PBS Nova, "Inside the superstorm"

[CoyoteChris]

Just watched PBS's program, NOVA, "Inside the Superstorm" about Sandy. It is well worth watching. Check local listings or watch on line at:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/

 

[Olympia]

Thanks, Chris, though I'm sure I won't have the heart to watch. It's so sad in parts of the area. Some report said that 50 million people were in the path of this storm, and if that's so, that's a fourth of the population of the United States. Meanwhile, 60 percent of the U.S. is in drought conditions. Anyone who thinks that global climate change is a political issue is asleep. Anyone who thinks it's "too expensive" to change our ways and live with less carbon dioxide wasn't watching the destruction. One thing I have to say, in a calmer voice, is that NOAA called it exactly. Up to a few hours before the storm, just looking at the system gave no indication that it would change tracks and veer west, but the computer models figured it out days in advance. They definitely saved thousands of lives because all those people were evacuated.

 

[dorispulaski]

It was an interesting show. What the climate scientists they interviewed predicted was that we will actually have less hurricanes, but they will be bigger ones. They credited Sandy to what I can't help but think of as a "disturbance in the force" causing the jetstream to have an unusual shape and speed, allowing 2 air masses to combine that wouldn't have normally, combined with the Gulfstream having remained warm enough to allow Sandy to stay a tropical storm/hurricane as it worked it's way north.

A lot of it was very sad, but they also covered some amazing stories of survival and heroism.

 

[Olympia]

A disturbance in the Force...great way of putting it, Doris. I remember watching the weather pictures and feeling that I was watching a living organism.

 

[CoyoteChris]

While I find the science here fasinating...for instance, the jet stream getting pushed south by global warming, and thus helping to spin Sandy inland instead of out to sea , what was chilling was I destinctly remember when that tall blond male weather forcaster who does the weather for ABC in the morning talking about, early on, how most likely the storm would miss the coast but that the European models predicted it would turn west and go inland. The Nova special pointed out that the European model predicted that before Sandy was even named....
Still, the weather forecasters here were some of the many heros...people could go or stay...their choice...but there was no doubt days ahead how bad this was going to be. I think we as a country can learn from this storm from what we did right (low loss of life in the US) and what we can do to prepare anywhere on the East coast for the next hit and indeed for any disaster across the country. I am very proud of those emergency workers who got New Jersey and New York up and running so quickly, all things considered. I would like to see a show on the aftermath and dealing with the people's needs and the destruction. We just dont here much about the Japanese tsunami aftermath and how Joplin MO is doing.
So, yes, Olympia, it was sad but it was also very educational and I thought honest and it did make me proud of those that did their part to keep loss of live down as well as get the infrastructure back up and running.

Thanks, Chris, though I'm sure I won't have the heart to watch. It's so sad in parts of the area. Some report said that 50 million people were in the path of this storm, and if that's so, that's a fourth of the population of the United States. Meanwhile, 60 percent of the U.S. is in drought conditions. Anyone who thinks that global climate change is a political issue is asleep. Anyone who thinks it's "too expensive" to change our ways and live with less carbon dioxide wasn't watching the destruction. One thing I have to say, in a calmer voice, is that NOAA called it exactly. Up to a few hours before the storm, just looking at the system gave no indication that it would change tracks and veer west, but the computer models figured it out days in advance. They definitely saved thousands of lives because all those people were evacuated.

 

[Olympia]

Yes, terrible as the loss of life was, I was struck by the fact that with such monumental damage, there were relatively few people killed. I read somewhere that in the old days, the preponderance of deaths in a hurricane were caused by the storm surge. You can't stop the storm surge, or block a really bad one, but you can get people out of the way if you just have enough advance warning. I may have said it before: imagine if people had been in all those houses that were washed away or flattened by the wind.

So yes, this can be a learning experience, and one thing we can learn is how to build more cleverly. Another thing we can learn is how to work together to fix the broken communities. This is already happening.

 

[heyang]

I think this might be a film worth trying to see http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/superstorm-moves-film-theoretical-concrete-17787350

For me, the Nova show was a bunch of clips from the local news. However, if you don't live in the area, you may not have been as aware of the weather reports in the week leading up to Sandy and it would've been 'new' info for you.

I'm sure there will be an anniversary aftermath news segments in the local area news, but probably not as much nation wide unless there's another similar storm around the same time! Hopefully not, but 1 yr before Sandy we had our only snowstorm last year right before Halloween that also caused a lot of power outages because a lot of trees came down due to the weight of the snow on the leaves that hadn't dropped yet.

 

[dorispulaski]

For me, having no power from relatively early in the storm, the only part of Sandy I saw was what I experienced myself. Hence I missed the local news clips and was interested to see them.

 

[skateluvr]

I mentioned it in another thread, which likely was moved. I saw it too. It really is awful, and scary to watch, esp since we are still seeing what it did, and we know there will be more. We are in big trouble. That is for sure.