A writer and a tropical muse. A funky Lubavitcher who enjoys watching the weather, hurricanes, listening to music while enjoying life with a sense of humor and trying to make sense of it all!
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Baltimore Bridge Collapse Disaster. What Can We Learn With Regard to Hurricane Season IF a Hurricane Hits a Major Port City?
What can we learn from the Bridge Collapse in Baltimore and what are the commonalities to Hurricane Disasters? There are many things to learn and one is an awareness of what happens when a Major Port, the 9th largest in the US (according to shipping/money/value not size) suddenly is dead in the water unable to ship out the cargo now in port - unable to leave the port and more so unable to receive cargo. In addition, Baltimore specialized in roll on/roll off cargo and the loss of that port for however long it will take to open it again impacts the people who work at the port daily, the cargo that comes and goes as well as the commerce footprint ..........is all dead in the water at the Port of Baltimore. There is also the issue of Cruise Ships as the Port hosts 3 Cruise Ship Lines.
If a Major Hurricane were to hit Tampa, Jacksonville or Ft Lauderdale it would greatly impact the economy and the flow of goods in and out of port. Those are large ports on the very vulnerable Florida peninsular.
When a disaster happens, such as this bridge that took FIVE YEARS to build and is now gone there is much to think about and learn. Remember this isn't just about shipping as it is a part of I-95 being horribly impacted leaving travelers, truckers and locals with less options. There are issues rarely mentioned such as HAZMAT that can be moved on I-95 or a similar highway but isn ot allowed to be moved through the tunnels nor certain roads. The extra costs involved in moving these dangerous materials impacts the economy as a whole. Add in the use of I-95 to move troops, military equipment is endless and anyone who has traveled in frequently knows what it's like to see a convoy of military vehicles moving along from place to place.
The loss of life was horrible yet luckily it was in the middle of the night and the Mayday call gave them 3 minutes to try and clear the bridge of traffic, but not enough time to get all of the construction workers off and 6 of those workers are now missing and presumed dead. The recovery for their bodies will be a tedious difficult job due to debris, currents and weather.
Just saying a disaster is a disaster. A hurricane landfall in a big city or population hub has economic issues that are not seen as often as when a small, but Major hurricane comes ashore near an unpopulated area or small National Park.
It's a lot to think on if you take it apart into the many parts of how the bridge collapse in Baltimore impacts all of us not just the people who need to commute to work.
As for the Weather today and tomorrow.
If this was May I'd be screaming on ....
...development at the tail end of a front!
And look at that Low like feature out East of the Bahamas!
Snow up where it belongs in late March!
The storms are moving on across the East Coast while another West Coast storm is poised to take aim at Western States that will be happy to see this pattern end! Rain today and strong winds later in the week.
Weather on East Coast Wednesday into Thursday Mess. I-95 Will Be Slow Drive. Baltimore Bridge Investigation Going On. May Day Call Made Before Crash.
Wednesday and Thursday is a washout
East Coast
I95 travel messy
Investigation in Baltimore will bog down with Weather.
There will be lots of investigations going on.
You can see how it's rooted in the GOM
Then energy moves North up the coastline.
Messy day to drive I-95
I'll be in Raleigh waiting for weather!
As for the 2024 Hurricane Season, while I will discuss possibilities I think it's too early to make dramatic posts online promising "wild" "wicked" season using up all the letters in the Name List as some have done online promising every calamity possible to every city the person giving the forecast lives close to...
Yes, I can say many factors make us go "hmnn" and a few of us go "ohhh no" but it's too soon to stay what will be definitively.
La Nina should be in sway or trying to come on strong by June, JULY and even more so in AUGUST. The high numbers forecast for 2024 are based on this factor and if it doesn't verify then people are just promising tropical drama and looking for clicks and shares.
Water is currently warmer than normal in the Atlantic out where storms form and if that continues the energy is there for tropical trouble.
Will frontal boundaries continue to move off the SE coastline and drap themselves across Florida leaving an area where spin can spin up into early season action?
How strong will Sahaharan Dust be down the road? Will it come on strong and dry out warm water fed moisture or will it be less of a factor.
It's just too soon to tell.
What I can say is we watch the current pattern, the set up and look for clues and then we continue to watch where we go down the line as we get closer to May. What may be in May ... may not be visible currently in our magic tropical 8 ball!
Til then it's all speculation, hype and wishcasting.
Currently we can see the flow from GOM
We can also see moisture feed into NATL
NATL was hot last year will it be hot this year?
