Monster cyclone Yasi hits Australia hard

Cyclone Yasi has grown from a category 3 storm to category 5, the highest on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale. Estimates vary but predictions put the winds at 230 km/h (143 mph) with gusts reaching 300 km/h (186 mph). The storm is to make landfall somewhere along a 400-mile stretch between Cairns and Bowen at midnight Wednesday local time or Wednesday at 9am EST, February 2. On top of the flooding Australia has suffered through over the past few weeks, this storm represents a double whammy to the people of Queensland.

 

Reports told of the first of the massive storm winds howling throughout Cairns as night fell Wednesday. The worst winds were predicted to last up to four hours with blustery conditions and heavy rain lasting for 24 hours. The Bureau of Meteorology said that the storm was expected to lash the coast with up to 700 millimetres of rain and send tidal surges deeper inland than usual. At risk according to the bureau was a band about 240 kilometres long between the tourist city of Cairns and the sugar cane-growing town of Ingham. Experts said that it was unclear what the damage the Great Barrier Reef would sustain.

 

Officials have been warning people for days to board or tape up their windows and to stock up on bottled water and food. People in low-lying or poorly protected areas were instructed to move to safer ground with family or friends or move to evacuation centers.

 

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh was quoted as saying, "It’s such a big storm — it’s a monster, killer storm," adding that the only previous storm measured in the state at such strength was in 1918. "This impact is likely to be more life threatening than any experienced during recent generations."

 

The latest reports say that already 37,000 people are without power with almost a half of these being in Innisfail and Cardwell. Premier Bligh has warned that there are major problems with power transmission right across north Queensland. North Queensland relies on power generation from Central Queensland and links of power transmission through North Queensland. Cyclone Larry apparently knocked out six coastal transmission towers in 2006.

 

We hear news reports calling a storm a "category three" or a "category 5" storm but just what do those numbers mean? In North America, meteorologists use the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale where the numbers refer to the strength of the winds and the subsequent damage to be caused by the storm. Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans was a category 5 with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (280 km/h).

 

Different parts of the globe use slightly different measurement systems and Australia is no exception having its own scale for measuring tropical cyclones. Don’t forget that hurricane seems to be the term used in for the North Atlantic while cyclone is used for the South Pacific.

 

In Australia, category five on their scale means sustained winds of 200 km/h or greater with gusts over 280 km/h. Reports for Yasi are putting the winds at 230 km/h (143 mph) with gusts reaching 300 km/h (186 mph).

 

NZ Hearld TV – Fqeb 1/2011

Cyclone Yasi approaches Queensland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ7F8i_haok

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"wiseGeek" explains:

 

Wikipedia: Tropical cyclone scales: Australia