‘Storm Ulmer’ and 'Bombogenesis'

[GordMay]

‘Storm Ulmer’, Bombogenesis, and Historic Flooding

The March 2019 North American blizzard was a Colorado low, that brought snow across the Plains and the Prairies. The storm came with strong winds, and blizzard conditions, but the most significant impact followed the storm, when all the snow melted, and caused historic flooding.

The system started on March 8 in the Gulf of Alaska. On March 11, the system moved southeastward, bringing strong winds and heavy rain to California. That day, the storm was dubbed "Winter Storm Ulmer" because it was predicted that the storm would have a significant impact.

On March 12, the system continued to gain strength. That night and into the 13, the low underwent explosive intensification, which sounds as aggressive as it is. "Explosive intensification" is also called "bombogenesis" or "a weather bomb." They all are referring to the rapid deepening of an extratropical cyclonic low-pressure area.

On March 12, the system continued to gain strength. That night and into the 13, the low underwent explosive intensification, which sounds as aggressive as it is. "Explosive intensification" is also called "bombogenesis" or "a weather bomb." They all are referring to the rapid deepening of an extratropical cyclonic low-pressure area.

In the U.S., at least 1 million acres of farmland across nine major grain-producing states were flooded.

Iowa was highly impacted by the flooding. Iowa's governor, Kim Reynolds, issued a state of emergency on March 14. The flooding in the state was reported as "catastrophic." In the Missouri River Valley, at least 30 levees failed, which caused towns and highways to flood.

Colorado received heavy snow and hurricane-force winds. Some gusts reached 180 km/h. Denver received 150 to 250 mm of snow. Due to the extreme wind and snowy conditions, all flights in and out of Denver International Airport were cancelled. The snow left at least 1,000 people stranded on the highways, and the National Guard had to come to rescue them.

In New Mexico, there were wind gusts of 160 km/h, powerful thunderstorms, and damaging tornadoes.

In Canada, Ontario and Quebec experienced their warmest days in weeks. In Ontario, the Humber River flooded and 200 people had to be evacuated.

Atlantic Canada received above seasonal temperatures and heavy rain. Though Labrador received up to 30 cm of snow.

The storm then headed out to sea and dissipated on March 16.

“Latest big winter storm powered by ‘bombogenesis’” ~ NOAA [March 13/19]
➥ https://www.noaa.gov/stories/latest-...sis%2020190313

[Bycrick]

And then compare to the Great Blizzard of 1889. Nothing much has changed.

[CaptTom]

It still bothers me that The Weather Channel (and all the other outlets they have bought up, contract with or follow their lead) are naming every little storm these days.

Before you say it, yes, I know. I need to get over it.

It seems it won't be long before the media will be reporting dramatically on "foggy day Fred" or "Breeze Betty." For the record, the US National Weather Service has specific guidelines for what gets named, and they're opposed to this sensationalism.

As for storms as big as the one in the OP, they get named by consensus. Hence the aforementioned "Great Blizzard of 1889." Around here if you say "Blizzard of '78" everyone knows what you mean. There are some old timers who still talk about one from '29 or some such. We don't need media outlets spinning up drama for storms which don't reach that threshold.

Bringing this rant back to cruising, most of us have insurance policies which specify "named storms." Hopefully somewhere in the fine print they define that as "real" named storms and not those hyped by the Weather Channel.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

It still bothers me that The Weather Channel (and all the other outlets they have bought up, contract with or follow their lead) are naming every little storm these days. ...

The Weather Chanel is not a public service/information agency, but, a private, for profit corporation, that sells weather-related infotainment.

Why Does the Weather Channel Name Winter Storms?

Ever since the 2012-2013 winter season, The Weather Channel (TWC) has given every significant winter storm event it forecasts and tracks a unique name. Their argument for doing this? "It's simply easier to communicate about a complex storm if it has a name," says TWC hurricane specialist Bryan Norcross.

Even so, an official system for naming winter storms has never existed in the United States. The closest example would be the National Weather Service (NWS) Buffalo, NY office, which has unofficially named its lake effect snow events for several years.

When it comes to naming winter storms, not all meteorologists agree with Norcross' sentiments.

