HurricaneJosh Posted September 7, 2012 Author Share Posted September 7, 2012 So, more instrumentation news... As those who followed the Isaac chase know, I deployed the BASTARD and it held very well-- really did its job and did not budge (see image below, which was taken before the storm's core arrived). Unfortunately, the instrumentation had an issue, as the highest recorded gust for the entire front eyewall was only 42 kt! (The airport very nearby (KGAO) had 50 kt gusting to 67 kt.) Cory feels that water forcing into the impeller in heavy rain was probably the issue. Given this, we decided we needed a new setup-- a three-cup deal with datalogger that you see pictured below. The brand is Inspeed. Cory has used this device and was impressed with how accurately the readings matched a nearby, official instrument's readings. We couldn't find any setup that was a perfect fit for our needs, but this one came closest because: * It's compatible with the BASTARD. * It's small and portable. * It can record high-res data-- sampling as frequently as 1/sec. * The dalalogger holds up to 500K data points, so I can record at the highest sampling rate for the entire duration of the storm. * The instrument can measure up to around 130 kt. One minus: it's not wireless. But that's OK-- no biggie. Very psyched to deploy this in the next hurricane core and come out with a really detailed wind trace! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 I think it will be a nice tool to have and solve the issues caused by the Kestrel. In fairness to the people who make Kestrels, which is an otherwise awesome instrument, they weren't exactly designed for hurricanes. As Josh mentioned, I used the secondary experimental BASTARD (a back up to the original, which was modified and is now the new BASTARD PX) with the Inspeed sensor during a mountain-wave windstorm in Juneau, Alaska and got good results when compared to an NWS mesonet site 100 feet away. I ran the numbers through my dynamic pressure spreadsheet and the forces should be roughly equivalent between the Kestrel assembly and the 3-cup anemometer, so no changes are required to the mast height. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 I think it will be a nice tool to have and solve the issues caused by the Kestrel. In fairness to the people who make Kestrels, which is an otherwise awesome instrument, they weren't exactly designed for hurricanes. Oh, totally. I think the Kestrel is a wonderful piece of technology-- I love it. I think the issue is that we just weren't using it as it was intended to be used-- and we can't fault the product for that. I love my Kestrels and they will remain my primary instruments for collecting all of a storm's vital signs except the wind. As Josh mentioned, I used the secondary experimental BASTARD (a back up to the original, which was modified and is now the new BASTARD PX) with the Inspeed sensor during a mountain-wave windstorm in Juneau, Alaska and got good results when compared to an NWS mesonet site 100 feet away. That's so awesome. I ran the numbers through my dynamic pressure spreadsheet and the forces should be roughly equivalent between the Kestrel assembly and the 3-cup anemometer, so no changes are required to the mast height. Curious to see how it stays up in really high winds. In Isaac, the new mast held firm in winds of at least 50 kt (2-min) gusting to hurricane force-- perhaps stronger-- and that's a great start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 I'm just getting a little discouraged Re: both the NATL and EPAC. Something has to change. On lighter news... My new anemometer came today. Cory's thinking to come visit me in L.A. to help me set it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted September 13, 2012 Author Share Posted September 13, 2012 I'm starting to feel resentment-- bordering on rage-- toward the WPAC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
am19psu Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 I'm starting to feel resentment-- bordering on rage-- toward the WPAC. Don't hate just because the NATL blew its good MJO on a bunch of nonsense north of 25N. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted September 13, 2012 Author Share Posted September 13, 2012 Don't hate just because the NATL blew its good MJO on a bunch of nonsense north of 25N. Betta cool it, fozzie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srain Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 I suggest lots of yoga and a good therapist to cure your illness. Meanwhile I'll enjoys my endless 'rainers' and watch the EPAC where your chance of the next intercept look the best...in October... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Lizard Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 I suggest lots of yoga and a good therapist to cure your illness. Meanwhile I'll enjoys my endless 'rainers' and watch the EPAC where your chance of the next intercept look the best...in October... I understand why he doesn't want to do island chasing, he can't adjust if the storm subtly changes track to get in the core, but if I were a jet-setting international man of mystery, and a forecast Cat 5 was approaching Okinawa... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslkahuna Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 The problem with chasing in WPAC from the CONUS is that you have to pull the trigger so early to make the travel connections and then endure a 16 hour flight.Either that, or camp out on Guam for a year like Jim Leonard did and use that as your base of operations. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted September 13, 2012 Author Share Posted September 13, 2012 The problem with chasing in WPAC from the CONUS is that you have to pull the trigger so early to make the travel connections and then endure a 16 hour flight.Either that, or camp out on Guam for a year like Jim Leonard did and use that as your base of operations. Steve Yep-- there or Hong Kong, like my friend, James Reynolds. Even then, I don't find the basin terribly appealing-- too many mountains, islands, and Communists. Despite the abundance of healthy cyclones in these waters, the opportunities for good, red-meat, chaseable landfalls aren't as plentiful as one would think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyhb Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Yep-- there or Hong Kong, like my friend, James Reynolds. Even then, I don't find the basin terribly appealing-- too many mountains, islands, and Communists. Despite the abundance of healthy cyclones in these waters, the opportunities for good, red-meat, chaseable landfalls aren't as plentiful as one would think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslkahuna Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 There are some good islands for getting typhoon hits, Miyako Jima, Ishigakijima, Iwo To and Guam-they're small enough that a big loaded for bear storm hardly notices them. The Communists are mainly a safety problem in the Philippines-elsewhere where they are in power they welcome tourists and their money. