Messages

1

Hurricane Central / 2012 Atlantic hurricane retirement predictions

« on: September 01, 2012, 07:09:28 PM »

With the Atlantic hurricane season in full swing, now is the time to do our retirement predictions for the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season.

Here are my predictions so far:

• Alberto - <1% - very minor effects on the East Coast.
• Beryl - 10% - strongest pre-season storm to hit the U.S., although effects were minor.
• Chris - 0% - fishspinner.
• Debby - 20% - moderate effects, but nothing too severe.
• Ernesto - 15% - some moderate effects, although Mexico has seen much worse before.
• Florence - 0% - fishspinner.
• Gordon - 10% - some impact on the Azores, but nothing severe.
• Helene - 5% - minor impact.
• Isaac - 60% - Damage total estimate is about $3 billion, so it could have a shot at retirement.
• Joyce - 0% - fishspinner.
• Kirk - 0% - fishspinner.
• Leslie - ?? - to early to determine, however, Bermuda should be watching this storm.

Replacement male I names:

• Icarus
• Ignatius
• Ioan
• Irving
• Ichabod
• Italo
• Italus
• Innocenzo
• Ippolito  (my pick)
• Ignazio
• Inigo
• Inocencio
• Ildefonso
• Isandro
• Iago
• Immanuel
• Indigo
• Izzy (Yes, this can be a male name)
• Isamu
• Ifor
• Ilswyn
• Iggy

2

Hurricane Central / Re: 2011 Atlantic hurricane retirement predictions

« on: April 13, 2012, 06:13:52 PM »

It's official, Irene has been retired.  Lee, on the other hand was spared.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2012/04/hurricane-irene-name-retired-goes-satellite-retired/1

3

Hurricane Central / Re: 2011 Atlantic hurricane retirement predictions

« on: April 11, 2012, 01:30:04 PM »

With the WMO meetings going on right now, I think now is the time to make are final predictions.

It looks like the final damage total for Irene was $18.7 billion, so I would be extremely surprised if Irene isn't retired.

Also, Lee's final damage total is $1.6 billion, so it may also have a medium chance at retirement.

4

Hurricane Central / Re: 2011 Atlantic hurricane retirement predictions

« on: September 07, 2011, 11:06:18 AM »

If Irene is retired, what would be it's replacement?  The only names I can come up with that haven't been used are Inez (has it been used) and Ildiko.

I would have to say that the 2005 replacements weren't so inspiring. 
Katrina -> Katia? 
Rita -> Rina? 
Stan -> Sean? 

At least Whitney replacing Wilma was interesting!

Inez has already been retired.

Here are some possibilities:

• Isa
• Izzy
• Ivy
• Ila
• Ilsa
• Iman
• Iphigenia
• Idelia
• Ilaria
• Imelda
• Immacolata
• Ines (with an S, not a Z)
• Italia
• Ilene
• Ivory
• Ivonette
• Ivonne
• Idoya
• Ivette
• Izumi
• Iva
• Ioanna
• Irena

5

Hurricane Central / Re: 2011 Atlantic hurricane retirement predictions

« on: September 05, 2011, 03:31:57 PM »

There really is no set criteria for retirement of names.  Any government of a country that feels a storm has caused so much death and destruction to where they feel that name cannot be used again for historical reasons place in a nominee to have its name retired.  By the following spring, the World Meteorological Organization takes all the nominees and votes on retirements and any new names to replace them.

Exactly.  FYI, the record low for a retired hurricane name (in terms of damage) was 1990's Hurricane Klaus, which caused only about $1 million in damage.  France requested its name to the WMO for retirement, and I don't think there have been any cases where the WMO has turned down any request.

Here are a few names that I thought should have been retired, but were not:

• Gordon (1994)
• Bonnie (1998)
• Dolly (2008)
• Hanna (2008)
• Agatha (EPac, 2010)
• Alex (2010)
• Karl (2010)
• Matthew (2010)

6

Hurricane Central / 2011 Atlantic hurricane retirement predictions

« on: September 01, 2011, 12:29:07 AM »

If you think any names this year will be retired, which ones it will be?

I would say that so far only Irene is likely to be retired as it caused $10.1 billion in damages ($3.1 billion in the Caribbean, and $7 billion in the United States).  Arlene and Harvey may have a slight chance, but are unlikely.  Everything else so far is here to stay.

However, if Katia affects Canada, it could have a chance, considering Canada's rather low retirement standards (as proven with Juan in 2003 and Igor in 2010).

7

General Discussion / Re: Poll - Male users: Do you ever wear pink

« on: August 23, 2011, 04:59:04 PM »

No, I don't. I'm straight.

Wearing pink has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with sexual orientation! I am straight as well, but I wear pink.

8

General Discussion / Poll - Male users: Do you ever wear pink

« on: August 23, 2011, 12:56:58 PM »

I was wondering, for the male users here: do you ever wear pink?

I personally enjoy it.  It reminds me of nice smooth jazz.  Also, Real Men Wear Pink!

9

Local Forecast / Re: Why no Marine Forecast on Great Lakes IntelliStars?

