Can I vent for a second here??

[JTD]

I was just in the chatroom and I heard people talking about how they hope Ivan goes anywhere but to CONUS. That is very selfish. Let's take a look at the history of storms that hit Central America/South America. Beginning with Gilbert:

HURRICANE GILBERT, 1988: Gilbert devastated Jamaica on Sept. 12, traversing the length of the island. It then began a period of extraordinarily rapid intensification, strengthening to Category 5. It crossed the northeast coast of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and made final landfall near La Pesca, Mexico. The storm's remnants spawned 29 tornadoes over Texas, with flooding spreading to the Midwest. The death toll was 318 people from 10 countries, including 202 in Mexico and three in the United States.

Now...let's move to the all-time disaster. Hurricane Mitch:
Mitch is responsible for over nine thousand deaths predominately from rain-induced flooding in portions of Central America, mainly in Honduras and Nicaragua. This makes Mitch one of the deadliest Atlantic tropical cyclones in history, ranking only below the 1780 "Great Hurricane" in the Lesser Antilles, and comparable to the Galveston hurricane of 1900, and Hurricane Fifi of 1974, which primarily affected Honduras.

Now...let's contrast a category 5 strike on the U.S-Hurricane Andrew. It caused around 25 deaths...no more than that.

So, let it be said that I hope ALL storms are fish. But I don't want to see thousands dead in South America just so this storm can not hit the U.S.

But for people to say that they hope this storm strikes CA/SA or Cuba...anywhere but CONUS is not right at all. CONUS can handle these storms....CA/SA (Central/South America has some of the most improverished areas in the world)-HOW ON EARTH DO YOU EXPECT THEM TO HANDLE A CATEGORY 3-4-5 HURRICANE?

So, can we all agree we hope Ivan hits no land and is a fish, not that it hits anywhere but CONUS?

CONUS can handle even category 5 strikes with minimal loss of life. These improverished areas cannot.

Let's get some perspective!

[dennis1x1]

it has to go through all those islands first if its ever going to hit the US anyway.......whether it goes through them and then turns northeast or not.....

[tronbunny]

From someone who has been "majorly inconvenienced" by both Charley and Frances....
I think jason has a point.

Being a good Samaritan and bearing the burden for those who are less able is a virtue not often discussed.
Yes, we're tired, weary and maybe even without a solid roof of our own over our heads, but situations described above are absolutely horrific.

[JTD]

From someone who has been "majorly inconvenienced" by both Charley and Frances....
I think jason has a point.

Being a good Samaritan and bearing the burden for those who are less able is a virtue not often discussed.
Yes, we're tired, weary and maybe even without a solid roof of our own over our heads, but situations described above are absolutely horrific.

Tron, saw you were from Florida and I just wanted to express my thoughts. They are with you. I hope things get better soon for you!!

I should ammend my thoughts. I think saying you don't think the storm should hit FLORIDA is entirely fair but all of CONUS is not.

[bahamaswx]

Indeed. I get very annoyed when people wish storms into Hispaniola, Mexico, Cuba etc instead of the USA. I get even more annoyed when people consider a storm a "fish" regardless of where it hits, as long as it doesn't landfall on the US mainland.

[Terry]

Jason, I hear ya.

As Frances approached I just had no place I could feasably wish the storm to go. Every possible scenerio took her somewhere that either impacted me or my family or some other population of people. Early on I wished her to be a fish. Later on, I wished she'd just fall apart, even though that wasn't going to happen.

Yes, lower populated areas are may be a "better" choice. But usually those are the most poverty stricken and with flimsy structures.

There must be some psychological named thing identfying such feeling. Wishing Ivan on no one!!!!!

[dennis1x1]

i dont know...most know that a fish storm stays over water from start to finish....

on top of that..most here dont really wish that it hits hispaniola...as that would weaken him...and most root for cat 5's out of every storm...its the nature of weather extremists like those that visit here.....

same with tornados, blizzards, etc.....nature is going to do what shes gonna do so we observers may as well get some entertainment out of her.

[B-Bear]

Not that I'm wishing misfortune on anyone, but I am likewise getting a little tired of the "you selfish Americans" posts. Considering that we have given out over 2 trillion dollars in foreign aid since WWII--a figure that represents roughly 40% of our national debt--I think we're entitled to be selfish every once in a while. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that people should wish a hurricane on any other nation. But I likewise wish some people would remember that those are our satelites tracking these hurricanes, our planes flying into these storms, and our tax dollars funding the lion's share of hurricane reesearch.

[JTD]

Not that I'm wishing misfortune on anyone, but I am likewise getting a little tired of the "you selfish Americans" posts. Considering that we have given out over 2 trillion dollars in foreign aid since WWII--a figure that represents roughly 40% of our national debt--I think we're entitled to be selfish every once in a while. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that people should wish a hurricane on any other nation. But I likewise wish some people would remember that those are our satelites tracking these hurricanes, our planes flying into these storms, and our tax dollars funding the lion's share of hurricane reesearch.

I think Hurricane Mitch's death toll far outweighs any costs these planes and satelites may bring. BTW, these recon flights are so it can be determined whether or not storms hit the U.S.

