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  1. Hi there... Can you please quickly check to make sure your email address is up to date here? Just in case we need to reach out to you or you lose your password. Muchero thanks!

CAT 5 Hurricane Lee

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by jeffbrig, Sep 6, 2023.

  1. dynogator

    dynogator VIP Member

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    Point made, sir! :)

    After some quick googling, I found that any hurricane with a central pressure of less than 920 mb, using the Saffir-Simpson scale, was rated as a category 5 storm.
     
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  2. swampbabe

    swampbabe GC Hall of Fame

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    OT: I just booked a quick trip to Key West. Hurricanes need to keep curving away.
     
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  3. dynogator

    dynogator VIP Member

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    If a cat 5 hit KW directly, there would be nothing left. All those old Conch houses would be splinters. The island has been side-swiped by big ones moving north through the Gulf--Wilma, for example, with a tidal surge that created the worst flood of any hurricane (I think)-- but to my knowledge there's never been a direct hit to KW. Cuba acts like a protective barrier. Thanks, Cuba!
     
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  4. oragator1

    oragator1 Hurricane Hunter Premium Member

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    This was the closest.

    1935 Labor Day hurricane - Wikipedia
     
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  5. swampbabe

    swampbabe GC Hall of Fame

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    Have you ever read Category 5: The Labor Day Hurricane?



    It’s an excellent read. Every time I drive by the Alligator Reef lighthouse I’m amazed.
     
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  6. dynogator

    dynogator VIP Member

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    The Overseas Highway/Railroad hurricane. I lost a great-uncle, one of the many railroad builder casualties, to that storm. I have a very good book on it, "Storm of the Century," by Willie Drye.

    I believe the closest to KW was Irma, which devastated Cudjoe and Big Pine Key, 25 miles from KW. The Labor Day hurricane hit Lower Matecumbe Key, which is 82 miles from Key West.
     
  7. oragator1

    oragator1 Hurricane Hunter Premium Member

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    It was Long Key I think, but still further.
    The reason I referenced that one though is because it was a cat 5 and the strongest to ever hit the US 185MPH), Irma was a low 4 when it hit the keys. Huge difference in power between the 2.
    If it had been the distance of Irma, Key West probably would have been leveled, let alone what would have happened with a direct hit.
     
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  8. sierragator

    sierragator GC Hall of Fame

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    My parents were kids in Miami at the time. Sailboats way inland and fish on the second floors of buildings kind of stuff.
     
  9. oragator1

    oragator1 Hurricane Hunter Premium Member

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  10. duggers_dad

    duggers_dad GC Hall of Fame

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    Personally, I don’t think the idea can be ridiculed enough.
     
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  11. RIP

    RIP I like touchdowns Premium Member

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  12. mrhansduck

    mrhansduck GC Hall of Fame

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  13. mrhansduck

    mrhansduck GC Hall of Fame

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    I read (listened to) Storm of the Century by Willie Drye. Ernest Hemingway's description of the aftermath was incredible. There were also some survivor accounts that were terrifying.

    Goodreads
     
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  14. tampagtr

    tampagtr VIP Member

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    Read this one a few years ago. Eye opening



    Also read American War a few years ago. Very eye opening. Talked about it before. Imagines the Second American Civil War in 2070 in which the South secedes over climate regulation. The US Capitol is in Youngstown Ohio as the coasts are flooded. A cool hobby is scuba diving submerged cities.

    Lots of casual references to fairly regular "Cat 7s" that blow through such that no one builds structures they consider permanent except of the wealthiest.

     
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  15. mrhansduck

    mrhansduck GC Hall of Fame

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    I listened to Furious Sky awhile back. Great book. I hadn't heard of American War. Will have to check that out.
     
  16. tampagtr

    tampagtr VIP Member

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    Great book (American War)
     
  17. oragator1

    oragator1 Hurricane Hunter Premium Member

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  18. dynogator

    dynogator VIP Member

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    Do you not believe the planet is getting warmer, or that it is getting warmer, but isn't caused by humans?
     
  19. oragator1

    oragator1 Hurricane Hunter Premium Member

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    Yep cat 4 now, 130mph.
    Pressure has gone from 989 at the 5a advisory to 953 now, so 36 mm drop in 12 hours. And it doesn’t appear to be done.
     
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  20. RIP

    RIP I like touchdowns Premium Member

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    You're talking to a dude that thinks viruses aren't real.
     
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