marye45 wrote:ObsessedMiami wrote:Frankly disgusted by social media chatter in Miami complaining "Nothing happened", media hype, etc. No win situation for NHC. People obviously think Matthew didn't really exist and was a creation of Publix, Home Depot and the media.
Don't forget too that there is now that stupid conspiracy theory that the government fudged the wind speed

I mentioned that this was the risk of incremented warnings to Hurriane Watch/Warnings based on some WWard shifts in models. This was also in relation to a promet who mentioned that more often than not do W side of the storms often decrement in effects rapidly as you get away from the center. The center was safer than sorry, but I do think some efforts need to go and educate the public things some of us amateur "experts" and chasers know about what winds look like. I know for a fact that part of the problem; I have asked a couple neighbors last night to show me what 40mph winds look like on youtube and they showed me scenes from Andrew (Blowing 110kt at the footage), scenes from a severe storm gust along the beach (75kt), and a scene from a chase in Haiyan (100kt). I then asked to show me what 20mph winds look like and they show me a few breezy days.
Further education should also include the fact that on land wind is going to be much less than over water which is what the NHC issues its wind speed forecasts for, and even then there are multiple localized factors that can mitigate or increase the wind observed. For the more dangerous aspects of hurricane such as Flood and Surge, there is nothing more that can be done to stress the concern, I think most people understand what surge looks like after Katrina, and Sandy.
TLDR: Wind is such an awful measurement of hurricane threat. Truthfully wind effect / warning level needs to be re-evaluated for warnings. A storm thats Cat 1 that is in position to create a giant surge should have more aggressive warning and recommendations than a Cat 4 that poses small risk for Flood and Surge damage. Indirect areas of landfall < 30% should also have less aggressive warning recommendation.