Re: I beg to differ with Jim
Posted by
Gianmarc on 11/3/2012, 9:21 am
I think we agree more than we disagree here. Ultimately, comparisons between these two storms are irrelevant in more ways than they are instructive. But yes, to answer your question--indeed, based on pressure. You know as well as I do that water is the most dangerous and destructive element of any landfalling hurricane, not wind. A 940 mb storm of Sandy's massive size is a surge monster, full moon or no. Since we know the 1938 'cane was 938 mb at cat 5, that means we also know that as Sandy approached the Jersey coast, her 940 mb pressure reading was just 2 mb higher in pressure than a category 5 storm that also happens to be one of the most terrifying in recorded history. That means Sandy was abundantly capable of moving as much if not more water than the 1938 'cane, because of pressure but also be3cause Sandy was much more massive than the 1938 storm. To me, when I combine that inarguable fact with the kind of devastating I am seeing, and the kind of stories I am hearing from my friends and family up there, then this is the point where it no longer seems overblown to compare Sandy and the 1938 storm.
Here's something to consider--you contemplate what might have happened had the 1938 storm come in at Sandy's trajectory. Well, let's turn the tables--what if Sandy had hit in 1938? The primary reason for the loss of life in the 1938 storm was inadequate warning and ignorance of what was coming; only one met, to my knowledge, insisted the storm was headed for Long Island while residents tanned cluelessly on the beach. And of course another reason was that construction codes were not nearly as stringent then as they are now. So what might we be saying about Sandy today had she hit in 1938? The loss of life would have been exponentially higher, and we'd speak of Sandy in the same breath in which we speak of the Long Island 'cane of '38 without even batting an eye. |
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Gianmarc,
11/2/2012, 5:33 pm Post A Reply
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