FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Hurricane Hilary Effect/Impact on Southern California
Old Aug 23, 2023 | 10:52 am
  #67  
djp98374
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Community Builder
All eyes on you!
10 Years on Site
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: DCA, lived MCI, SEA/PDX,BUF (born/raised)
Programs: Marriott, IHG, Hyatt, Choice, AS, UA, WN
Posts: 10,671
Originally Posted by DataJunkie
It's just rain. A lot of experts lost credibility this weekend. The predictions were apocalyptic. It was irresponsible and unprofessional.
Originally Posted by DataJunkie
A lot of people have been getting really defensive when it is pointed out that this storm was nothing but a bunch of hype. I might as well if I had fallen for the hype. This is California, not Florida. The oceans are way too cold, and the air far too dry in the summer, for a hurricane or a significant tropical storm (what we had was not significant) to form, but those are just pesky facts that got in the way of the apocalypse narrative.

It was rain. There wasn't even any significant wind except where it usually gets windy when it rains. There was no human devastation. Flooding was limited to the same places it always is, the deserts. The interstates were not closed for months due to flood damage (like that one idiot from UCLA was predicting would happen a few days ago). LAX was functioning completely normally. Only Southwest used it as an excuse to cancel a bunch of flights, because they are a quite special airline at this point. There was no receiving "a full year of rain in one day." There was nothing special about this event.

There's being prepared, and there is being dishonest, and on this one, the experts were the latter.

Maybe the next storm will be as bad as everyone was hoping.
cold water does not matter. New England coast has the same water temps as SoCal yet they get hit by hurricanes.
Why is thst?

it has to do with pre ailing wind pattern in why SoCsl hasn’t seen much in TS/ hurticanes.

because of the wind the hurricane got stretched which aided in its weakening. Had the system stsy together over the eyed snd not be like the Pisa tower leading it would have maintained its strength.

thr issue in SCal are

1. drainage systems aren’t designed for the water potential.
2. mountains can intensify rain and well as create water funneling fir floods snd create mud slides/avalanches.
3. hydrophobi land prevents water absorption which increases flood risk.

as a data junkies you should understand modeling snd small deviations can have pronounced effects.

on the east coast you get annual nor’easters which can be rain or snow in the major cities. The factor is one path the storm takes moves the rain/ snow line. Small changes can move this line considerably.

same is true with hurricane and being in the right front quadrant where it’s much much worse, a small change in tract 48 hrs ago could have had thr main LS area get 6+ inches of rain.

Last edited by djp98374; Aug 23, 2023 at 11:12 am
djp98374 is offline