Ugliest storms ever

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InfernoFlameCat
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Ugliest storms ever

#1 Postby InfernoFlameCat » Mon Sep 13, 2021 11:09 pm

With the recent flaming of Hurricane Nicholas going on, I decided to make this topic because I am genuinely interested in what all of your thoughts are about the ugliest cane. Also we could do ugliest major hurricanes as well to delve into a new area of thought because lots of people probably don't know what they think the ugliest MH system is (I don't) but many do with lower end canes (Barry for sure). Also would love a description on why that cane is the ugliest.
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#2 Postby InfernoFlameCat » Mon Sep 13, 2021 11:58 pm

Ugliest hurricane IMO is Actually whatever that 1998 thing was. That doesn't even look like a tc, let alone a Cat 2!.
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#3 Postby Hurricaneman » Tue Sep 14, 2021 12:16 am

InfernoFlameCat wrote:Ugliest hurricane IMO is Actually whatever that 1998 thing was. That doesn't even look like a tc, let alone a Cat 2!.

Earl, it was indeed a cat 2 hurricane with 25 to 30kts of southwesterly shear which gave it that look
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#4 Postby supercane4867 » Tue Sep 14, 2021 12:31 am

Regarding Earl 98 - it probably indeed wasn't a CAT2. The best track intensity was based off of a mere 104kt FL wind reading at 850mb. Had SFMR been made widely available back then it's pretty unlikely that it would record >80kt surface winds due to the system's poor structure unable to translate those FL winds to the surface. In fact recon never reported an eyewall in Earl and its asymmetric wind field resembles more of a squall line than a hurricane.
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#5 Postby Hammy » Tue Sep 14, 2021 2:02 am

supercane4867 wrote:Regarding Earl 98 - it probably indeed wasn't a CAT2. The best track intensity was based off of a mere 104kt FL wind reading at 850mb. Had SFMR been made widely available back then it's pretty unlikely that it would record >80kt surface winds due to the system's poor structure unable to translate those FL winds to the surface. In fact recon never reported an eyewall in Earl and its asymmetric wind field resembles more of a squall line than a hurricane.


Earl was moving pretty fast so there was more than likely enough forward speed added to justify Cat 2 intensity.

Bertha in 1996 (east of Florida) is a top contender for me, because for about 12-18 hours you had a completely exposed center, and essentially half a hurricane. In fact, the entire low level eyewall cloud was exposed one afternoon.

Image
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#6 Postby Teban54 » Tue Sep 14, 2021 2:24 am

Posting Earl 1998 here in case people don't want to look it up. Yes, that's a Cat 2:
Image
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#7 Postby Teban54 » Tue Sep 14, 2021 2:25 am

Also, no discussion about ugly storms can possibly go without Hurricane Barry:
Image
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#8 Postby supercane4867 » Tue Sep 14, 2021 2:30 am

Hammy wrote:
supercane4867 wrote:Regarding Earl 98 - it probably indeed wasn't a CAT2. The best track intensity was based off of a mere 104kt FL wind reading at 850mb. Had SFMR been made widely available back then it's pretty unlikely that it would record >80kt surface winds due to the system's poor structure unable to translate those FL winds to the surface. In fact recon never reported an eyewall in Earl and its asymmetric wind field resembles more of a squall line than a hurricane.


Earl was moving pretty fast so there was more than likely enough forward speed added to justify Cat 2 intensity.


That likely contributed to the strong winds aloft...but does it mean the system could produce 10m sustained winds at CAT2 intensity? I don't quite think so. Just think of a fast moving extratropical system or a tropical cyclone turning ex-tropical.

