Photos of Katrina just arriving in Louisiana

[RTRandy]

My nephew sent me these photos. I don't pretend to know a whole lot about weather, but this stuff sure don't look good to be out riding around in. Amazing shots.

[RTRandy]

unreal

[RTRandy]

shot 3

[RTRandy]

Never seen anything like this.

[RTRandy]

last shot

[kbasa]

Those look a lot more like tornado shots that hurricane shots. Hurricanes are preceded by huge amounts of cloud cover. The countryside looks a lot more like the plains states than Louisiana.

[jgr451]

...to be so cynical K!!

:dance

[RTRandy]

My nephew didn't take these, but David might be right. Is it possible the incoming hurricanes can set up these weather patterns ahead of the storm?

[BubbaZanetti]

that second photo down is the scarriest weather photo i've ever seen

[RTRandy]

that second photo down is the scarriest weather photo i've ever seen

Reminds me of the old motorcycle adage, when in doubt, give it the gas.

I'm afraid Kbasa might be right here. The other thing that adds suspicion to these photos is that they all look like they were taken by the same camera which would imply they were collected over time and not by various people taken the moments before the hurricane hit. Still amazing photos.

[lorazepam]

Looks like plains states and midwest supercells. I think someone sent him these thinking they were something else. Brings the hair up on the back of my neck to see those, and gets me looking for a basement.

[The_Veg]

Still, it's the same idea as a hurricane, just smaller- A concetrated area of low atmospheric pressure, with coriolis effect inducing rotation as the air is drawn into the low pressure area.

[bullit7801]

Those look a lot more like tornado shots that hurricane shots. Hurricanes are preceded by huge amounts of cloud cover. The countryside looks a lot more like the plains states than Louisiana.
Don't forget, guys, that tornados are VERY common on the northeast side of an advancing hurricane. And, lots of Louisiana is just above sea level and as flat as Kansas. I have no additional knowledge of these photos, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were the leading edge of Katrina.

tb (no smilies for this one)

[username]

Still, it's the same idea as a hurricane, just smaller- A concetrated area of low atmospheric pressure, with coriolis effect inducing rotation as the air is drawn into the low pressure area.

oh, i dunno about that...

not all tornadoes rotate cyclonically. it is generally accepted that when strong updrafts are present, the surrounding air rotates counter-clockwise, and for down drafts, clockwise. (this obeys a right hand rule for all you newtownian physics enthusiasts out there.)

low pressure and high pressure systems do rotate the directions that they do due to coriolis forces, and they do go in opposite ways in the norhern and southern hemisphere.

i guess what i'm really trying to say is that all low pressure systems (large weather patterns) rotate counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere, but not all tornados do. of course, all are subjected to coriolis forces, but other forces are at work as well.

for fun, see if you can make the water swirl down the drain in your tub in both directions. i can, and once i get the flowfield established, it takes a long time for the coriolis forces to counteract the momentum that i can impart with my feet.

SO: WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING IN THE SHOWER?

me: i'm trying to make the water spin the other way down the drain!

SO: are you kidding me? i have to go to the bathroom! get out of there!

me: ok, i've almost got it, relax!

:D

[The_Veg]

Reminds me of the Simpsons episode in which we see that the US embassy in Australia has this high-tech toilet that makes the water go the same way as in the northern hemishpere. Your tax dollars at work!

[Rhino]

Here are a few Katrina Pictures from Hwy 90 in Gulfport, MS. Awesome power.

[Rhino]

More

[Rhino]

I have more, anyone interested send me an email.

[kbasa]

Rhino gets 50 points for using the word "awesome" in its proper context.

Those are truly awe inspiring photos.

[GeoffMiller]

How did you fare, Doug?

[BradfordBenn]

For those of you scoring at home, or those that are alone, that would be:

Nature 1, Man 0.

[riderR1150GSAdv]

For those of you scoring at home, or those that are alone, that would be:

Nature 1, Man 0.