But I see the vast majority of people agree with me and I am glad to hear that.

[tronbunny]

We'll be fine here.
I'm not buried in mud. I don't face the prospect of disease and mosquitos..well mosquitos, but I can buy OFF.
I now have electricity, personally.
The roofs can be fixed.
I'm just saying that a Catastrophe in CONUS is much easier to get thru than one in lesser developed areas with MUCH fewer resources.
After our 'canes, we can get to shelters and distribution sites for ice, water and hot food within hours.
I don't see that in Central America or most Carribean Islands.

[B-Bear]

Not that I'm wishing misfortune on anyone, but I am likewise getting a little tired of the "you selfish Americans" posts. Considering that we have given out over 2 trillion dollars in foreign aid since WWII--a figure that represents roughly 40% of our national debt--I think we're entitled to be selfish every once in a while. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that people should wish a hurricane on any other nation. But I likewise wish some people would remember that those are our satelites tracking these hurricanes, our planes flying into these storms, and our tax dollars funding the lion's share of hurricane reesearch.

I think Hurricane Mitch's death toll far outweighs any costs these planes and satelites may bring. BTW, these recon flights are so it can be determined whether or not storms hit the U.S.

But I see the vast majority of people agree with me and I am glad to hear that.

I didn't say I disagreed with you. But I'm tired of hearing the criticism without the praise. When was the last time you thanked the U.S. for your ability to track these storms, thereby helping to REDUCE casualties in these third world nations? Were it not for our technology, surely more people would be killed in these hurricanes.

[dennis1x1]

well i for one dont join the natural disasters should hit the us because we can handle them club.....

fyi..

[Innotech]

I JUST realized CONUS means "continental US"

[JTD]

Not that I'm wishing misfortune on anyone, but I am likewise getting a little tired of the "you selfish Americans" posts. Considering that we have given out over 2 trillion dollars in foreign aid since WWII--a figure that represents roughly 40% of our national debt--I think we're entitled to be selfish every once in a while. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that people should wish a hurricane on any other nation. But I likewise wish some people would remember that those are our satelites tracking these hurricanes, our planes flying into these storms, and our tax dollars funding the lion's share of hurricane reesearch.

I think Hurricane Mitch's death toll far outweighs any costs these planes and satelites may bring. BTW, these recon flights are so it can be determined whether or not storms hit the U.S.

But I see the vast majority of people agree with me and I am glad to hear that.

I didn't say I disagreed with you. But I'm tired of hearing the criticism without the praise. When was the last time you thanked the U.S. for your ability to track these storms, thereby helping to REDUCE casualties in these third world nations? Were it not for our technology, surely more people would be killed in these hurricanes.

OK. I hear ya know Bear. You are right about the benefits of this technology. I am just bashing those (not you) who wished this storm elsewhere in the chatroom earlier today.

[B-Bear]

I JUST realized CONUS means "continental US"

You're from LA. You probably thought we were talking about Coon-Arses.

[dennis1x1]

conus......i thought it referred to the flying coconuts from a previous thread...

[B-Bear]

Not that I'm wishing misfortune on anyone, but I am likewise getting a little tired of the "you selfish Americans" posts. Considering that we have given out over 2 trillion dollars in foreign aid since WWII--a figure that represents roughly 40% of our national debt--I think we're entitled to be selfish every once in a while. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that people should wish a hurricane on any other nation. But I likewise wish some people would remember that those are our satelites tracking these hurricanes, our planes flying into these storms, and our tax dollars funding the lion's share of hurricane reesearch.

I think Hurricane Mitch's death toll far outweighs any costs these planes and satelites may bring. BTW, these recon flights are so it can be determined whether or not storms hit the U.S.

But I see the vast majority of people agree with me and I am glad to hear that.

I didn't say I disagreed with you. But I'm tired of hearing the criticism without the praise. When was the last time you thanked the U.S. for your ability to track these storms, thereby helping to REDUCE casualties in these third world nations? Were it not for our technology, surely more people would be killed in these hurricanes.

OK. I hear ya know Bear. You are right about the benefits of this technology. I am just bashing those (not you) who wished this storm elsewhere in the chatroom earlier today.

Fair enough. I don't wish these monsters on anybody.

[Greg]

conus......i thought it referred to the flying coconuts from a previous thread...

Here's a link I like, although it doesn't have CONUS...

http://www.astro.umd.edu/~marshall/abbrev.html

[dennis1x1]

well tftt but this is tfw

[ajaxw]

BTW, these recon flights are so it can be determined whether or not storms hit the U.S.

A tad too cynical on this point, I think.NHC flies recon missions when storms are a threat to land (not just the US) to confirm and adjust initial strength and location of systems, to gain information on the storm's ultrastructure, to sample environmental conditions for the models, and for research purposes. If your idea was correct, it would be hard to explain why recon flew into, for example, storms like Hurricane Cesar (1996), even when it was obvious that it would not hit the US. Your false impression may come from the fact that recon does not fly into systems unless they are a threat to land and they are within range of the aircraft (e.g., west of ~50 W for systems threatening the Carribean).