« on: August 21, 2011, 09:41:17 PM »

No marine forecasts on Intellistar for the Great Lakes? Wow that is surprising. I live in New England but I've been to Lakes Erie and Michigan and they are just like the ocean, complete with storms, big waves, wave cut shorelines and no land visible on the horizon. They also have large recreational boating and shipping operations and are one of our most important water routes. The same navigation rules apply. Just about the only difference from the ocean is the fresh water. So I agree there should be a marine or lakes water forecast on the LF for the Great Lakes.

According to user wxntrafficfan (hasn't been active recently), no, Great Lakes IntelliStars don't have any marine products. As I said, the Great Lakes are non-tidal, which is why NOAA doesn't provide tide forecasts there. However, the NWS does indeed provide marine forecasts, which is why it could easily be added to Great Lakes IntelliStars.

10

Local Forecast / Why no Marine Forecast on Great Lakes IntelliStars?

« on: August 21, 2011, 01:02:57 AM »

I was wondering, is there any particular reason where there is no Marine Forecast product on Great Lakes IntelliStars?  I can see why there is no Tides product, since the Great Lakes does not actually have tides, however, the NWS still gives marine forecasts for the Great Lakes.

And no, the Marine Forecast product does not have to coexist with the Tides product.  For example, Choice Cable TV upgraded to IntelliStar in 2006 where it had the Tides product, but didn't get the Marine Forecast product until 2007.  Therefore, it would definitely be possible to have a Marine Forecast product for the Great Lakes without having to add a Tides product.

Is there any reason why?

11

Local Forecast / Idea: Assign music to IntelliStar flavors by genre

« on: August 19, 2011, 04:06:31 PM »

I came up with an interesting idea, with the mix of rock, New Age, and jazz that TWC plays now, I was thinking, perhaps the flavors of the IntelliStar can be assigned to different music genres.

Here is how I would do it:

• Rock at :08 and :38
• New Age at :18 and :48
• Jazz at :28 and :58

I personally like the :28/:58 flavor, which is why I assigned jazz to it.  And by "Jazz", I mean both traditional and smooth jazz.

What does anyone think?

12

IntelliStar 2 Discussion / IntelliStar 2 specifications?

« on: November 07, 2010, 08:03:00 PM »

I have three questions about the IntelliStar 2.  My first question is: what type of hardware does the IS2 use?  I would think it would be an x86-based (or maybe x64-based) Intel processor machine, although I could be wrong.  I wouldn't be surprised though, considering how TWC moved from the higher-cost SGI/MIPS-based WeatherStar XL to the lower-cost Intel/x86-based IntelliStar.

My second question is: What company developed the IntelliStar 2?  The Jr was designed by Wegener Communications (who also was partly responsible for the III, along with Compuvid), the 4000 was developed by Amirix, the XL by SGI, and the IntelliStar by Wind River (now a subsidiary of Intel).  Does anyone know who developed the IntelliStar 2?

My final question is: what operating system does the IntelliStar 2 run?  I know the XL runs IRIX and the IntelliStar runs FreeBSD.

I hope someone could answer these questions

13

Hurricane Central / Re: 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season running out of names - a possible idea...

« on: October 28, 2010, 08:11:27 AM »

When they run out of names of a list, they have no choice but to go to the greek alphabet. NHC doesn't use Q,U,X,Y, and Z names because they lack the amount of names.

You remember 2005, right?

In 1992, X, Y, and Z names were added to the EPac lists, since they ran out of names.  Why can't something similar be done for the Atlantic?

Also, the NHC doesn't manage the lists, the WMO does.

14

Hurricane Central / 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season running out of names - a possible idea...

« on: October 27, 2010, 11:20:15 PM »

It looks like that Shary has a 50% chance of formation, which would leave only three names remaining (Tomas, Virginie, and Walter).  I was thinking, before going to the Greek Alphabet, perhaps there could be a little alternative idea, which would be to add X, Y, and/or Z names to the lists of Atlantic hurricane name lists, as was done in the EPac in 1992.

As for which letters, there aren't really very many X names out there, so I would probably add just Y and Z names.  Here are some of my ideas for Y and Z names:

• Y names (male) - Yang, Yoda, Yale, Yancy, Yasser, Yanni, Ying, Yoshi, Young, Yul
• Y names (female) - Yasmine, Yumi, Yvonne, Yvette
• Z names (male) - Zhane, Zell, Zachary, Zach, Zack, Zephyr, Zhong
• Z names (female) - Zena, Zillah, Zola, Zora, Zoey, Zoya
  

Also, don't bother about Q or U names, since it would screw up the pattern of alternating male/female names, and the fact that there are very few names beginning with those letters (especially Q).

15

Hurricane Central / Re: Predictions for 2010 Atlantic hurricane season retirements

« on: October 27, 2010, 11:00:24 PM »

BTW, if I would choose preplacement names for the three most likely names to be retired (Alex, Igor, and Karl), here is what I would choose:

• Replace Alex with either Andros or Alfredo
• Replace Igor with Irving
• Replace Karl with Kirby

Does anyone have their own ideas for new names?