Besides the Weather Channel, no other leading private or government weather organization has chosen to adopt the practice of using names in their official forecasts. Not the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Weather Service (NWS), nor even AccuWeather.

More ➥ https://www.thoughtco.com/why-the-we...storms-3444521

Thanks, Bycrick, for your contribution.

[Bycrick]

If I might be a little more long winded this time, I would assert that the Weather Channel is a particularly good (or bad) example of having to take a long-term boring subject and trying to draw enough of an audience to be worth monetizing it. You won’t succeed with that business plan by saying "The weather's going to be fine tomorrow. Now here’s 5 minutes of commercials."

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Besides the Weather Channel, no other leading private or government weather organization has chosen to adopt the practice of using names in their official forecasts. Not the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Weather Service (NWS), nor even AccuWeather.

I stand with them.

Yes, I know it's just to sensationalize and dramatize weather to sell more commercials. I accept that this is how capitalism works. I like capitalism.

Still bothers me. But I get over it pretty quickly.

[gonesail]

Originally Posted by Bycrick

And then compare to the Great Blizzard of 1889.

how about the super storm of 1993

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by gonesail

how about the super storm of 1993

I'll never forget it.
We abandoned [but didn't lose] ship, in Governor's Harbour, Eleuthera.

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by gonesail

how about the super storm of 1993

Never happened. Al Gore hadn't invented global warming yet.

[wyb2]

They can be a tool in the Caribbean if factors line up right. We rode the Jan 2018 one from Turks and Caicos to Puerto Rico. 3 days downwind heading East, it was magic. We were lucky that the conditions fell within what we thought we could handle, and it worked out well. Another 10-15 knots in the forecast and we might have skipped it, and would have probably ended up beating or motoring.

This article has a satellite image where you can see that the cyclone reversed the trade winds.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/stunning-images-of-the-bomb-cyclone.html

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by gonesail

how about the super storm of 1993

The 1993 Storm of the Century

I posted this account, on March 29, 2003:

The "Storm of the Century" (March '93) caught "Southbound" anchored in Governor's Harbour, Eleuthera (Bahamas).

Friday night, we learned of a weather system in the Gulf of Mexico that was expected to deliver some weather our way, by sometime Saturday.

We were scheduled to exchange our present guests for a new couple on Sunday morning.

Although we new Governor's Harbour to have very thin holding, and no protection from anything but North - we decided to stay over Friday night, and see what the morning brought. We hoped to ride out what ever came our way, and effect a convenient passenger transfer on Sunday morning.

Friday night was a little "bumpy" (but not too bad), but started picking up by 8:00 AM Saturday. We could (now) see that our anchorage would become untennable.

I dinghy'd our female guest (Linda) and all their luggage ashore, and left them at the nearby police station. Her husband (Gordon) was still aboard "Southbound".

Upon returning to the boat, I found both anchors dragging (no surprise - the bottom is about 6" sand over rock).

Unable to re-set an anchor, we decided to escape the harbour for a (relatively) nearby safe anchorage. We'd get Gordon ashore & reunited with Linda "somehow" later.

By this time, we were facing 60 knot head-winds and 10' seas (within the harbour).

To make a long story short - we didn't make it out (that day), blowing out our head-sail, and seizing our engine.

We abandoned ship, and safely made shore.

Thru' the heroic assistance of Captain Fou, and others, I was able to reboard "Southbound" and get her towed to a mooring, where she weathered the storm without further mishap. Over the next week, we effected the necessary repairs, and eventually returned to Ft. Lauderdale for the summer.

(Some of the) LESSONS LEARNED:
1. Pay attention & act EARLY. Do it NOW (whatever it is you think should soon be done).
2. Prudence "trumps" convenience, EVERY TIME.
3. Don't go where you know you shouldn't .

* Here ➥ https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...t-now-203.html


The storm was one of the biggest to impact eastern North America since weather records began. The weather system stretched thousands of miles from Quebec down to Cuba. It was responsible for hundreds of deaths, with damage in the hundreds of millions and delays, closures and power outages that lasted for days. The scale of the storm and the impacts felt were unprecedented. It was the March 13-15, 1993 Superstorm.

