2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season Running Thread

When the New Madrid fault wakes up again.... it's going to be bad.

 

We still have less than three months left in 2020. What's that saying? No better time than the present?

 

The New Madrid, you say?

With the late Jay Bennett.

 

Cancun with the chop block for the tackle.

 

The kicker on this thing is going to be that Thursday turn. That seems pretty abrupt.

 

The best outcome would be for it to go onshore in the Atchafalaya Basin where nobody lives. That’s what Lili did a number of years ago and it hardly made a ripple.

 

Man, I love New Orleans, but there’s no way I’d want to live there.

 

In the mid-90s, some geologist who had allegedly correctly predicted several big earthquakes began sounding the alarm about the New Madrid cutting loose on a certain day. For about two weeks, the Memphis and Little Rock papers were providing breathless coverage of his prediction. They had destruction maps showing Memphis would fall into the Mississippi and every building would be leveled. Jonesboro would be flattened. The Mississippi would change course and flow through downtown Stuttgart. High-rises (such as they are) in Little Rock would topple.

The day came ... nothing happened. One of the biggest letdowns since Al Capone's vault was opened.

 

I think the bigger damage and loss of life will be from flooding rather that shaking if it reroutes the river again ala Reelfoot Lake.

 

The problem when the New Madrid goes will be in cities that built in fill soil too close to the water line, not solid bedrock. The ground is going to liquify, and buildings will topple. Memphis and St. Louis are gonna be fucked. And maybe the church bells in Boston will ring again.

When I was a kid living in St. Charles, Mo., the fault cleared it's throat just a tiny bit. The plant stand shook, and there was a new crack in the sidewalk.

 

This is useful.

Imagery and Data | NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)