No Kidding!! :cry

Living in the Fla Keys may have some perks as the weather is usually nice, but this hurricane season is getting on my nerves to say the least.
Those pics remind of some surreal hollywood movie. The problem is that it is quite real to those who live through that cr^p.
Anyone wanna buy a business??? :deal

[goferu]

Awesome pics Randy.

[Rhino]

How did you fare, Doug?

We did well compared to most of the people south of us. We lost some of our roof but the house is livable. Thank you for asking. I live about 7 miles north of the water so we didn't have to deal with the storm surge. We rode it out in the house, Got power about 11 days after the storm then the other niceties of life followed (potable water, cable, etc.). It will be some time before business as usual and the routines get established again.

Doug

[username]

nature wins battles, but it won't win the war. only man can truly defeat man.

a fun thing to do when trying to get your mind around something is to think about it on different scales, specifically different time scales and different length scales. change the scale of your thinking by a couple orders of magnitude - pretend that [insert devastated city] is some sort of insect home, an anthill. ever "destroy" an anthill? they just rebuild it, the same way. you have to kill every single ant, *then* wreck the anthill. even then, more ants will show up and utilize the territory/resources. hurricanes are just nature messing with our anthills. how many cities in history have been destroyed by nature and not rebuilt? (one may say, "pompeii" but i would argue that after 1500 years, man returned. go to pompeii now - lots of people milling about.) galveston? destroyed. san francisco? destroyed. been to either lately? you'd never guess that in the past 100 years each has been the scene of incomprehensible destruction and suffering.

i heard an interesting interview with some guy on bermuda a few weeks ago. they had a hurricane, or a tropical storm or something going over. he was inside his place, reading a book by candlelight.

newscaster: [trying to create fear in americans] there is an awesome force of nature outside, arent you nervous?

bermuda resident: not really. we build our houses out of concrete blocks. it'll blow over.

newscaster: but isnt it DANGEROUS? or SCARY?

bermuda resident: no, not really. we live in a place that gets lots of hurricanes. we build properly and we prepare. i'm glad we're having one, we don't have a source of freshwater here in bermuda, so all the rain will allow our rooftop catchbasins to collect plenty of water. anway, we'll be fine. run along now.

newscaster: but arent you worried about loss of life on bermuda? arent you evacuating? what about the DEVASTATION!

bermuda resident: ummm, trying to read my book here. run off now, eh?

[lorazepam]

nature wins battles, but it won't win the war. only man can truly defeat man.

a fun thing to do when trying to get your mind around something is to think about it on different scales, specifically different time scales and different length scales. change the scale of your thinking by a couple orders of magnitude - pretend that [insert devastated city] is some sort of insect home, an anthill. ever "destroy" an anthill? they just rebuild it, the same way. you have to kill every single ant, *then* wreck the anthill. even then, more ants will show up and utilize the territory/resources. hurricanes are just nature messing with our anthills. how many cities in history have been destroyed by nature and not rebuilt? (one may say, "pompeii" but i would argue that after 1500 years, man returned. go to pompeii now - lots of people milling about.) galveston? destroyed. san francisco? destroyed. been to either lately? you'd never guess that in the past 100 years each has been the scene of incomprehensible destruction and suffering.

i heard an interesting interview with some guy on bermuda a few weeks ago. they had a hurricane, or a tropical storm or something going over. he was inside his place, reading a book by candlelight.

newscaster: [trying to create fear in americans] there is an awesome force of nature outside, arent you nervous?

bermuda resident: not really. we build our houses out of concrete blocks. it'll blow over.

newscaster: but isnt it DANGEROUS? or SCARY?

bermuda resident: no, not really. we live in a place that gets lots of hurricanes. we build properly and we prepare. i'm glad we're having one, we don't have a source of freshwater here in bermuda, so all the rain will allow our rooftop catchbasins to collect plenty of water. anway, we'll be fine. run along now.

newscaster: but arent you worried about loss of life on bermuda? arent you evacuating? what about the DEVASTATION!

bermuda resident: ummm, trying to read my book here. run off now, eh?

