by Cliff Mass at Cliff Mass Weather Blog
This blog will discuss the key reason for the Maui disaster, one not discussed by the media and others: a high amplitude atmospheric wave forced by strong winds interacting with the mountains of northwest Maui.
An atmosphere wave that produced powerful, dry downslope winds on the western slopes of West Maui mountains.
The terrible disaster in Maui has been leading the news cycle for a week now, with media and others proposing many causes: climate change, drought, dry invasive grasses, and Hurricane Dora to name a few.
But none of them have identified the key reason why so many people died last week and why the damage was so extensive. None explained the 60-90 mph gusts that hit a very localized area. Winds strong enough to shear off wooden power poles, tear roofs apart, and down lines of power lines.
And it wasn’t Hurricane Dora, a relatively small tropical storm that passed 700 miles to the south of Hawaii.
Something else happened in Maui last week. Something capable of creating intense wind damage in one location and light winds a few miles away.
A phenomenon skillfully predicted by modern high-resolution models, and thus a feature we could have warned Lahaina’s population about. A phenomenon that would have been picked up by surface weather observations, if only West Maui had invested in inexpensive weather stations.
The Terrain…
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