Stay tuned.
As for the ship that crashed into he bridge.
Close up it's bizarre.
It's all bizarre.
Good news is that the ship having power problems made a May Day call and they were able to slow traffic onto the bridge. When you watch the video you can see how the traffic was busier and then it slows and then it's hard to actually see any cars on the bridge. Thank God for that.....
Drudge site has been so political the last several months, if you wondered what would knock that subject off the main page.......a huge bridge in Baltimore on I-695 collapses into the river shutting down one of the main links for traffic in the Baltimore area. As professionals try to figure out how a huge container ship crashed into one of the two main supporting beams over the water rather than steer under the middle of the bridge where a container ship would normally be ........well that's the question. This is the first bridge collapse of this size since the Tampa Skyway bridge collapsed in May 1980. That's a long time. And, weather was NOT a factor in any way today, earlier this morning.
Contractors were working on the bridge in Baltimore according to a current press conference, routine maintenance.. That's of interest. But, how does a ship of that size that has to carefully navigate a river be that off course? Power outage on ship? Two pilots on board and the ship just left Balitmore so fatigue of pilots not a factor.
I'm sure there will be tons of conspiracies but this is really just about the facts. A good source of info in real time LIVE is Agenda Free TV.
Not much to say about the Weather today as my mind is temporarily blown. And ironically I have a Zoom class at 8 AM every morning with friends in Baltimore. Tomorrow will be a huge weather day in the Carolinas, I'll write about that later today. Primary topic in my head currently is how does such a terrible, horrific accident happen. In Miami, a beautiful tropical city, we have a narrow river that snakes it's way inland and huge container ships go up and down the narrow, winding river every day ...ships so large they look like a small city and we have never had any accidents such as this ........but I know how big they are, how carefully and slowly they move....
Mike from Spaghetti Models aka Mike's Weather Page speaks often of the Tampa Bay Skyway Bridge that collapsed in May of 1980 and he speaks with reverence and a heavy memory. Those of you who have followed him over the years know what a huge event it was in his life and memory. So I immediately thought of that bridge collapse and yet I know that was weather related as there was heavy fog and odd random windy squalls. Weather in Baltimore was fine. I've linked a video to the Tampa Bay Skyway Bridge Collapse.
As to the beautiful Francis Scott Key Bridge that just collapsed it was opened April 23, 1977 about 50 years ago. It's a strong, beautiful bridge I've driven across often though not as often as my daughter who lived in Philadelphia or my son who lived in Virginia and spent much time in Baltimore. Bridges don't just fall, there is a reason and what that reason is we will find out.
Reminds me of the old song London Bridge that came tumbling down that we sang as children. Check out the dark meaning behind that song for many. Odd news today after P Diddy was the big news in Miami last night. I fell asleep listening to YouTube, some music to relax by and I woke up this morning and when I grabbed my phone it went to YouTube that was weirdly all about a bridge collapse that I thought must have happened in history. Mind blowing really. Thanks for reading along as I try and process this before I have had my coffee and I'm going to make some as soon as I hit send on this blog.
i’ll update later after coffee and discuss wild weather expected tomorrow especially in the Carolinas …
I put this video up of the last huge bridge collapse in 1980.
This is the story behind the story Mike talks on often.
Florida Low Develops BUT Where Exactly Does It Go?? Pay Attn to Wxr for Flooding Rains, High Winds & Possible Tornadoes! Winter Still Around... Snow for the N Part of the USA. Fires in VA
Where to begin? To tell the story of a Low that's gonna form in the Gulf of Mexico and traverse the State of Florida negatively impacting everyone's weekend plans. As a Miami girl my focus is always on South Florida, especially considering a yearly huge event in Miami this weekend........an outdoor event in a bayside park downtown. So yes, if you are going to Ultra Music Festival you may want to keep the reality of rain in your brain before you go and get shocked that this could happen in March in Miami. But currently Sunday looks awesome...
This is available on Spaghetti Models...
If can also move in closer to Naples FL or Tampa or Cedar Key, but this is NOT a tropical storm and it doesn't have a "center" and the most wicked weather will evolve in real time so if you live in Florida pay close attention to your weather in real time especially keeping your alarms on your weather apps. Strong winds, heavy rain and possible tornadoes are all possible; there will be video somewhere online of Miami flooding if this plays out as most feel it will.
Stay tuned for pinning down this system in real time as it develops or gets closer to developing.
Official NOAA forecast for Saturday.