New meds dude? You are really into the hypothetical conversations today.

[username]

New meds dude? You are really into the hypothetical conversations today.

can you imagine a day in which i'm not? ;)

[BubbaZanetti]

a fun thing to do when trying to get your mind around something is to think about it on different scales, specifically different time scales and different length scales. change the scale of your thinking by a couple orders of magnitude - pretend that [insert devastated city] is some sort of insect home, an anthill. ever "destroy" an anthill? they just rebuild it, the same way.

man, i'm glad i'm not alone, i spend 50 percent of my time thinking conceptually like this

bravo to those people in bermuda, if more people thought like that, things would be so much simpler. thats the main reason i don't own much stuff, it makes it easy to: A) move whenever B) go on awsome trips C) not be too sad if your stuff gets destroyed. i can easily say that apart from my bike there are very few things i worry about loosing or getting taken

[username]

man, i'm glad i'm not alone, i spend 50 percent of my time thinking conceptually like this

bravo to those people in bermuda, if more people thought like that, things would be so much simpler. thats the main reason i don't own much stuff, it makes it easy to: A) move whenever B) go on awsome trips C) not be too sad if your stuff gets destroyed. i can easily say that apart from my bike there are very few things i worry about loosing or getting taken

bubba - we agree.

think about this - how sad you are when your stuff is destroyed and taken is not a function of how much stuff you have, but of how you view your stuff.

so i would recommend that you worry less about the total number of possessions in your life, and worry more about how you view them. theyre just stuff, and the concept of ownership is, in my mind, conceited. i have a lot of stuff, that cost a lot of money. but i don't own anything - i've just got stuff that other people don't mess with right now.

:D

[PacWestGS]

Damn, Wall-Marts selling boats now too, will they not stop at taking over every little-mans' business?

First is was discount clothing, then merchandise, then came along garden tractors, log-splitters, and finally Auto-Service. Now they're posting fishing boats in the parking lot.

[Rich]

http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/storm.asp

[Kev95GS]

I love that Snopes website.

Kids getting stuck with needles at McDonalds...
Don't flash your lights at cars with lights off...
Letter from George Carlin...
Target doesn't support veterans...

It's the first place I go when I get those crazy e-mails.


The pictures are pretty cool though.

Kevin

[Rhino]

I don't think you will find my pics on the Snopes site!

[GeoffMiller]

Doug, I could use your opinion. My daughter is a student at the University of Houston. She went to her boyfriend's uncles' house in a suburb of Houston on the west side. Looking at hurricane Rita, do you think this is far enough away? Man, I'm used to thinking about snowstorms, not this kind of stuff.!

[Rhino]

I sent an email out to you this morning. Get me off list at djmeloche@cableone.net

Doug

[Visian]

nature wins battles, but it won't win the war. only man can truly defeat man.

lee - i am not sure i agree with this.

in the vein of thinking in a few different orders of magnitude, consider the earth a body and the forces of nature a its method of respiration.

consider man as a microscopic organism... growing in quantity/density... like an infection. our inventions compound the effect, spewing garbage into the body until fever reaches the point where this planet shakes man off like a bad cold.

hey, wait a minnit. maybe i just defeated my own argument. man could actually lose the war by screwing up the earth so bad that nature defeats man.

never mind. ;)

ian

(all lower case as a sign of respect.) :)

[username]

ian - you got it. and personally, i think that man as a species will survive most anything. we'd have to create conditions that snuffed out all life in order to be in serious jeopardy.

when most people talk about "endangering the earth" they usually refer to america's current unsustainable way of life. the earth isn't going anywhere, and the biggest thing in jeopardy is the ability to live in extremely dense places, like cities. small tribes of man have been adapting to changes in climate and that sort of things for 100,000 years. if we make the earth really nasty, we'll get reduced to small tribes, and then go on living.