not many people know
Paul Homewood
We now have most of the data for Hurricane Helene, so it's time for a proper review:
Hurricane Helen aggravated In the fall of 2024, the hurricane approached Big Bend, Florida, and finally made landfall as a Category 4 storm at 11:10 pm Eastern Time on September 27. sexual consequences. one The previous rain event Subsequently, the main storm system brought heavy rainfall to southern Appalachia starting on September 25.
This map shows rainfall accumulation over the three-day period ending at 7:59 PM ET (23:59 UTC) on September 27, 2024. Integrated management team (Integrated multi-satellite retrieval of GPM), yes Gross profit margin (Global Precipitation Measurement) mission, which may differ from surface measurements. For example, IMERG data are averaged over each pixel, which means that rain gauge measurements within a given pixel may be significantly above or below the average.
According to data, a total of 13.98 inches (35.52 centimeters) of rain fell in Asheville, North Carolina, from September 25th to 27th. National Weather Service Record. storm flooded neighborhooddamaged roads, triggered landslides, knocked out power and cell phone service, and forced many residents to evacuate to temporary shelters. Record Hongfeng Observed on many rivers in the state. Flooding in southern Appalachia. Preliminary rainfall totals Parts of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia were close to or exceeding 10 inches (25 centimeters).
Along the Florida coast, the heaviest rainfall was concentrated in and around the town of Apalachicola, west of the storm's center. For hurricanes in the Gulf, heavy rainfall typically occurs east of the storm's center, where the counterclockwise rotation brings the most moisture from the water column. In the case of Helen, the frontal boundary in the Florida Panhandle interacted with the circulation to concentrate the highest totals west of the center, Steve Lang pointed outis a research meteorologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
However, parts of the Florida coast that received less rainfall were not immune to flooding. gulf coast townsincluding Cedar Key and Tampa, are affected storm surge.
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/153387/devastating-rainfall-from-hurricane-helene
Asheville and surrounding areas bore the brunt of the flooding, with nearly 14 inches of rain falling in three days, certainly unprecedented for Asheville. But the NWS shows that this is actually evenly distributed over the three days:
https://www.weather.gov/wrh/Climate?wfo=gsp
As was likely to happen, atmospheric blocking meant the storm was trapped over the Asheville area for three days. Total lengths of four to five inches per day are unusual, but not unheard of. What really creates a problem is the duration of the rain.
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But that hasn't stopped people from blaming climate change for the floods.
The NWS also releases wind speed data. Peak wind gusts in Florida reached 99 mph (not sustained), well below the claimed Category 4 winds.
Sustained winds of 140 miles per hour may occur somewhere at sea, but they never reach this level on land, at least where there are measuring devices.
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/discussions/nfdscc4.html
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