Physical basis of limit calculations

[Ptarmigan]

Kerry Emanuel wrote this article. As it turns out, warm water is not the only factor. Also, it depends on wind sheer. In addition, it depends on how high and cold the cloud tops are. Some hurricanes have formed in less than warm water because their cloud tops were high and cold, like Wilma in 2005.

Physical basis of limit calculations

Maximum Potential Intensity based on location. The lowest is the Persian Gulf, where waters are as high as 100 degrees F or 38 degrees C. The central pressure form them is 715 to 736 mb with 265 to 275 knots (305 to 315 mph) winds, which would make it a hypercane. Of course that will never happen due to dry air and hot sinking air in that region. For Galveston it is 840 to 867 mb with 185 to 205 knots (210 to 235 mph) winds. If a hurricane with 867 mb was to hit us, Houston area would be leveled.

Potential Intensity Estimates for Individual Cities and Regions

[Squarethecircle]

141 m/s is insane... Imagine that some basins in the past probably had even greater potential intensities. I wonder if anything like that has ever occurred in all of history.

[Cryomaniac]

141 m/s is insane... Imagine that some basins in the past probably had even greater potential intensities. I wonder if anything like that has ever occurred in all of history.

I'm sure it has.

[Squarethecircle]

God, imagine how intense they could've been tens of millions of years ago when the heat content was huge. The sat pictures would be amazing. Any guess as to what a hypercane might look like?

[Cryomaniac]

:uarrow: God, imagine how intense they could've been tens of millions of years ago when the heat content was huge. The sat pictures would be amazing. Any guess as to what a hypercane might look like?

Thats what I was thinking. I dunno what a hypercane would look like, but I'm guessing similar to Wilma, but even more perfect.

[Cyclone1]

:uarrow: God, imagine how intense they could've been tens of millions of years ago when the heat content was huge. The sat pictures would be amazing. Any guess as to what a hypercane might look like?

Thats what I was thinking. I dunno what a hypercane would look like, but I'm guessing similar to Wilma, but even more perfect.

I'm not sure... but hey. I have Photoshop! Give me ten minutes.

[Squarethecircle]

Not entirely sure Photoshop could render that kind of bad-&$%-ness in one image.

I mean, those things could eat Mike Tyson!

[Cyclone1]

Can I prove you wrong with this image? Maybe not, but I really like the outcome. That's Paka from 1997, with a shrunken eye to make it look stronger.


Ladies and Gentlemen, your hypercane. o_O

[RL3AO]

Tip is about as close to a hyper cane as we will know about in our lifetime (hopefully).

At one time Tip had a TS force wind field of 1380 miles. The distance from Brownsville to Miami is 1075 miles.

[Ptarmigan]

:uarrow: God, imagine how intense they could've been tens of millions of years ago when the heat content was huge. The sat pictures would be amazing. Any guess as to what a hypercane might look like?

Somehow I picture a hypercane as a large annular-like hurricane with massive rainbands surrounding it. A hypercane would dump 100 inches of rain in a few hours and produce storm surge as high as 80 to 100 feet and have winds of 300 to 700 mph.

[Cyclone1]

Well, it can't be annular and have rainbands. That's like being a vegetarian except for beef, pork and chicken.

Annular means large eye, no rainbands. But I know what you mean.

[Ptarmigan]

Well, it can't be annular and have rainbands. That's like being a vegetarian except for beef, pork and chicken.

Annular means large eye, no rainbands. But I know what you mean.

I've seen non-annular hurricane with large eyes. Hurricane Katrina comes to mind.

[Cyclone1]

Well, it can't be annular and have rainbands. That's like being a vegetarian except for beef, pork and chicken.

Annular means large eye, no rainbands. But I know what you mean.

I've seen non-annular hurricane with large eyes. Hurricane Katrina comes to mind.

Well, yeah, some non-annular canes can have large eyes, but all annular canes do.

Plus theres a lot of other features of ann canes that make them different, either way, they're relatively rare.