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rabidsamfanIs it time to go beyond Beaufort?
Mind you, I love the Beaufort scale. It has done tremendous good for weather prediction and for the understanding of the casual weather buff, but I'm beginning to think that we should find new ways to describe Hurricanes and Tropical Cyclones, which is more comprehensive than a definition by wind pressure.
As I understand it, these are the factors which need to be considered...
Wind Speed in the eyewall (present system)
Forward speed of the system
Central pressure
Wind Swaths (by hurricane level, then TS)
Rainfall potential/Inland flooding potential
height of storm surge (length and width? Do storm surges have swaths and can we predict them? Can we measure wave size like a tsunami if we have the buoys in place?)
So, descriptively, the six scales would be
1. as is (Windy, Bad, Worse, Horrible, Disastrous, Catastrophic)
2. Stationary, Meandering, Walking, Trotting, Running, Galloping
3. Pothole, Cellar, Death Valley, Coal Mine, Submarine, Marianas Trench
4. (These describe the zones of affect, ie., if you can expect at worst, tropical storm force winds you're in the "shutters" zone.) Shutters, Tape, Boards, Prayer, Last Will and Testament, Coffin
5. Damp, Wet, Soggy, Soaked, Immersed, Drowning
6. Sea Turtle, Dolphin, Orca, Humpback, Godzilla
No seriously, to show these factors to the public you would probably need a visual rather than a descriptive method. So, use hexagons divided into six triangles (like a Trivial Pursuit gamepiece) and distribute them like pixels across the weathermap with the same color scale for each kind of threat displayed for the location. I'd go from purple for no threat and via blue etc to red for high threat. A glance at the map would show that some areas have a lot more red, and a person could assess their risks by color. Because they're pixels, you can get fine detail as you go further in, so if most of a town is at yellow for flood risk, but the downtown area is at a lower elevation then a closer map would show that part with more orange and reds near the river or inlet which might flood.
Does this make sense to you at all? Because If I try really hard I might manage to draw a picture.
Thanks for all the hard work!
Mind you, I love the Beaufort scale. It has done tremendous good for weather prediction and for the understanding of the casual weather buff, but I'm beginning to think that we should find new ways to describe Hurricanes and Tropical Cyclones, which is more comprehensive than a definition by wind pressure.
As I understand it, these are the factors which need to be considered...
Wind Speed in the eyewall (present system)
Forward speed of the system
Central pressure
Wind Swaths (by hurricane level, then TS)
Rainfall potential/Inland flooding potential
height of storm surge (length and width? Do storm surges have swaths and can we predict them? Can we measure wave size like a tsunami if we have the buoys in place?)
So, descriptively, the six scales would be
1. as is (Windy, Bad, Worse, Horrible, Disastrous, Catastrophic)
2. Stationary, Meandering, Walking, Trotting, Running, Galloping
3. Pothole, Cellar, Death Valley, Coal Mine, Submarine, Marianas Trench
4. (These describe the zones of affect, ie., if you can expect at worst, tropical storm force winds you're in the "shutters" zone.) Shutters, Tape, Boards, Prayer, Last Will and Testament, Coffin
5. Damp, Wet, Soggy, Soaked, Immersed, Drowning
6. Sea Turtle, Dolphin, Orca, Humpback, Godzilla
No seriously, to show these factors to the public you would probably need a visual rather than a descriptive method. So, use hexagons divided into six triangles (like a Trivial Pursuit gamepiece) and distribute them like pixels across the weathermap with the same color scale for each kind of threat displayed for the location. I'd go from purple for no threat and via blue etc to red for high threat. A glance at the map would show that some areas have a lot more red, and a person could assess their risks by color. Because they're pixels, you can get fine detail as you go further in, so if most of a town is at yellow for flood risk, but the downtown area is at a lower elevation then a closer map would show that part with more orange and reds near the river or inlet which might flood.
Does this make sense to you at all? Because If I try really hard I might manage to draw a picture.
Thanks for all the hard work!
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 04:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 05:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 08:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 08:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 04:34 pm (UTC): O
Coffin!!!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 08:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 06:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 08:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 07:32 pm (UTC)Much more descriptive than the Saffir-Simpson scale, that's for sure!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 08:27 pm (UTC)There's a great book called "Defining the Wind" by Scott Huler that's worth a read if you're interested in history, reference books, weather, or the application of science to commonsense.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 07:40 pm (UTC)Seriously, this is a very useful set of scales.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 08:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 07:57 pm (UTC)Personally I am quite fond of Shutters, Tape, Boards, Prayer, Last Will and Testament and Coffin. It would certainly get a lot more response.
And you are right: there should be a lot more considered than just wind speed, such as size, and amount of water it will be bringing, and how long it will last.
That last is quite important.
Camille was 6 hours, start to finish; Katrina hung around for 13.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 08:21 pm (UTC)So: Short Story, Novella, Homework Assignment, Sunday Times, Les Miserables, and Complete Works of William Shakespeare...
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 09:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 09:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 09:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 09:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 10:14 pm (UTC)Completely with zipper?
Very inventive, really. *giggles*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-21 10:21 pm (UTC)But Godzilla would get people's attention, wouldn't it?!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-22 01:15 pm (UTC)Personally, I would also replace "Homework Assignment" with "Master's Thesis" and/or "Doctorial Dissertation." For the most part dull and quite the slog to read.
Randi (Still trying to get time to open an account.)