Complete Hurricane Ike Gallery-Season Over; Not Much Snow November 30, 2008

Don

 

Look for the local forecast below….

Seraching For Victims of Ike

Today is the final day of the hurricane season in the North Atlantic.  This past year, there were 8 hurricanes and 16 named storms.  The forecast was about right on the named storms and short on the number of tropical cyclones that reached hurricane status.  Five of the hurricanes were considered “major” hurricanes, which is a high percentage.  So, the forecasters get a “B” in my book.  Here is a list of all of the storms with an archive of the advisories. 

I bet you didn’t know that Gustav was responsible for 46 deaths and $1.9 billion in damage.

The storm with the biggest impact on the US was Hurricane Ike.  Curiously, the press did not really give it

Hurricane Ike Radar Image At Landfall

much coverage after the storm was over even though I believe current cost estimates ($8.1 Billion) would put it as the 3rd costliest hurricane in US history behind Katrina and Andrew, though I’m sure there will be quibbling about cost vs. inflation adjusted costs.   Ike also has so far been responsible for the deaths of 72 people with impacts far inland from its Galveston landfall.  There are still scores of people missing.  Yet, the press corps didn’t seem to think it was worth reporting.   You make the call as to why. Here’s a published story.  Anyway, over time, I had lots and lots of photos and videos associated with Ike from local video to NASA stuff.  Take a gander at it all below:

NYTIMES Slide show

AP SLIDE SHOW-via yahoo

Houston Chronicle

Houston Chronicle Reader’s Photo Gallery

More Photos from Houston

More Galveston Photos

Hurricane Ike Rescue photos

BBC Slide Show

CNN Link Video-Some Live shots(as of 4pm EDT 0914)

Louisville Wind Damage From Ike video

Louisville Wind Damage Slide Show

KHOU-Bolivar Peninsula Destroyed-Video

CNN photos 19

CNN Houston Photos 8

Austin American Statesman photos 265

Hurricane Ike Damage -Boston WCVB Slide Show 63 images

Crystal Beach Video-Before Hurricane Ike

Crystal Beach Family Photo Video-Before Hurricane Ike

Crystal Beach Video-After Hurricane Ike Destruction

LA Times slideshow

Boston Globe (28 photos)

some GREAT HD images

NWS (more photos) Louisville

aerial video including Valhalla Louisville

RAW VIDEO FROM SUNDAY Louisville 9/14 aerials

Guardian UK Hurricane Ike Aftermath Photos

WCVB  The Boston Channel

Spreadit photos

Here are USGS Before and After photos from Bolivar Peninsula.

(Graphical Map of Crystal Beach Detailing Devastation)

Numerous videos from Houston/Galveston Aftermath of Hurricane Ike

KRIV Hurricane Ike Damage Photos.

link to the NYTimes slide show Galvestonians return to island

18Z Sat Mesoeta 48 Hr Sfc Temps

No Snow: I”ve tried to find an excuse to get you folks excited about snow but it just isn’t there.  The 18Z

Sat 18Z Mesoeta 48 Hr. Precip

Sat 18Z Mesoeta 48 hr 900mb

Meso-ETA is the model that I am using as an example and, while the GFS is a little colder, the Meso-ETA is pretty representative of the current thinking which is that the lower part of the atmosphere will be just too warm when the precipitation is falling.   I guess the biggest difference is that the GFS would put out about a quarter to half inch of snow Monday night that may accumulate but we’re thinking that most of the moisture will be out of here by then.  If you look at the 1PM Monday Meso-ETA precip, then compare it with the surface temperatures you will see that they are well above freezing.  Then, the 900 mb temperatures are just above -4C which is about 25F and is about 800 meters off the deck…2500 feet or so.  This is not a very good recipe for snow…maybe snow showers on Monday but accumulation will be tough and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some light rain mix in with any snow.  Kids, you’re going to school. The week ahead looks cold with Wednesday the exception with highs in the low to mid 50′s ahead of another cold front.

