3728

Where the hell did this hurricane come from? That was some real quick development. Making landfall around now. 175mph winds. Almost a cat 5. Hope everyone in the panhandle is safe.

3729

Seriously, I swear it was just a few days ago this was looking like a fairly minor storm (on the scale of hurricanes, I mean). This one turned into a monster quick.

3730

I only heard of it last night, its a fast mover!

3731

Pressure is down to 919 millibars.

And they’ve been tracking this sucker on the front page of the three weather sites I visit for a week. Which is definitely fast for a hurricane…but once the models started pinging the conditions, there were a lot of meteorologists sounding warnings almost as immediately.

3732

If landfall is officially recorded at 919 mb, that makes Michael the 3rd-strongest hurricane to ever make landfall in the US, since they’ve been recording that in the 1930s.

Katrina, by comparison, was 920.

Hurricane Andrew was 922.

3733
3734

There is some term for it that is escaping me at the moment–something like rapid intensification?–that is being used to describe these new hurricanes that build in intensity over a very short period of time. Obviously caused by climate change–the warmer waters north of where a hurricane normally intensifies lets them continue to build all the way to land.

3735
3736

Official landfall as a Cat 4, just edged down from a Cat 5. Be safe everyone!

3737

These last two being superstorms of enormous importance will -hopefully- move the needle closer to the US taking global warming seriously enough for steps to address it (without withdrawing from agreements.)

And with that, I’ll step down of my P&R soapbox and hope anyone in the path of this thing stays safe. It happened so quickly I’m sure there are people trapped in the area.

3738

Doubtful. Maybe when most of the east coast is underwater.

— Alan

3739

(Make sure to have the sound on, and be ready to be freaked out; it’s like Banshee Chapter come to life, right @tomchick? )

3740

That’s amazing. The low bass hold really adds to the effect. Sounds like something you’d hear in Braveheart or something.

3741

That’s pretty much the exact term: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_intensification

3742

Charlotte is under what’s left of the eye right now. This storm STILL has a ton of rain and wind to it, which is pretty amazing this far inland.

3743

Yeah, one of my remote employees is in Greensboro and said they got hit way worse by Michael than they did by Florence.

3744

I’m in Raleigh and that’s dedinitely true here. We snuck between Flo’s bands, for the most part. Michael is moving fast but with more local rain and wind.

3745

Same experience here. I’m weathering the storm in a large conference room where two of the four walls are floor to (very high) ceiling glass! That makes things more exciting…

3746

image

It seemed like I was getting hit with information every which way when Florence came through, but I’ve hardly heard anything in regards to Michael.

3747

I think part of it is how quickly the storm built up in strength compared to watching Florence creep in. We always knew that one was going to be bad.

My knowledge of that part of the country isn’t great, but isn’t the panhandle pretty sparsely populated in comparison to Florence’s path? That’s probably the other reason. If Michael drilled Miami I bet we’d be seeing a lot more coverage.