The Jaw-Dropping Stats from Hurricane Irma

[Sea Save Foundation]

These statistics include Hurricane Irma being the strongest Atlantic basin hurricane ever recorded, the longest (3 days) category 5 storm since satellite tracking began, record 37 hours of winds at or above 185 mph and a record 6,300,000 people evacuated in Florida.

Read more here (story #4).

 

[Skeptic14]

2005 Atlantic hurricane season - Wikipedia

2005 season...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Atlantic_hurricane_season
Dennis: 150mph/930mb
Emily: 160mph/929mb
Katrina: 175mph/902mb
Rita: 180mph/895mb
Wilma: 185mph/882mb

The 1961 season had 7 major hurricanes including...

Betsy: 145/945
Carla: 175/931
Esther: 145/927
Hattie: 160/920

Of course there is the 1969 season with 5 majors including of course still one of the largest ever Camille with 175mph winds and a 900mb pressure...

There have been six seasons where more than one category five storm formed...

1932,1933, 1961, 2005, 2007, 2017

But wait there's more...

Only since the late 40s did we start flying into tropical systems as a way to measure them and not until the 70s was a method of using satellite imagery to estimate strength created.

So to draw any type of conclusions on long term trends of tropical system strength by cherry picking data points over such an absurdly insignificant time frame is very unscientific.

It's of course one of humans most common flaws, false positives, finding patterns that simply don't exist, and confirmation bias when our preconceived expectations are met and ignoring all of the times when they aren't (10 of 14 ... 71% of systems this season amounted to nothing).

 

[tridacna]

2005 Atlantic hurricane season - Wikipedia

2005 season...
Dennis: 150mph/930mb
Emily: 160mph/929mb
Katrina: 175mph/902mb
Rita: 180mph/895mb
Wilma: 185mph/882mb

The 1961 season had 7 major hurricanes including...

Betsy: 145/945
Carla: 175/931
Esther: 145/927
Hattie: 160/920

Of course there is the 1969 season with 5 majors including of course still one of the largest ever Camille with 175mph winds and a 900mb pressure...

There have been six seasons where more than one category five storm formed...

1932,1933, 1961, 2005, 2007, 2017

But wait there's more...

Only since the late 40s did we start flying into tropical systems as a way to measure them and not until the 70s was a method of using satellite imagery to estimate strength created.

So to draw any type of conclusions on long term trends of tropical system strength by cherry picking data points over such an absurdly insignificant time frame is very unscientific.

It's of course one of humans most common flaws, false positives, finding patterns that simply don't exist, and confirmation bias when our preconceived expectations are met and ignoring all of the times when they aren't (10 of 14 ... 71% of systems this season amounted to nothing).

Malarkey. You almost sounded credible.

The 2017 Hurricane Season Really Is More Intense Than Normal

 

[Skeptic14]

Quotes from your own link...

It probably won’t be the most active season on record. That dubious distinction belongs, by a large margin, to 2005 and its 28 named storms... Fifteen of the storms (another record) were hurricanes... Five names (yet another record) were retired: Dennis, Rita, Stan, Wilma and, of course, Katrina. The 2017 season is unlikely to match that...

So no malarkey yet, lets keep going.

Currently, the 1933 season, with 20 named storms, sits in second place after 2005. Behind that are five seasons that produced 19 named storms apiece, one that produced 18, three that had 16 and four that had 15, according to Weather Underground, which maintains a list of the “top 10 busiest Atlantic hurricane seasons.” By the end of November, that list will almost certainly include 2017.

So in summary my post was malarkey despite your own citation providing some of the exact data of past seasons that were more active than 2017.

Further, your own citation points out that accurate record keeping didn't start until 1851, of course we had no way of measuring the strength of the storms at that point, but that's still an insanely insignificant time frame to draw any scientific conclusions on storm intensity and strength trends.

So I'm not sure which part was malarkey, I suppose someone pointing out nothing but the numbers and reality and not applying spin to achieve a certain preconceived narrative bothered you.

 

[tridacna]

No. Fact Denial bothers me.

 

[Skeptic14]

So you must be really bothered by yourself right about now... unless maybe you missed those parts from your own citation?

 

[tridacna]

Arguing with denial trolls just not my thing. Sorry.

 

[Bubblesong]

climate change, whether you believe it or not, is not giving us bigger hurricanes than past years.
Greenhouse effects may do other things, but the hurricanes and gawdawful storms at sea were recorded in biblical times.

 

[tridacna]

climate change, whether you believe it or not, is not giving us bigger hurricanes than past years.
Greenhouse effects may do other things, but the hurricanes and gawdawful storms at sea were recorded in biblical times.

I doubt whether anyone is seriously denying climate change. It's the causes that are being questioned. I presume that as a Marine Scientist you simply wrote that wrong.

I also question your premise. I believe that warmer oceans are delivering bigger and more frequent catastrophic weather events. But I prefer to argue in a legitimate academic forum. This forum is so full of argumentative trolls seeking to get a rise out of people - it's not funny.

I'm also certain that "Biblical times" references are not exactly accurate either. Good luck with referencing those. (Please do not use "hath", "frogs", "thee" or "lice".)

 

[Bubblesong]

Jupiter has much worse storms than earth, and it is cold as f@&k.
There are other factors contributing to Hurricanes than a couple degrees warmer oceans.
My thought is that the ice packs melting raising sea levels around the world are changing the stresses on the ocean floor, and that is causing more, bigger earthquakes.