Scientists have described what the within of Hurricane Ian would have seemed like earlier than it hit Florida, with one saying it was “huge and white and you’re looking at the deep blue sky of the stratosphere above.”
After reaching its peak of 155mph, the hurricane made landfall alongside the southwest coast of Florida, close to Fort Myers, at 3:05 p.m. EST on Wednesday. Cameras on board the International Space Station filmed Ian simply minutes earlier than and will likely be airing a second stay stream on Thursday afternoon at 2:10 p.m. EST.
Kerry Emanuel, professor of atmospheric science at MIT, informed Newsweek: “It’s reaching its peak intensity just as it makes landfall—other storms reach peak intensity well before [this point].
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“It’s a storm that’s larger than normal in diameter…and it’s moving to some extent parallel to the coast. It has a lot of potential for destruction.”
Although Ian has now handed its peak, extreme storm surges are persevering with alongside Florida’s shoreline, with the National Hurricane Center reporting water ranges reaching 12 to 18 toes above floor stage.
11 AM EDT 9/28 Key Messages for Hurricane #Ian.
Catastrophic storm surge inundation of 12-18 ft above floor stage anticipated someplace between Englewood to Bonita Beach, together with Charlotte Harbor. Catastrophic wind harm can be starting.
Latest: https://t.co/tnOTyfOjMY pic.twitter.com/ueCnGSMEQE
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 28, 2022
“A lot of the loss of life from hurricanes these days is not from wind, it’s from water,” stated Emanuel. “The rain and surge—that’s the killer.”
“What worries people in my profession is the confluence of two trends,” he added. “One is demographic, one is nature. The number of people exposed to hurricanes has tripled since 1970 [as] people are moving in droves to hurricane-prone regions.
“Then the local weather is altering, and that’s demonstrably rising the incidence of high-end storms like Ian.”
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Jeffrey Halverson, an knowledgeable on extreme storms and professor on the University of Maryland Baltimore County, informed Newsweek: “We define hurricanes as a vortex that is powered by heat released when water condenses in the atmosphere.
“Oceans have change into hotter, which suggests extra warmth is out there to energy these atmospheric vortices. The extent to which that is occurring, nonetheless, has been troublesome to unequivocally reveal with precise information.
“Thankfully, the loss of life is declining worldwide in spite of all this because we are just so much better at warning people.”
Footage of the hurricane from the ISS confirmed miles of swirling cloud overlaying a good portion of the southeast. But on the within of the storm, all of it seemed very completely different.
“Once you break into the eye [of the storm] flying in a research aircraft, it appears as if you are in a giant, bright, soft coliseum of cloud,” stated Halverson. “It is vast, compared to the size of the plane, which is just a speck.
“The solar is normally vibrant above, the sky blue, the ocean tossed with turbulent waves and foam. At evening, you’ll be able to see the celebrities and the coliseum of clouds could continuously flicker with lightning.”
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Emanuel stated it was “impossible really to capture it in a photograph,” including: “You can imagine standing inside a football stadium, except the walls, which slope upwards, are 10 miles high. It’s huge and it’s white and you’re looking at the deep blue sky of the stratosphere above.”
Ian was a Category 4 hurricane when it made landfall however has now been downgraded to a tropical storm because it continues by central Florida. Warnings stay in place for a lot of elements of the state. It is predicted to be one of many costliest storms in U.S. historical past, with harm estimated at as much as $70 billion.