Just heard Gov Christie telling folks that think this storm is losing strength that they are wrong in thinking that windspeed is a measure of the damage this storm can do.
Personally, I wonder if it is possible that there is a difference between canes coming up the coast the way this one has, and the ones slamming into Florida and/or the gulf.
But, I didn’t even stay at a holiday inn last night, just hung out with the other crones at the old folks’ home.
The water is cooler the further North you go, so that has a tendency to weaken the storms.
The surge can do a lot of damage, Yes. But those places it will damage most are already well evacuated. Not just hurricanes cause surges up here. Some of the worst damages comes from No'easters. So folks in surge afflicted areas north of VA are well familiar with surges even though we don't get many bad hurricanes.
Hurricane Donna was a storm that took a similar path but she actually first made landfall in Florida and traveled all the way up the coast.
Hurricanes forming in the Cape Verde Islands and barreling across the Atlantic have a long time and a lot of water to strengthen. If they get into the warmer and shallower Gulf they will typically strengthen as well.
Luckily Irene hooked north into cooler water. Hatteras seems to catch everything that brushes by and yes there is some flood danger, but not any more than you’d get from a slow moving TD. I will say this, it is a delicate balance between urging vigilance and fomenting hysteria. I think the media wanted something juicy on which to report, nanny staters wanted to be able to swoop in with FEMA trailers and debit cards and pat themselves on the back over how well they managed this “crisis” and some of those in its path wanted to be able to talk about how they “survived” Hurricane Irene.
Perhaps we Floridians are just jaded. Get back to us when you have an Andrew on your hands :-)