Isaias last year at NC landfall serves as a great analog. We would see something similar from the NHC today on a storm like Earl:

There were several flight-level observations at 700 mb from 0042–0044
UTC of 100–106 kt, which would yield an intensity of 93 kt using the typical 90% reduction factor
from that altitude. However, radar and satellite imagery at the time indicated that the core
convection of Isaias was not as deep or well organized as seen in most hurricanes, indicating that
a reduction factor less than the usual 90% would be more suitable. Therefore, a blend of the peak
75-kt SFMR measurement and a more conservative flight-level to surface wind reduction supports
an intensity estimate of 80 kt from 0000 UTC 4 August through landfall in North Carolina
, although
the uncertainty in this estimate is larger than usual given the structure of Isaias at the time. While
there was one flight-level wind observation of 117 kt, this observation appears to be a singular
spike, possibly in a meso-vortex sampled around that same time and is not considered
representative of Isaias’ intensity.

In fact, Earl's structure was even worse than Isaias at the time
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#9 Postby Iceresistance » Tue Sep 14, 2021 2:57 am

Hammy wrote:
supercane4867 wrote:Regarding Earl 98 - it probably indeed wasn't a CAT2. The best track intensity was based off of a mere 104kt FL wind reading at 850mb. Had SFMR been made widely available back then it's pretty unlikely that it would record >80kt surface winds due to the system's poor structure unable to translate those FL winds to the surface. In fact recon never reported an eyewall in Earl and its asymmetric wind field resembles more of a squall line than a hurricane.


Earl was moving pretty fast so there was more than likely enough forward speed added to justify Cat 2 intensity.


Baroclinic Forcing?
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#10 Postby Iceresistance » Tue Sep 14, 2021 2:59 am

Hurricane Kendra in October 1978

Kendra: "Why do I have to look like this!?"

Image
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#11 Postby AlphaToOmega » Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:42 am

Yes, this is a tropical cyclone
Image
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#12 Postby Iceresistance » Tue Sep 14, 2021 5:27 am

How was Jeanne in 1980 a CAT 2 Hurricane? (Also a Rare GoM system not to make landfall)

Image
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#13 Postby Category5Kaiju » Tue Sep 14, 2021 6:07 am

Teban54 wrote:Also, no discussion about ugly storms can possibly go without Hurricane Barry:
https://i.imgur.com/sfFaKAk.png


In recent years, this has to be #1 for ugliest hurricane ever to exist in the Atlantic. Looks like a frickin' parrallelagram.
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#14 Postby Iceresistance » Tue Sep 14, 2021 6:34 am

Category5Kaiju wrote:
Teban54 wrote:Also, no discussion about ugly storms can possibly go without Hurricane Barry:
https://i.imgur.com/sfFaKAk.png


In recent years, this has to be #1 for ugliest hurricane ever to exist in the Atlantic. Looks like a frickin' parrallelagram.


I thought it was the weirdest looking one I've ever seen, I called it 'The Half-Storm' . . .
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#15 Postby Iceresistance » Tue Sep 14, 2021 8:31 am

Hurricane Bertha 2014, it was not classified as a Hurricane until Recon confirmed it looking like this . . .

Image
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#16 Postby toad strangler » Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:05 am

That thing that hit the NE this year
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#17 Postby Iceresistance » Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:36 am

toad strangler wrote:That thing that hit the NE this year


Henri 2021

Image

Same name, but in 1979

Image
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#18 Postby SconnieCane » Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:24 pm

Gordon 1994. Meteorologically not very impressive, but not the only cyclone to prove that it doesn't have to be to cause a humanitarian disaster in Haiti. Still wasn't retired, though.

Can't get imgur embed tags to work.

https://imgur.com/a/tq1pGhV

Image
Last edited by SconnieCane on Tue Sep 28, 2021 9:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#19 Postby IcyTundra » Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:29 pm

Nicholas isn't even in the top 5 for ugliest looking storms ever imo.
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Re: Ugliest storms ever

#20 Postby InfernoFlameCat » Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:29 pm

SconnieCane wrote:Gordon 1994. Meteorologically unimpressive, but not the only cyclone to prove that it doesn't have to be to cause a humanitarian disaster in Haiti. Still wasn't retired, though.

Can't get imgur embed tags to work.

https://imgur.com/a/tq1pGhV

Holy that is one eyesore right there.
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