Sandy

Sandy's winds weren't much of an issue. We didn't lose a single tree this time, whereas Irene took down dozens. The unprecedented storm surge was what caused most of the damage. I'm still boggled remembering looking out the window and seeing the FDR Drive entirely underwater, the tops of the dark streetlights poking forlornly out of the newly-embiggened tidal strait.
 
originally posted by Thor:
I think mistral is typically 50 kph with gusts to 90 kph.
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"Gust at 158 km/h clocked at Bec de l'Aigle" - a few days ago, from a Facebook friend who lives in Provence (with photo).
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Mistral picks up speed just after exiting the funnel...
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Chris Coad:
Sandy's winds weren't much of an issue. ... The unprecedented storm surge was what caused most of the damage.
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Storm surge is caused by wind.
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Of course it is. But it's fairly easy to distinguish between the two as destructive factors once a hurricane makes landfall.
 
Storm surge caused by two factors:

the wind driving the water
the reduced pressure at the eye of the storm that "lifts" up the water level.
 
originally posted by Andrew Zachary:
Storm surge caused by two factors:

the wind driving the water
the reduced pressure at the eye of the storm that "lifts" up the water level.
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add in perfect timing of a full moon-high tide.
 
Eric is up near Macon, I thought. No mistral to speak of there.

Where we are, although it has gotten gusts up to 120kph once or twice, it's more usually in the 50-90 territory. That's bad enough. Last February, we were told, there was a straight month of mistral, day after day. No water surges. Trees don't get knocked down and power usually stays on. But that's enough to drive people loony.

Still, our hurricane is all over the French news. We'd had touching worried email from friends there. They don't even think their wind worth mentioning.
 
There is certainly no surge in Provence, but the winds just topped out at 185 km/hr in Marseille, and we have old oak trees down.
 
As someone who grew up in Provence, yes it is common to have days with 120-130km/h mistral. Obviously there can't be any water surge since the mistral is blowing north to south.
But also as someone who had front row seats to Sandy, I'm pretty sure the wind gusts we had 2 days ago were much higher than any mistral wind gusts I ever experienced.
 
Highest winds I saw reported in the city were 79 mph at JFK and for Manattan, 62 mph in Central Park.

While there are plenty of uprooted trees and some scaffolding down and windows broken, this storm locally really wasn't about the wind and rain, it was all about the storm surge and the flooding that ensued.
 
originally posted by Brad Kane:
Highest winds I saw reported in the city were 79 mph at JFK and for Manattan, 62 mph in Central Park.

While there are plenty of uprooted trees and some scaffolding down and windows broken, this storm locally really wasn't about the wind and rain, it was all about the storm surge and the flooding that ensued.
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Indeed. The French news showed a picture of Manhattan island with the water line created by the storm. Like maps of what it would look like if climate change raises sea level by a meter or two, it had a good bit of the perimeter underwater and was quite shocking. Should climate change make Wall St. become an underwater diving site, given the climate change denying on the American right, one will be able to make a case for that burial at sea as having been poetic justice.
 
I'm in the office now. It's nice to be somewhere with electricity and internet access. I still have none at home but buildings near the waterfront got power back this morning.
 
A glass of the magical La Bota Amontillado #37 is perfect for enjoying by candlelight while seeing the newly relit downtown NYC skyline.
 
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