Complex messy system across a wide area.
In Virginia the rain is welcome.
Warnings for Fire Weather are flying....
Carolinas/Virginia low humidity plus high winds.
In the Tropical World it's worth noting...
the name Idalia was NOT retired!
And coming soon to parts of the USA
More snow and winter weather on the way!
That's a large part of the country.
The South... SE not participating.
It's just that time of year. You can pretty much find some sort of weather anywhere you look. It's worth noting when you hear how snowless it's been in parts of the East Coast and the South know that's because the NW and the Rocky Mountains have been hogging all the snow having epic levels of winter weather this year.
Same way a quiet hurricane season in Louisiana means that nothing hit their beautiful coastline, but Florida and the Carolinas may argue in the same year it is a horrible hurricane season. Back in the 1980s when the Texas and neighboring states was the favored target for most huge 80s Hurricanes.... people in South Florida felt like we were getting off easy and we were.
Somewhere, someone is getting slammed with weather and someone somewhere else is complaining nothing is happening and it's boring.
In case you are living in the Florida Keys and are worried on this coming hurricane season (expected to be wild, wicked and probably weird......check out the always excellent Hurricane Preparation site from Monroe County!
Wednesday Watching the Weekend Weather as Storm Supposed to Form - Is Your Roof Ready for Hurricane Season?
Y'all know Mike's Weather Page.
There's this grid that shows in motion the forecast.
Top left square above.
He makes it easy or just go to ...
Windy.com
Troubling Weather for Florida.
Gulf of Mexico... incoming.
Marches across Florida on Friday.
Sunday it's draped through the Caribbean.
Then out to sea and moves on. Falls apart.
These are those types of events before the Hurricane Season that reminds Floridians that it is coming down the line. Lots of localized flooding as TWC shows wild video and everyone finds out whether or not their roof is ready for May Monsoons and the oncoming Hurricane Season. Seriously, denial is a river that can be ignored only so long.
Dabuh has been singing this song all week!
Snow up in the North.
Severe Weather in FL
Possibly Carolinas.
It's evolving....
Saturday something hovers over me in NC!
Sunday is a mess!
Spring brings wicked weather.....
I'm a mess. Seriously need to find a way to deal with what seems to be Spring Allergies or may need to hit the road somewhere that the pollen isn't reigning. A little rain would help, but in NC we have been dry this year and despite the NWS tossing rain into the forecast regularly they just as regularly take it out. Every year hits me differently and every year I'm surprised again and again. Nine months go by and I forget "here comes Spring" and the pollen. And, then it's a wall of green, so will take meds and enjoy the beautiful array of colors in Raleigh right now.
As for Miami it's a big weekend down there, anyone flying in early for some fun and sun in the sunshine made a good call, as those flying in Friday will be disappointed. Ultra Music Festival messing up the traffic downtown and playing music so loud you can hear it in my kid's apartment nearby and all along the Biscayne Blvd corridor.
Normally it's a safe time of year for a festival as rain doesn't usually happen until May when the sky turns dark like the end of the world every day at 3 PM and kids go splish splash playing in the puddles.
Before the Monsoons.
Paradise Found!!
During May Monsoons!
Paradise Lost!!
Well until the storm passes.
What you need to know?
Is your roof ready for hurricane season??
One of Mike's supporters on his page.
A good place to start.
A good article from last year to read.
If you own a home in Hurricane Country.
https://www.doneriteroofinginc.com/how-to-prepare-your-roof-for-a-hurricane/ Much of the advice is basic and the truth is that basic advice can save your life in a hurricane. If you plan to ride out a hurricane in your home, the best thing you can do is to secure the roof. Then secure the windows. You don't just go out and get a six pack of beer and some candles ....that only happens in the movies ;)
If you live in Florida, especially South Florida, and wonder how you know if the roof needs work? If this weekend's storm pans out as forecast, you'll know. Either way call a professional and have them check I out.
Hello Monday .... Winter Fights Back as TemperatureE Drop Again.... Weekend Storm off E Coast/FL a Possibility. Looks Like Hurricane Season BUT It's Really Spring Equinox!
Location: Miami, Raleigh, Crown Heights, Florida, United States
Weather Historian. Studied meteorology and geography at FIU. Been quoted in Wall Street Journal, Washington Post & everywhere else... Lecturer, stormchaser, writer, dancer. If it's tropical it's topical ... covering the weather & musing on life. Follow me on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/#!/BobbiStorm