On March 12–14, 1993, a massive storm system bore down on nearly half of the U.S. population. Causing approximately $5.5 billion in damages ($10.8 billion in 2021 dollars), America’s “Storm of the Century,” as it would become known, swept from the Deep South all the way up the East Coast. Before the monster storm system developed over the East, it spun up over Texas, bringing damaging winds and hail to southeastern areas of the Lone Star State the evening of March 11.

The Superstorm of 1993 was one of the most intense mid-latitude cyclones ever observed over the Eastern United States. The storm will be remembered for its tremendous snowfall totals from Alabama through Maine, high winds all along the East coast, extreme coastal flooding along the Florida west coast, incredibly low barometric pressures across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, and for the unseasonably cold air that followed behind the storm. In terms of human impact the Superstorm of 1993 was more significant than most landfalling hurricanes or tornado outbreaks and ranks among the deadliest and most costly weather events of the 20th century.

With a central pressure usually found in Category 3 hurricanes, the storm spawned tornadoes and left coastal flooding, crippling snow, and bone-chilling cold in its wake. Of the more than 310 weather and climate events with damages exceeding $1 billion since 1980, this storm is the country’s second-most costly winter storm to date.

Winds gusted over 100 mph as the center of the storm moved inland over the Florida Panhandle late on March 12, followed by an intense line of thunderstorms that plowed its way across the Florida Peninsula during the early morning hours of March 13.

The line of severe storms caused damaging straight line wind damage and spun up 11 tornadoes. One of the longest-lived tornadoes tracked on the ground for 30 miles and was ranked as an F2 tornado on the Fujita scale.

Ultimately, the horrendous conditions caused the sinking of the 200-ft. freighter, Fantastico, the coral reef-grounding of the 147-ft., candy bar-laden freighter, Miss Beholding, as well as the sinking of many smaller vessels. In addition, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued 235 stranded boaters in the Gulf of Mexico [another 48 people were reported missing at sea], while an 11-foot storm surge hit Florida’s west coast, killing 44.

’93 Superstorm facts and figures:
* Fatalities: More than 300.
* Estimated damages: $5.5 billion in damages ($10.8 billion in 2021 dollars).
* Number of people affected: about 130 million-- about half the country’s 1993 population.
* Lowest pressure: 28.35 inches (960 mb), worthy of a cat 1 hurricane.
* Greatest official snowfall: 50 inches on Mount Mitchell, NC, with 14-foot drifts.
* Shares anniversary with 1888 New York City blizzard.
* Well-known restaurateur Chuck Muer [‘Charlie’s Crab’], his wife, Betty, and their friends, George and Lynn Drummey went missing, about 15-20 miles offshore from Boynton Beach.
➥ https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl...011-story.html


More ➥ https://www.weather.gov/ilm/Superstorm93

And ➥ https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/1993-...of-the-century


More “Historic Storms” ~ from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Information [NCEI]
➥ https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/snow-and-i...istoric-storms

[GordMay]

"Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters” ~ NCEI [1980 - 2021]

The U.S. has sustained 310 weather and climate disasters, since 1980, where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2021).
The total cost of these 310 events exceeds $2.155 trillion.

2021 in Context:
In 2021, there were 20 weather/climate disaster events, with losses exceeding $1 billion each, to affect the United States.
These events included 1 drought event, 2 flooding events, 11 severe storm events, 4 tropical cyclone events, 1 wildfire event, and 1 winter storm event.
Overall, these events resulted in the deaths of 688 people, and had significant economic effects, on the areas impacted.
The 1980–2021 annual average is 7.4 events (CPI-adjusted); the annual average for the most recent 5 years (2017–2021) is 17.2 events (CPI-adjusted).

More ➥ https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/mon...illions/events

And ➥ https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/mon...ns/time-series

[jhulmer]

Well Crap! Wish they had used another name for it! What's with naming these storms anyway? Can't we just call them Bomb #27 or Bomb 2022-1 or something!



I'm Catching the heat from the COLD blast!


Jim

[goboatingnow]

The U.K. and Irish met offices officially name storms

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

The U.K. and Irish met offices officially name storms

Indeed - for Amber or Red weather warning events.

UK Met Office Storm Centre ➥ https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather...m-centre/index