Re: "SUPER STORM" for the northeast?
This was just as bad because of the unusually high barometric pressure
Yet, the superstorm's climbing barometric pressure is more typical of category 3 or category 4 storms, making it likely that Hurricane Sandy will rank relatively high on the list of the most intense hurricanes to hit the U.S. since 1851.
According to a recent bulletin from NOAA's National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Sandy's minimum central pressure is hovering around 940 millibars. Comparatively, Hurricane Katrina, which hit Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005, was classified as a category 3 hurricane with a barometric pressure of 920 millibars -- making it slightly more intense than Hurricane Sandy's present levels.
Hurricanes and North? Easters are areas of low pressure. The pressure drops, not climbs.
Barometric pressure values do not reflect wind speeds. The wind speed of a hurricane depends on both its size and how rapidly the pressure drops as the hurricane's center approaches. Thus, a hurricane in an environment of high pressure will have stronger winds than a hurricane in an environment of low pressure, even if they have identical central pressures. While Sandy's pressure was low, so was the surrounding atomsphere, thus the low wind speeds in relation to pressure.
Sandy made landfall as a post-tropical cyclone with sub-75 MPH winds. Sure, lots of damage, at least on the north side of the storm, but hardly the monster storm it's being made out to be by the media. Had a category 3 storm like Katrina (111-130 mph) or a cat 5 like Camille (155 mph+) came on shore last night and passed within 40 miles of the house, I sure as heck wouldn't be at my keyboard this evening.
