The beauty of Mother Nature

[Park Kraken]

Mother nature's most beautiful creations are also her deadliest. This is a water vapor image I copied off the NHC website, showing Hurricane Dean, at this time a Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph winds, and it's a shot of a classical cape verde type hurricane.

Currently this hurricane is on a beeline approach towards Jamacia.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

That trhing is just about as perfect a hurricane can get. Nice eye formation.

[CMJ]

Yeah, I've been watching him the last 4-5 days as he's been chugging along. Here's a nice loop of the last few hours(constantly updating every half hour)

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/flt/t1/loop-avn.html

And nice visible satellite from early afternoon.

http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tcdat/tc07/ATL/04L.DEAN/vis/geo/1km_zoom/LATEST.jpg

[Razielle Alastor]

I used to like big storms.

Used to.

:(

As far as they go, it's a pretty one.

[CMJ]

Looks like Jamaica might miss the very worst. It appears Dean's closest pass will keep the eye wall just offshore. But it may still wobble north...the next few hours are critical.

[Park Kraken]

Jamacia got pounded pretty hard. Kingston was reporting 114 mph sustained winds at 5PM with gusts up to 138 mph. Solid category 3 strength there.

Dean is now moving away and although satellite isn't appearing quite as impressive as it was earlier, the barometric pressure is dropping, indicating that a strengthening cycle may be underway.

[CMJ]

Indeed, I expect the storm to re-intensify over the next 24 hours.

[CMJ]

I'm sure eeryone heard, but just wanted to say Dean officially became a Category 5 about 4 hours ago. Mexico is gonna get slammed.

[CMJ]

Third most intense storm to make landfall in the recorded history of the Atlantic basin. He blew ashore at about 4:35AM Eastern time with a 906 millibars pressure. For anyone with a home barometer, that's under 27 inches of mercury. many home barometers don't go that low.

[Razielle Alastor]

Someone, tell me that thing is inclined to turn back out to sea at some point?

-gulp-

:o

[CMJ]

It's supposed to have a 2nd landfall in Mexico.

[Park Kraken]

It seems about every 25 years or so, the Yucatan Penisula gets slammed by a Category 5 hurricane. Here are at least two other examples that I thought of right off the top of my head:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Janet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Gilbert

Also take notice that from where it hit Mexico the first time, both Janet's and Dean's paths are very similar.

[CMJ]

Yeah, about 3 days ago I thought Dean's path was more like Gilbert, but it's even closer to Janet. Obviously the Yucatan is not an area to move to. It might explain why it's a sparsley populated area excluding Cozumel and acouple of other communities.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah, about 3 days ago I thought Dean's path was more like Gilbert, but it's even closer to Janet. Obviously the Yucatan is not an area to move to. It might explain why it's a sparsley populated area excluding Cozumel and acouple of other communities.

I have never thought about that, but I wonder if that is one of the reasons the Mayan civilization declined. We obviously have no records about hurricanes back then. Also luckily Dean went a little more to the north of the biggest city in the Yucatan. The area the eye hit is very sparsly populated.

[CMJ]

Still though, this passage from the last AP report makes your blood curdle.


Little was known about the thousands who rode out the storm in low-lying communities of stick huts or the handful who hid from soldiers evacuating smaller resorts like Majahual, where Dean made landfall with 165 mph winds and gusts of 200 mph _ faster than the takeoff speed of many passenger jets.

Mexican officials said they were making slow progress down nearly impassable roads to reach these places.

Majahual was an up and coming resort community. I saw some pictures...absolutely beautiful. Will the true number of dead ever be known?

[Jedi Master Carr]

Still though, this passage from the last AP report makes your blood curdle.


Little was known about the thousands who rode out the storm in low-lying communities of stick huts or the handful who hid from soldiers evacuating smaller resorts like Majahual, where Dean made landfall with 165 mph winds and gusts of 200 mph _ faster than the takeoff speed of many passenger jets.

Mexican officials said they were making slow progress down nearly impassable roads to reach these places.