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyhb Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Not seeing a ton of hope on the horizon for Josh, to be brutally honest... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Lizard Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 There are some good islands for getting typhoon hits, Miyako Jima, Ishigakijima, Iwo To and Guam-they're small enough that a big loaded for bear storm hardly notices them. The Communists are mainly a safety problem in the Philippines-elsewhere where they are in power they welcome tourists and their money. Steve I thought the NPA went away. I know they have a Muslim problem in Mindanoa, but that is South of the main tropical action. I remember when the NPA killed 2 Marines in a bar just before my ship arrived, and we were had to be back on the ship at night. I think small islands is what Josh wants least, they may mess with storms, but one trochoidal wobble, and he is done. I have never been to the Eastern Luzon provinces, the highway between Angeles and Subic seemed decent enough, and I can't imagine the road network being any worse than any other Third World nation, ie, Mexico, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 Mexico is not a Third World nation, and the roads are fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 There are some good islands for getting typhoon hits, Miyako Jima, Ishigakijima, Iwo To and Guam-they're small enough that a big loaded for bear storm hardly notices them. The Communists are mainly a safety problem in the Philippines-elsewhere where they are in power they welcome tourists and their money. Steve Good to know. Perhaps I should be more open-minded about selected WPAC locations. Overall, the turf doesn't appeal to me-- nor do those 1,000-mile-wide systems that the WPAC seems to crank out-- but when particularly sure bets come along-- like that strong one that hit the S tip of Taiwan last month (Tembin)-- I should perhaps consider it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 In other news... I'm finally sitting down to edit my Isaac footage this weekend. Look for the premier of my teaser video in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick05 Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 The problem with chasing in WPAC from the CONUS is that you have to pull the trigger so early to make the travel connections and then endure a 16 hour flight.Either that, or camp out on Guam for a year like Jim Leonard did and use that as your base of operations. Steve Yep-- there or Hong Kong, like my friend, James Reynolds. Even then, I don't find the basin terribly appealing-- too many mountains, islands, and Communists. Despite the abundance of healthy cyclones in these waters, the opportunities for good, red-meat, chaseable landfalls aren't as plentiful as one would think. There are some good islands for getting typhoon hits, Miyako Jima, Ishigakijima, Iwo To and Guam-they're small enough that a big loaded for bear storm hardly notices them. The Communists are mainly a safety problem in the Philippines-elsewhere where they are in power they welcome tourists and their money. Steve I thought the NPA went away. I know they have a Muslim problem in Mindanoa, but that is South of the main tropical action. I remember when the NPA killed 2 Marines in a bar just before my ship arrived, and we were had to be back on the ship at night. I think small islands is what Josh wants least, they may mess with storms, but one trochoidal wobble, and he is done. I have never been to the Eastern Luzon provinces, the highway between Angeles and Subic seemed decent enough, and I can't imagine the road network being any worse than any other Third World nation, ie, Mexico, Good to know. Perhaps I should be more open-minded about selected WPAC locations. Overall, the turf doesn't appeal to me-- nor do those 1,000-mile-wide systems that the WPAC seems to crank out-- but when particularly sure bets come along-- like that strong one that hit the S tip of Taiwan last month (Tembin)-- I should perhaps consider it. hope you don't mind me crashing into your thread josh, just want to give my own insight... Luzon, especially Eastern Luzon doesn't have a lot of good roads at the moment... the Pan-Asian Highway traversing the entire coast of Luzon is prone to landslides especially near the Sierra Madre Mountains although they are usually cleared out in a day or so... there aren't any big cities along the northeastern region probably except Tuguearao and Aparri which are fairly sized cities... as for the "communists" the New People's Army is more located on the mountains across Central and Northern Luzon and they don't really target individuals (ie kidnapping) unlike the Abu Sayyaf in Mindanao.. more often than not they "only" burn vehicles (without people inside cause that would be mean) or cell sites or grid lines to scare people but other than that it's been generally peaceful there... people there love westerners so you won't have a hard time dealing with them and won't have hard time communicating with them either... Taiwan and the islands Askalhuna mentioned are probably your best bet if you want a more appealing chase... but if you do decide to chase in the PH in the next few years, my offer from EasternUSWx still stands... