Calm seas in the eye of a hurricane? Yes.

[C James]

The issue of whether of not the seas would be calm in the eye of a major hurricane has been raised by several e-mailers, so I thought I'd address it here.

 

The short version, yes, the seas are farm calmer in the very center of the eye due to lack of wind and also a cancellation effect. In fact, this calm patch is used by hurricane hunter flights to help pinpoint the exact center of the eye; it's easy to see. It's not truly calm (as in millpond calm) but it's mostly free of whitecaps and breaking waves, though it often has a large and chaotic base swell. In this area of the eye (ranging from one to two miles wide), and only in this area, Atlantis would find sea conditions that would allow her to be fast enough to ride the eye.

 

mentioning all this, plus some very interesting footage of the penetration and from inside the eye. It's from a penetration of Cat5 hurricane Gilbert in 1988.  

 

And BTW, towards the end there's mention of a forming outer ring "strangling" the eyewall and causing a temporary weakening. That's an eyewall replacement cycle.  

 

 

[Benji]

The issue of whether of not the seas would be calm in the eye of a major hurricane has been raised by several e-mailers, so I thought I'd address it here.

 

The short version, yes, the seas are farm calmer in the very center of the eye due to lack of wind and also a cancellation effect. In fact, this calm patch is used by hurricane hunter flights to help pinpoint the exact center of the eye; it's easy to see. It's not truly calm (as in millpond calm) but it's mostly free of whitecaps and breaking waves, though it often has a large and chaotic base swell. In this area of the eye (ranging from one to two miles wide), and only in this area, Atlantis would find sea conditions that would allow her to be fast enough to ride the eye.

 

mentioning all this, plus some very interesting footage of the penetration and from inside the eye. It's from a penetration of Cat5 hurricane Gilbert in 1988.  

 

And BTW, towards the end there's mention of a forming outer ring "strangling" the eyewall and causing a temporary weakening. That's an eyewall replacement cycle.

 

 

........I can only see this happening is if they are riding out the storm in the eye, since there is no way out then the ride to shore is going to by made in Mexico. Riding it out does not mean they escaped, but gives the goat a reason to say so, since they are still truthfully in the storm. Aided by the US government the Mexican authorities will pick up our heros and take them to a safe haven from the storm, leaving Atlantis ashore. Can you imagine the international press if they find out Trevor is riding the eye? Talk about a best seller book coming out!!

[hh5]

will this goat smile change?

 

[JamesSavik]

I remember when the eye of Katrina moved over us. We thought it was all over. The skies cleared, rain stopped and the winds stopped howling.

 

Electricity and comms were out so we didn't know that we were in the eye. We were in for another 16 hours of 100mph winds, storm, lightning and random tornadoes.

 

The scary part of it is that you you can see the other side coming toward you at some point and it doesn't look at all friendly.

 

Katrina wasn't the most powerful storm ever. What it lacked in wind velocity, it made up for in its slow speed of advance.

 

Most hurricanes blow through relatively quickly. Because a front in Arkansas slowed Katrin's speed of advance, that bitch hung around for 36 hours.