"Ludicrous" Amounts Of Rain In AL, FL Storms; 5.68" In 1 Hour In Pensacola Before Gauge Failed, More

[hatrack]

As severe weather marched northeast on Wednesday, Florida residents are drying out after ludicrous levels of overnight rainfall.

The National Weather Service called the event “historic.” The official rain gauge at Pensacola’s airport measured an astonishing 5.68 inches in a single hour before it failed around 10 p.m. Tuesday. An analysis by the NWS office in Mobile, Alabama, estimated that single hour to be a 1-in-200- to 1-in-500-year event. The official rain gauge and weather radar both gave out, presumably from lightning strikes. The Mobile office later confirmed that Tuesday was the rainiest day since at least 1880 in Pensacola. Using a blend of rain gauges and nearby radar data, it estimates​ that 15.55 inches of rain fell during the 24-hour period. Several unofficial rain gauges also measured impressive totals.

One flabbergasted Pensacola resident live-tweeted his rain gauge throughout the night, ending up with more than 2 feet of rain. Incredible as it sounds, that measurement was backed up by radar estimates. Pensacola’s highest previous midnight-to-midnight rainfall total was 15.29 inches, during a land-falling tropical storm in October 1934. To get five times the typical monthly rainfall in roughly 24 hours is mind-boggling.

The overall storm system was monstrous. A strongly pronounced kink in the jet stream has been effectively stuck in place for days, held fast by a sluggish dome of high pressure over Hudson Bay in Canada. As I wrote earlier this week, blocking patterns like this are known for their ability to create extreme weather.

EDIT

http://cironline.org/reports/calamitous-climate-plays-part-florida%E2%80%99s-record-rainfall-6319

[Politicalboi]

1. If only we could pipe that extra water

Across the nation. I guess oil is all we care about.

[aquart]

2. A burst waterpipe wouldn't pollute a damn thing.

There is NO good reason we can't pipe the eastern excess to the western drought except mind-boggling, suicidal stupidity.

WHAT ARE ENGINEERS FOR?

[hatrack]

3. Energy, Energy, Energy . . . .

Water weighs 8.5 pounds/gallon, and has to flow 2,000 miles horizontally, and more than a mile vertically to reach TX/NM/AZ and so forth from Florida.

Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of BTUs to make that lift possible, to say nothing of all that pipe and all those pumps.

Where do those BTUs come from?

Who pays for it?

[Journeyman]

5. You may wish to read up on the California Bay-Delta Diversion Project. . .

Last edited Sun May 4, 2014, 03:19 AM - Edit history (1)

especially the Environmental Impact assessments, the politics involved, and the tremendous expense and energy required for both the initial construction and the continuing State Water Project operations, in order to see -- in microcosm -- the extraordinary challenges a cross-country water diversion project would engender.

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/12/09/5986905/delta-water-tunnel-plan-presents.html

As I suggest elsewhere in this thread, a good source for a comprehensive overview of the problem is Marc Reisner's seminal 1986 book, Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water. Pay particular attention to the section on NAWAPA, the North American Water and Power Alliance. Better yet, here's a quick read on the plan and its myriad troubles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Water_and_Power_Alliance

Here's a good rule of thumb: Water engineers create as many problems as they solve (if not more).

[Journeyman]

4. Marc Reisner: "Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water". . .

will provide many of the answers to your unstated questions. It's not as simple as you pose.

[hunter]

7. It would make more sense to move people, not water.

We've got to figure out a pleasant way to do that, rather than the usual unpleasant Grapes of Wrath way because it's only going to get worse.

[Agnosticsherbet]

6. This is why we need to build infrastructure to capture som of the water

dumped in some states and transport it to states suffering from lack of water.