Hurricane Kirk

Off to Miami on Sunday on VS5.

Hurricane Kirk is currently mid-Atlantic, and threatening tropical storm force winds over the Atlantic for the next few days:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphic ... e#contents

Will the airlines fly over this or do they have to route around it? Any other changes to SOP?

(Not worried, just curious)

Hurricane force winds are nothing to an aircraft. They often fly in winds way more than this at cruising altitude.
They consider many things when routing including fuel.
They regularly have smaller planes fly into the storms (several times per day when they near land) to gather telemetary on the pressures and speeds of the wind. It doesnt seem to be a dangerous thing to do.

oh please no, after all the hysteria locally over Isaac which frankly was all wind, we dont need another one. one mad couple we know put up shutters last Friday (stormforecast was for Monday/Tuesday) and they are still up !!!

oh please no, after all the hysteria locally over Isaac which frankly was all wind, we dont need another one. one mad couple we know put up shutters last Friday (stormforecast was for Monday/Tuesday) and they are still up !!!

Kirk is heading towards UK so you are ok...

Heading towards the UK .... :0 does B&Q sell storm shutters ??!!!!

[buns]

Wonder what Michael Fish has to say about this? ): ):

buns

oh please no, after all the hysteria locally over Isaac which frankly was all wind, we dont need another one. one mad couple we know put up shutters last Friday (stormforecast was for Monday/Tuesday) and they are still up !!!

Tell that to the people who's homes were flooded and those that died. It may have been where you are, but not for all.

oh please no, after all the hysteria locally over Isaac which frankly was all wind, we dont need another one. one mad couple we know put up shutters last Friday (stormforecast was for Monday/Tuesday) and they are still up !!!

Tell that to the people who's homes were flooded and those that died. It may have been where you are, but not for all.

Indeed.
Isaac was a VERY BAD storm. Maybe not Katrina, but billions of $ of damage and numerous deaths. Haiti destroyed again.
It is still causing flooding in the mid west of the US, destroying homes.
It amazes me that people are blasé about these very dangerous storms.
If you have ever been in ant form of tropical cyclone then you would think very differently - even a reasonably tropical storm can be frightening. It isnt like a gale in Europe with the same wind speeds. The wind is actually the least of the problems caused by cyclones.

[honey lamb]

Just to change the tenor of this discussion but still keeping it on the topic of Hurricane Kirk, I have just watched one of the most comprehensive and scientific weather forecasts on RTE 1. While it is no surprise to any of us that this has been the wettest summer on record and as far as we are concerned here in Ireland, the coldest we have been informed that warm, humid tropical air from Kirk is heading up towards Iceland on Monday and will sweep along the south and west coast of Ireland. I could certainly do with a bit of warmth but I'm not too sure about the humid bit since I'm still trying to dry out my house from the couple of floods I have had.

Oh and with regard to floods, while I have not experienced anything like the floods of Katrina and Isaac, I can tell you there is nothing worse than knowing you are totally helpless against the forces of nature and watching the water take hold of your home and all you hold dear in it. I'm now at the stage where any suggestion of high winds and heavy rains is making me extremely nervous and I can completely understand the people who put up shutters against Isaac and still have them up. I still have sandbags against my back door even though the second flood was last Tuesday!

hmmm perhaps I worded it badly ...i didnt mena the storm wasnt bad, yes of course it was for La. My gripe was the hysterical reporting and actions of some people when we (in Fla) hadnt even got near being in danger.
I did live through a Hurricane (the infamous Michael Fish 'there wont be one,one) and we get a lot of good info here BUT honestly last week was just like Private Jones 'Dont panic' sketch...anyway heres hoping Captain Kirk doesnt cuase any damage to the Uk

Hurricane force winds are nothing to an aircraft. They often fly in winds way more than this at cruising altitude.
They consider many things when routing including fuel.
They regularly have smaller planes fly into the storms (several times per day when they near land) to gather telemetary on the pressures and speeds of the wind. It doesnt seem to be a dangerous thing to do.

Hurricane Hunter aircraft are specially designed to fly through them; commercial aircraft won't go anywhere near a storm such as this, it's not straight line airspeed that's necessarily the problem anyway but rather the updrafts etc and what might be contained in them - bowling ball size hail has been reported in storms topping out at flight level 700 (70,000 ft). Anyway, the point is, aircraft will routinely route around storms esp one's classified as TS or above.