Hurricane Helene’s Pressure Problem
September 30, 2024
tags: Hurricanes
By Paul Homewood
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Before the days of satellites and hurricane hunter aircraft, the only way to estimate sustained wind speeds in the middle of hurricanes was to use minimum pressure.
Helene, you will recall had pressure of 938mb, and, supposedly, sustained winds of 140 mph. I have compared these windspeeds with all of the other two US hurricanes with 938mb at landfall, plus Rita and Harvey (937mb) and Laura (939mb)
Unnamed in 1898 – 132 mph
Helene (by coincidence!) in 1958 – 126 mph
Rita in 2005 – 115 mph
Harvey in 2017 – 132 mph
Laura in 2020 – 150 mph
In graph form:
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image
https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/All_U.S._Hurricanes.html.
The graph shows very clearly how windspeeds have been inflated in the last few years.
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2024/09/30/hurricane-helenes-pressure-problem/
