Irene and Sandy: A Tale of Two Hurricanes

Reader mode
August 20, 2011 - 8PM
  • Index

    • PGSBHurricane

    On August 20, 2011 at 8PM Eastern Daylight Savings Time, Irene continued to intensify rapidly. Its maximum sustained wind speed was 60 mph and its minimum pressure 1000 millibars. As of the advisory, Tropical Storm Irene was located 190 miles east of Dominica and 215 miles East-Southeast of Guadalupe. Its westward movement hadn't changed but its forwards speed increased to 22 mph. Hurricane watches were in effect for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands and Tropical storm warnings remained in place for Curacao, St. Martin, Barbados, Dominica, Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla, and the British Virgin Islands. A hurricane watch was expected to be placed on the Dominican Republic on Sunday morning. As far its projected path went, but was expected to pass through the Leeward Islands early Sunday and move through the Northeast Caribbean Sea later that day. On Monday, it was expected to approach the Dominican Republic on it eastern shore if not make landfall. After that, Haiti was anticipated to receive effects from Irene on Tuesday, Cuba and the Bahamas were to be impacted on Wednesday into Thursday, and Florida was to be the main target of the storm, as a hurricane, on Thursday into Friday (August 25-26). With that, most Americans on the East Coast from the Carolinas to Canada collectively sighed with relief; but Florida was to come under the gun, breaking the six-year drought of hurricanes hitting the state. If it were expected to remain the course, then officials in Miami, Florida were to announce an evacuation order on Monday and declare a state of emergency then. Sunday would be used to further monitor the situation. The nervousness hung in the air in Miami and only continued to thicken, expecting to remain hanging in the air through next week. For the majority of Americans, though, continued their evening plans as if nothing ever happened. The notable exception were vacationers expecting to head to the Caribbean, with many continuing to cancel their plans at the last minute for cruises and vacations not only to the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, but the Bahamas too.

    A/N: Sorry for not updating in a couple of weeks, I've been pretty busy with schoolwork and finding a summer job. And thus the writing style my not be a strong as it was previously. I will try to curtail that in future updates. If anyone wants to check out another timeline I'm doing concurrently, it's called "The Sun Never Rises" and it's about a scenario where the Confederacy wins the Civil War. A bunch of twists and turns are coming so stay tuned.
     
  • Index
    • August 21, 2011 - 2AM
  • Index

    • PGSBHurricane

    As of 2:00 a.m. on Sunday August 21, 2011, Irene was located 75 miles east-southeast of Guadalupe, 120 miles southeast of Antigua, and still had a maximum sustained wind speed of 60 mph and minimum pressure of 999 millibars. Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, St. Maarten, Dominica, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, Anguilla, and Montserrat were being battered by heavy rain and under tropical storm warnings. A hurricane watch remained in effect for the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Despite the fact that most Americans were asleep, they were encouraged to monitor the storm through their local meteorological services and the National Hurricane Center. Moving 22 mph in a westerly direction, it was expected to slow down during the next 40 hours and pass through the Leeward Islands, the Northeastern Caribbean Sea, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic by Monday. By then it was expected to be a hurricane. Those territories could have received up to 10 inches of rain if the predictions were correct, with life-threatening flash floods and mudslides possible in areas with steep terrain and poor areas that were especially vulnerable. To top it off, 1-3 feet in storm surge was expected. There were some minor changes in the projected path heading forward for Irene. The mountainous terrains of Haiti and Cuba were expected to interfere with the storm's intensity and weaken it into a tropical storm before heading into the Straights of Florida. After that, it was expected to either pass between the Bahamas and Florida and make landfall in southeast Florida as a Category 1 or 2 Hurricane or in the Florida Keys and Everglades as a strong tropical storm or Category 1 Hurricane. Even if it wasn't strong, hitting an urban area such as Miami could be disastrous regardless. Seven years earlier, a category 2 hurricane named Frances made landfall in Jupiter but its effects were felt across the entire state and caused $9-10 billion in damage int he state alone in 2004. Anyone in America (most likely in the West) watching this update took a sigh of relief, believing that this storm would not be as destructive as once feared. Still, preparations would be expected to continue in Florida the following Monsignor and afternoon as some still feared for the worst. There were a few more models saying that the storm could make landfall in the Carolinas as a more powerful category 2 or 3 hurricane and one or two models suggesting that Long Island, New Jersey, and New York City were the primary targets. If any of those scenarios were to come true, Irene's potential wrath was underestimated by the majority of America who would be taken by surprise.

    A/N: I'm back and I also made a new timeline in which the South secedes from the USA during the Constitutional Convention (there will be a new update by the end of the week).
     
  • Index

    • Aaron Davis

    I remember both of them. They were pretty interesting. I'm in the northeast, so they lost a lot of strength by the time they got to me.
     

    PGSBHurricane

    Aaron Davis said:
    I remember both of them. They were pretty interesting. I'm in the northeast, so they lost a lot of strength by the time they got to me.
    Click to expand...
    They lost their strength but they got much bigger in size (of their windfields) which is arguably just as bad. Don't let wind speed fool you.
     
    Reader mode
    You must log in or register to reply here.
    Top
    Top