Why Hurricane Michael’s Power Caught Forecasters Off Guard

Hurricane Michael recently made landfall on the Florida panhandle and has also impacted surrounding states.  Michael transitioned from a tropical storm following a predictable path to a category five hurricane in just two days.  This caught forecasters off guard, but it also left little time for the residents of Florida to prepare for the powerful storm.  This resulted in massive damage.  The reason for Michael's unpredictable power is the unusual temperature of the Gulf of Mexico for this time of year.  The heat and moisture allowed Michael to pick up speed and essentially harness more power before it made landfall. 

This entire situation turned out to be extremely unfortunate.  If the weathermen had been able to track the storm more efficiently, it may have given people more time to prepare.  Unfortunately , that's not how things played out, however, and the resulting damage is extensive.     

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/climate/hurricane-michael-science.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fclimate&action=click&contentCollection=climate&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront   

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 12, 2018 at 4:50 PM

    Its interesting to here about what happened to cause Hurricane Michael to speed up and become a category 4 hurricane. The temperatures here were unusual as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 14, 2018 at 7:25 AM

    Hearing about how bad Hurricane Michael was really surprised me, because there didn't seem to be a lot of news coverage on it before it happened. The fact that the reason behind Hurricane Michael's sudden growth was climate change, however, does not surprise me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 14, 2018 at 12:59 PM

    It is interesting to see how climate change can have such an effect on the severity and unpredictability of storms such as Hurricane Michael. It is very important that meteorologists adjust to these changes quickly in order to be able to warn citizens more effectively when it comes to storms.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousOctober 14, 2018 at 7:34 PM

    The devastating effects this storm has had on areas it hit will hopefully encourage better efforts in the future regarding tracking storms. Hurricane Michael has caused many challenges for people living in many of the southern states, particularly near the panhandle and I heard that it has even tied into politics and some people living in the areas that were hit asked for more time to register to vote because the storm prohibited them from doing so.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousOctober 15, 2018 at 4:40 AM

    It was interesting to read that a storm could go from just a tropical storm to a category five hurricane.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousOctober 15, 2018 at 4:42 AM

    Its upsetting knowing that people didn't have time to prepare for this because it even caught the weather people off guard too. I can't image the damage it did since it was categorized as a 5. Its interesting to hear about how quick the hurricane changed just because of the heat and the moisture.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousOctober 15, 2018 at 12:02 PM

    I found it interesting how and tragic how people in Florida weren't able to prepare for a category five hurricane due to inaccurate weather tracking and predicting. The death toll could have been lower if Floridan residents were able to know of the destruction that hurricane Michael was able to produce.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousOctober 16, 2018 at 9:05 AM

    Its surprising to see the devastation caused by Micheal even though it built up speed so fast. I did not know that the main reason it built up speed because of the heat and the moisture

    ReplyDelete
  9. DevanOctober 18, 2018 at 5:14 AM

    It is sad to see the large amount of destruction, and how sudden it all happened. It became deadly in such a short amount of time , which was able to catch everyone off guard. Did not know the devastation was so bad.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousOctober 18, 2018 at 1:05 PM

    I hope people are doing whatever they can do to help!

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousOctober 24, 2018 at 8:59 PM

    Not many people are concerned with what climate change is doing, and this is a great example of it, since that is what caused Michael to be such a powerful storm.

    ReplyDelete

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