Majahual was an up and coming resort community. I saw some pictures...absolutely beautiful. Will the true number of dead ever be known?

I didn't know that, I was going by what I heard on CNN this morning which acted like the Yucatan lucked out. Maybe it did in the death toll would be higher if it hit farther to the south.

[CMJ]

Well they put reporters in the big cities. Everytime there's a big storm the initial reports seem to be "dodged a bullet" or what not. They did that with Katrina, Andrew - really pick a storm. They hole the on the scene reporters in those seaside hotels that could almost withstand the apocolypse - of course the first reports are gonna be bright and happy.

At least Dean didn't hit Cancun, Cozumel, or some of the larger cities in the south. But there were places with a few hundred here and a thousand there that probably took the eyewall full bore. God help anyone who stayed.

[Park Kraken]

Hurricane Dean has made a second landfall in Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane with 100 mph winds.

Latest advisory has Dean down to category 1 strength with 85 mph winds. They expect the circulation of Dean to dissipate sometime tonight.

[Park Kraken]

Dean has been downgraded to a Tropical Storm with 70 mph winds as of 4PM Eastern time. Despite what the forecasters are talking about with the storm dissipating, it appears to holding together fairly well, and it wouldn't suprise me if it made it into the Eastern Pacific and regenerated.

Here is the latest satellite water vapor shot:

[CMJ]

Some of the 1st pictures out of Majahual, basically where the northern eyewall came ashore. There are a few buildings that are somewhat standing, but basically everything else is rubble. Especially seeing how that town is supposed to look...some of the buildings aren't even rubble...it's like they all got washed out to sea.

http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news;_ylt=A9j8eu97Ec1GzmABsADRtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBlM2 1mM3ZrBHNlYwNwYWdpbmF0aW9u?ei=UTF-8&p=majahual&c=images&xargs=0&pstart=1&b=31&fr=&xargs=0&pstart=1&c=images&b=1

[CMJ]

Podcast interview with AP Reporter.

http://asap.ap.org/data/interactives/_news/podcast/0822asap_tatro.mp3

[CMJ]

Some folks from another city obout 100 miles who went down to help snapped these pictures. The first 4-5 are just their vehicles loaded with supplies, but after that you really see Majahual(they mispelled it).


http://www.lunabluehotel.com/mahahual_hurricane_dean/IMG_0104.html

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Thats incredible - looks like most of the construction was huts and shacks - the actual buildings don't look too bad but everything else... wow.

[CMJ]

Thats incredible - looks like most of the construction was huts and shacks - the actual buildings don't look too bad but everything else... wow.


That's not true at all.....maybe you have to see the area before it hit but there were alot of houses and stuff that were gone. Alot of that construction was made to LOOK like huts and shacks but really wasn't. One of the hotels there has a palm frond roof shell, while the underneath of it was wood based(I believe). I believe all that's left of that one is some pilings. There's a hotel that doesn't even exist anymore..

Not to mention, from what I read, nearly all the structures that are standing and appear okay were condemened.

[CMJ]

This was the main avenue of town. It had soveneir shops and at least one hotel(had like 20 rooms or so). It wasn't a big town, but they had the Carribean touristy feel.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/CMJ01/Mainavenue.jpg

Apparently Manajual had acouple of hundred residents give or take. It was a tourist stop on acouple of cruise lines like Carnivale. A pier at Playa del Carmen basically neighbors it, and according to the AP was "cut like cookie dough".

According to the lady that posted the pictures originally, this was one of the beachfront hotels.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/CMJ01/beachfronthotel.jpg

And this was another one.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/CMJ01/Beach2.jpg

A house, that was obviously well built.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/CMJ01/houseremains.jpg

Apparently the only structure standing on the this thouroughfare. It was still gutted and condemened.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/CMJ01/Gutted.jpg

And this one to me is the most amazing. That is a forest that's leveled. Manajual sits right by a wetlands//national forest biological preserve. There is not one damn tree standing ffor what has to be miles.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/CMJ01/forest.jpg