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted September 20, 2012 Author Share Posted September 20, 2012 For a couple of runs in a row, the Euro has a strong Hurricane Miriam recurving and accelerating NE, into the Baja Peninsula-- a classic, October-style track. Yeah, yeah-- this is at Day 7-- but I can't help gettin' some mild tingles from it. It's been so ling since the Euro's even suggested hawtness-- so y'all better just shut up before ya say anythin' sassy. Somethin' to get me through these cold SoCal nights. Wooooof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginx snewx Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 so y'all better just shut up before ya say anythin' sassy. . Wooooof. meow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslkahuna Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 While we wait and see if anything chaseable comes about, here's an interesting tidbit. OFFICIALLY (according to PHX NWS at least) TS Joanne in 1972 was the first EPAC storm on record to have entered AZ as a TS. Since then there have been 4 others. Kathleen in 1976, Raymond '89, Lester '92 and Nora '97. In all cases the storms entered AZ AFTER crossing Baja and then accelerating-this was especially true for Raymond and Lester which came into SE AZ east of Tucson. The TUS NWS office which is more up to speed on these matters as well as the monsoon than PHX counts more back before Joanne in 1972 including on named Katrina in 1967-which tracked in the Sea of Cortez. Also there's the matter of HR Newton in 1986 which was finalled by NHC immediately after landfall north of Los Mochis even though SOMETHING brought heavy rains and strong winds to SE AZ and SW NM some hours later. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted September 21, 2012 Author Share Posted September 21, 2012 While we wait and see if anything chaseable comes about, here's an interesting tidbit. OFFICIALLY (according to PHX NWS at least) TS Joanne in 1972 was the first EPAC storm on record to have entered AZ as a TS. Since then there have been 4 others. Kathleen in 1976, Raymond '89, Lester '92 and Nora '97. In all cases the storms entered AZ AFTER crossing Baja and then accelerating-this was especially true for Raymond and Lester which came into SE AZ east of Tucson. The TUS NWS office which is more up to speed on these matters as well as the monsoon than PHX counts more back before Joanne in 1972 including on named Katrina in 1967-which tracked in the Sea of Cortez. Also there's the matter of HR Newton in 1986 which was finalled by NHC immediately after landfall north of Los Mochis even though SOMETHING brought heavy rains and strong winds to SE AZ and SW NM some hours later. Steve Interesting. I checked all these paths. Based on the best-track data, Nora looks like it was strongest in AZ, with winds of 55 kt on the last fix before entering CA/AZ. Would you say that one was the strongest in terms of surface obs? I wonder if a 'cane could ever make it to AZ-- if it accelerated right up the Sea of Cortez. P.S. The Newton track is very weird-- the way it just stops. I see that a lot in the old EPAC data. They need to address these weirdnesses when they do reanalysis on this side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted September 21, 2012 Author Share Posted September 21, 2012 Re: 93E... The 00Z Euro makes it a good hurricane, but then stalls it and kills it offshore. But I'm not gonna give up just yet-- not with this GFS track. But, in reality, it's not that sexy even as a fantasy, as that landfall point is way far N for this coast-- it wouldn't be much more than a Cat 1 up there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Lizard Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Thinking about mid/late Atlantic October developments, would i-Cyclone chase a Mitch type slow moving 'super' major storm South of Mexico in Central America. I know the initial gut response, but could one safely chase a Cat 4 or Cat 5 storm in Central America? Talking physical infrastructure here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted September 21, 2012 Author Share Posted September 21, 2012 Thinking about mid/late Atlantic October developments, would i-Cyclone chase a Mitch type slow moving 'super' major storm South of Mexico in Central America. I know the initial gut response, but could one safely chase a Cat 4 or Cat 5 storm in Central America? Talking physical infrastructure here... Yes. I actually went to chase Richard (which was heading to Belize), and only missed it because of a mechanical problem with a connecting flight. The target country needs to have enough infrastructure to allow for a meaningful chase-- like, a sufficient network of roads with pavement. Belize does. Nicaragua and Honduras are iffy. Anyhoo, even with infrastructure, Honduras is essentially never a good chase location because cyclone are almost always moving parallel to that coastline. (Mitch was a rare exception.) Nicaragua is different-- you occasionally get nice, right-angle impacts like Joan 1988 and Felix 2007. Mitch wouldn't have been a good chase subject because the steering currents were very weak and it was just kind of drifting for days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslkahuna Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Kathleen in Yuma was the strongest there with winds gusting to 66kt and sustained winds of 51kt. Nora was close though. Kathleen made it way inland before dissipating. Lester was strongest in terms of wind gusts with 68kt gusts the strongest 15 minute average winds from our mesonet was 42kt which I figured equated to 48 kt 1 minute which fits well with my observations from my wind sensor. Joanne had 40mph sustained winds while Katrina in 1967 gusted to 59 mph in Yuma-Katrina was a dumper in SE AZ. Yes, NHC definitely needs to relook some of those tracks. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted September 25, 2012 Author Share Posted September 25, 2012 Kathleen in Yuma was the strongest there with winds gusting to 66kt and sustained winds of 51kt. Nora was close though. Kathleen made it way inland before dissipating. Lester was strongest in terms of wind gusts with 68kt gusts the strongest 15 minute average winds from our mesonet was 42kt which I figured equated to 48 kt 1 minute which fits well with my observations from my wind sensor. Joanne had 40mph sustained winds while Katrina in 1967 gusted to 59 mph in Yuma-Katrina was a dumper in SE AZ. Yes, NHC definitely needs to relook some of those tracks. Steve Those are some pretty impressive readings for an inland tropical storm. I'm actually surprised at some of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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