Re: Should the Tropical Storm Watche been issued for NYC area
Posted by
Tim_NC on 9/5/2010, 4:21 pm
Hi Fred. Yea, metro NYC is a bit complicated; especially with Long Island out there.
My qualm is with the whole watch/warning system itself.
To eliminate the insanity, confusion, and media hype; the NWS should stick with terminology that's ingrained in the masses; and that means not using the term "tropical storm" north of Cape Hatteras.
Terms regularly seen in the north and their tropical equivalents.
At sea:
gale watch (TS watch)
gale warning (minor TS warning)
storm warning (major TS warning)
hurricane force wind warning (hurricane warning)
On land:
wind advisory (minor TS warning)
high wind warning (major TS warning)
hurricane (hurricane)
Issuing a "tropical storm watch/warning" to northerners is asking for problems. Northern terminology (which by the way is also used in the South during winter) has a well balanced hierarchy, while the term "tropical storm" encompasses a too-large range of weather conditions.
(Hurricane is not a problem because everyone knows what that is.)
As noted in another thread, the pressure exerted by winds increase dramatically with speed. To compare a 60kt 'storm' with a 35kt 'gale' is absurd - yet both qualify as 'tropical storm force'; both storms would be shoved into a single, ineffective category.
That Earl was a circus should be no surprise.
Imagine if we had used 'gale watch' and 'gale warning' along the coasts north of Hatteras (and perhaps 'storm warning' at Cape Cod.
1.) Everyone affected by the storm would have known in advance what to expect.
2.) There would have been scant little media hype.
3.) No great losses in commerce.
4.) Far fewer families with ruined vacations.
And on a final note, speaking of common sense - even 'gale warning' may be issued without actually expecting gale-force winds; it's sometimes done when seas are expected to be unusually heavy.
Tim_NC
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