Rain Outbreak Ahead-Let’s Hope There’s Not Another Flu Outbreak; Hundreds Still Missing From Hurricane Ike October 23, 2008

Rainfall Forecast Thu-Sat

Friday will be Lousy: I’ve been telling you that for days and its still in the cards. We have upped the temperatures on Thursday to the upper 60′s to near 70. But then the shortwave comes over the top of us. While we won’t have the blizzard warnings they’ve had in the plains, it will be quite chilly and wet. We feel like that the heaviest rain may be over for the Friday night football games but it will still be raining to some degree and it will be chilly…probably upper 40′s and low 50′s. The showers gradually end on Saturday but it will still be chilly. Sunday remains the pick of the weekend with highs in the mid to upper 60′s before another strong system dives down. That will bring some light rain early Monday but, more significantly, much colder air. We probably won’t get out of the 40′s on Monday and look for the first area-wide freeze of the season early in the week. With these up and down temperatures, I hope you got your flu shots .(See Below This Date In History)

Still Searching For Victims of Ike

Hurricane Ike Still Has Missing persons: Hurricane Ike is a curious thing when related to news reporting. It kinda went away pretty quickly, didn’t it? Did you know that Hurricane Ike is now estimated to be the 3rd costliest hurricane in US history behind Katrina and Andrew? Did you know that there remains some 300 people unaccounted for? The presidential election and the financial meltdown grabbed the headlines but you would think that the national media would make some effort to inform we Americans of the travails of so many of our countrymen. Ask yourself why this has not received more national attention. Here is a list of 147 people missing (some with photos) from the Houston Chronicle and 96 names of missing as compiled by the Laura Recovery center in Galveston. Many I fear are gone. You can see that at least one of the people listed was last seen on the Galveston Seawall. If you can help in locating the whereabouts or fate of these folks, please call. Remember, all of these people have families who want to know what happened to their loved ones. These lists are not complete as they do not include people missing in parts of SE Texas and SW Louisiana.

On This Date in History: In 1918, World War I (The Great War) was winding down. The Americans had gotten into the game and helped turn the tide against the Hun. About 15-20 Million people died in that

Death Chart From Spanish Flu

global conflict. But, toward the end of the war, another killer was unleashed. What has been called the Spanish Flu Pandemic took about 50 million lives world wide according to the CDC with some estimates as high as 100 million. It got the moniker “Spanish Flu” because it reportedly took 8 million lives in that country in May 1918. However, the origin of the flu is a bit murky and it probably was not Spain. Indeed, researchers today are still trying to learn more about it. A couple of sources claim that it started at Fort Riley, Kansas when a soldier became sick just prior to his shipping out to Europe in March 1918. But, a more reliable source (Stanford University) claims that the virus probably became mutated in China into a strain that was resistant to any treatment. While one of the first cases in the US was the soldier who went to Europe from Fort Riley, Kansas it wasn’t until August 18, 1918 that the killer strain came to the shores of the new world. The Norwegian Liner Bergensfjord arrived in Brooklyn with a full load of passengers, including 100 who became ill on the voyage. Four of those had died and a fifth died after the ship docked making that pour sole the first US death from the Spanish Flu.

Spanish Flu Ward 1918

In the fall and spring, people in the US were dying daily. One day in Philadelphia, 528 people died and the bodies were collected by horse drawn carts. On “Black Thursday” in Chicago, nearly 400 died. Schools and theatres were closed and it was common to see people wearing face masks. On October 23, 1918, 815 people died from the flu in New York City. The war was certainly an aspect of the world situation that sped up the spread of the virus. Many allies thought it was some sort of biological warfare set loose by the Germans. Curiously, the end of the war in November 1918 may have hastened its spread as people took to the streets to congregate and party to celebrate, thus raising the prospcts of it going from person to person. In the US, the deathtoll has been set between 650,000 and 700,000.

Here’s the kicker…no one knows why this flu was so fatal. It affected about 1/3 of the total world

Victims Removed From Quarrentine House In St. Louis 1918

population. Even President Wilson came down with it. Recently, tissue from a dead soldier who died from the virus was collected in an attempt to better understand it. Mysteriously, the flu pandemic ended abruptly in 1919….though some sources claim 1920. Either way, it came and went and nothing has come close to it again in scale and scope of the suffering it brought. In the US alone, the life expectancy statistics fell by 10 years. Because of the mystery of the Spanish Flu pandemic relating to the virus itself, its origin, its spread and its disappearance, researchers today are quite concerned about something new, like the bird flu. It is the reason why such drastic measures were taken to try to stop any hint of the bird flu in Asia before it could get into the human population and why it remains such a concern today.