Another Compare and Contrast Exercise

From the Australian Bureau of Meteorology about Tropical Cyclone Monica:

DDP0002
Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology
Northern Territory
Darwin Regional Forecasting Centre

TOP PRIORITY

MEDIA: Transmitters serving the area Cape Don to Elcho Island are requested to
use the cyclone emergency warning signal with this message.

TROPICAL CYCLONE WARNING

TROPICAL CYCLONE ADVICE NUMBER 66
Issued by the BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY, DARWIN
at 11:00 pm CST Monday 24 April 2006

A CYCLONE WARNING is now current for coastal and island communities between
MILINGIMBI and PORT KEATS, including DARWIN, the TIWI ISLANDS, COBOURG PENINSULA
and JABIRU.

A CYCLONE WATCH is current between PORT KEATS and KALUMBURU in Western
Australia.

The CYCLONE WARNING between ELCHO ISLAND and MILINGIMBI has been cancelled.

At 10 pm CST [8:30 pm WST] SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE Monica CATEGORY 4 was located
over land about 55 kilometres west of MANINGRIDA, 80 kilometres east northeast
of Oenpelli and 310 kilometres east northeast of DARWIN, and is moving west
southwest at 14 kilometres per hour. The cyclone is expected to continue to move
west southwest and weaken as it moves across northwestern Arnhem Land tonight,
but will still be a SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE as it moves across the northwest
DARWIN-DALY area during Tuesday.

The VERY DESTRUCTIVE core of SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE Monica with gusts to 260
kilometres per hour is currently affecting parts of northwestern Arnhem Land
between MANINGRIDA and JABIRU and is expected to approach the DARWIN-DALY  area
on Tuesday afternoon with gusts to 175 kilometres per hour.

DESTRUCTIVE WINDS with gusts to 160 kilometres per hour are currently being
experienced in parts of northwest Arnhem Land, between MANINGRIDA, GOULBURN
ISLAND and JABIRU, and should progress further west and inland tonight. The
DESTRUCTIVE WINDS will then approach the northwest DARWIN-DALY area during
Tuesday morning.

GALES with gusts to 100 kilometres per hour are currently being experienced on
the northern Top End coast, and will extend westward with the cyclone,
approaching the northwest DARWIN-DALY and TIWI ISLANDS area from early Tuesday
morning. GALES may extend further west to KALUMBURU in Western Australia during
Wednesday.

DANGEROUSLY HIGH TIDES could cause EXTENSIVE FLOODING at the coast between
MANINGRIDA and GOULBURN ISLAND tonight.

HEAVY RAIN is expected to cause significant stream rises and flooding of low
lying areas in across the northern Top End tonight and tomorrow.

Details of SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE Monica at 10 pm CST [8:30 pm WST]:
. Centre located near...... 12.0 degrees South 133.7 degrees East
. Location accuracy........ within 30 kilometres
. Recent movement.......... towards the west southwest at 14 km/h
. Wind gusts near centre... 260 kilometres per hour
. Intensity................ CATEGORY 4
. Central pressure......... 935 hectoPascals

REPEATING: A CYCLONE WARNING is now current between MILINGIMBI and PORT KEATS,
including DARWIN, TIWI ISLANDS, COBOURG PENINSULA and JABIRU.
A CYCLONE WATCH extends southwest to KALUMBURU in Western Australia.

The next advice will be issued at 2 am CST [12:30 am WST].

This advice is available on telephone NT-1300 659 211 and WA-1300 659 210

DARWIN Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre

260 km/hr is equivalent to 163 mph. Earlier, maximum sustained winds had been reported as 178 mph. Hurricane Katrina had maximum sustained winds
of about 127 mph when it made landfall, with gusts probably around 140 mph, thought it was briefly
a cat 5 when still in the Gulf (170 mph). Anyway, here's the US National Weather Service :

EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA

DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL... LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED. [Gables did you say? I have 3 of them. -ed]

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED.

Now, to be fair, the NWS usually is a bit more dispassionate and factual in its announcements, more like this and this . But Hurricane Katrina brought out the hysteria in everyone, I guess, and still does (global warming!). In contrast, Cyclone Monica is Australia's second major hurricane this season and the sixth or seventh storm to make landfall do far, and I haven't heard anywhere near the whining from the Australian weather service or the press that one living in US comes to expect whanever there's a natural disaster. Granted, it's the northern coast of Australia that is usually hit, which is not a densely populated area, but Monica didn't even make the front page of The Australian today. No global warming articles, no "we brought this on ourselves by driving SUVs", nothing. I'm sure it'll happen eventually, but for now it's a refreshing change.

Update: From CNS News

Quote: NASA scientist James Hansen warned that environmental activists and the media better be more cautious with their rhetoric regarding "global warming." In addition, a CBS News "60 Minutes" reporter recently compared skeptics of "global warming" to Holocaust deniers.

Hansen, who was responding to a question about the increased media coverage of "global warming" in recent months, issued the warning during a teleconference with a top Democratic congressional staff member, liberal environmental groups and journalists.

"I am a little concerned about this, in the sense that we are still at a point where the natural fluctuations of climate are still large -- at least, the natural fluctuations of weather compared to long-term climate change," Hansen, director of the agency's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told the participants in the April 13 teleconference.

"So we don't want the public to hang their hat on a recent storm, recent hurricanes for example, because those will fluctuate from year to year," he said.

[break]

Milloy also said he was glad to see Hansen attempt try to reign in the linkage of recent storm events like Hurricane Katrina to "global warming."

"It's good to see Jim Hansen recognize that the global warmers have gone off the deep-end in terms of climate hysteria. I'm certain, though, that we'll have to remind him of his statement next time he takes his usual dive off that cliff," said Milloy.

Read the whole thing.