking Patricia's record. Hitting a lot of familiar areas in the Caribbean. Doesn't pose a threat to the USA at this time but this could change.

The following is a tweet from the Prime Minister of Dominica:



Many of the islands hit by Irma and Jose are at 80-90% of structures damaged. They are in very weakened states and more hurricanes like this will just make things worse.

Currently expected to make a direct hit with eastern Puerto Rico. Keep in mind, these people had almost no time to prepare for a Cat 5 hurricane. No one predicted this level of strengthening.


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[PedroDaGr8]

This is the kind of strengthening this storm loves to do. Watch that eyewall, it only took 1.5h for this amount of change.

Removed the old image because there is a MUCH better version at this link: https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/SmugWebbedCottonmouth


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[Catfan73]

Doesn't pose a threat to the mainland USA at this time but this could change.

[Darrell KSR]

This is the kind of strengthening this storm loves to do. Watch that eyewall, it only took 1.5h for this amount of change.

Removed the old image because there is a MUCH better version at this link: https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/SmugWebbedCottonmouth


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That is a tight circle. Wow.

I've been following it a bit, too, and it's pretty amazing. Nature's fury often is, but this seems even moreso.

God bless those poor people getting hit again.

[CitizenBBN]

Doesn't pose a threat to the mainland USA at this time but this could change.

The Virgin Islands and PR look to be all teed up to be whacked.

[PedroDaGr8]

The Virgin Islands and PR look to be all teed up to be whacked.

Yep, both of which are hosting grounds for the recovery and relief effort from Irma's blow.

Maria is showing signs of strengthening before hitting PR, pressure has dropped to 916mbar and winds are up to 165 mph. The eye in this storm is VERY VERY small, around 5 miles wide. Whether it goes into an EWRC to expand the eye is anyones guess. If I was in Puerto Rick or USVI right now, I would be quite afraid. In general, a smaller eye means much higher winds for the same pressure. It also means that it is more susceptible to weakening when it hits land. Not that that will help PR at all, just any islands AFTER PR.

EDIT: New extrapolated minimum pressure (NOT dropsonde recorded) is 912.7mbar, this means the real pressure is likely somewhere around 914 which is still crazy low. The theoretical sustainable minimum pressure in this area is considered to be 900-910 mBar (and theoretical sustainable windspeed is 172.5mph). Can it get lower? Of course, but it won't maintain it for a long time.

EDIT2: Literally no more than 5 seconds I after I hit enter, dropsonde data came in. 913mbar recorded in the eye, this storm is now officially stronger than Irma in the core (though not in size).

[dan_bgblue]

[PedroDaGr8]

Pressure has dropped yet again, measurement of 910mBar (909 extrapolated) in the eye. Surface wins are now extrapolated at an astounding 175mph, this is getting close to the sustainable maximum but it doesn't have to stop here. It can easily exceed these maximums in the short term, unfortunately for Puerto Rico. This is now in the top 10 for strongest Atlantic storms ever, based on lowest pressure and tied for number 8 (with over a dozen others) for strongest winds in the Atlantic.

[PedroDaGr8]

Beautiful time-lapse imagery of the eye of the hurricane from the new GOESS-16 satellite:

https://twitter.com/NASA_SPoRT/statu...38110402990080

The resolution is just remarkable.

PS I don't think you can embed tweets in this forum software, correct?

[Darrell KSR]

Beautiful time-lapse imagery of the eye of the hurricane from the new GOESS-16 satellite:

https://twitter.com/NASA_SPoRT/statu...38110402990080

The resolution is just remarkable.

PS I don't think you can embed tweets in this forum software, correct?

Nope, unfortunately.

Screenshot a still is about the best you can do.

[PedroDaGr8]

Hurricanception: https://i.imgur.com/q8MmWmo.gifv

Part of the dying inner eyewall

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