How strong does the wind have to be in order to consider it being life threatening for Hurricane Chasers?
2007-01-31 10:39:27 · 2 answers · asked by Justin 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Weather
Every hurricane is life threatening, but obviously, chasers take precautions to minimize the risk to them.
I'm a stormchaser, but I won't chase hurricanes. I think those guys are nuts. Few storm (tornado) chasers will chase hurricanes, and anyone considering doing so is first advised to forget about doing it by yourself if you're a first-timer.
I do know a couple things that are tricks-of-the-trade. One is to get to the "target" area well in advance of the 'canes arrival so you can really scout everything out in advance. You have to prepare for a multitude of contingencies, such as roads and bridges being washed out, no gasoline being available for hundreds of miles around, and getting hassled by the local constabularies. Usually, the plan is to find a nice, solid multi-level concrete parking garage for your foxhole, where you are assured of staying above the storm surge.
But most importantly, (and this finally answers the question) a chaser has to be aware of potential sources of debris flying around. You don't pick a spot next to a junkyard. You will be at risk of injury from any hurricane, and the more intense it is, the greater the risk. There's no rule of thumb where a chaser says "Okay, a category 2 is safe, but a cat3 isn't". Not that the approach of a cat5 wouldn't give a lot of them second thoughts...
Sorry for the rambling!
2007-01-31 14:46:55 · answer #1 · answered by BobBobBob 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well obviously any hurricane is potentially life threatening but when it starts getting deadly to everything around is probably a category 3 which is 115 to 130 mph but go to the link for more info
2007-01-31 13:13:29 · answer #2 · answered by the bertis 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