BIG BLOW FROM NOWHERE I have not had any really serious business with major hurricanes and the likes, but I have seen the physical damage such errant and everywhere winds can do. I respect their presence and hope to stay uninformed of their excesses on a first hand basis.
I was surprised just the other day, when someone pointed out to me that hurricanes seldom, if ever, have lightening as a regular part of their general make-up. If it does occur it is usually most apparent on the inner eye wall area. They are best viewed from above and observers in planes above the eye of the storm can see numerous such fiery strikes at rates of several per minute. I' m told ex pierced weather-personnel joke about such storms: "Hurricanes blow a great deal; they rain and they flood, but they don't snap, crackle and pop away!"
There are certain such storms which are designated as being "electric" hurricanes. The electric fields measured above the eye of such storms are as high or higher than those found in ordinary, land-based "meso-scale" thunderstorms - as much as 8 kilovolts...and that is considered to be "big."
We are finding that we still need to, learn a great deal more about hurricanes to work to learn to forestall some of the great damage of the hurricanes seasons year after year. We know more about where they originate as we watch African winds become America's storms. We are aware of the Sahara sand storms and of reactions over the South Atlantic, but we still ignorant of the precise ways in which they interact. What, exactly, are the nucleation points of the elements? We do not yet understand the interplay of desert sands and the flow of water vapors of the vast Atlantic breeding area.
Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 7-31-06 [c317wds]
