I have no real reason to post this image of the new hurricane Igor — now exploding into a category 4 monster in the Atlantic — other than to make the joke in the title, and because it’s terribly pretty.
[Click to encoriolisize, or go here to see a range of size options.]
The picture was taken by NASA’s Aqua satellite on Sunday, September 12 at 16:00 UT.
It’s well east and south of the US right now, but its path is unclear. I suspect Chris Mooney at The Intersection will be keeping a close eye — yes, haha — on it. Stay tuned.
Image credit: NASA, Aqua team hunger force
September 13th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Man, that’s a big, whirly thing. So, how come it’s not a hexagon shape, like a proper storm. Oh right. I forgot. It’s just Earth. Too small for a proper storm.
Now, on Uranus(or was that Neptune), OUR storms are MUCH more interesting,,,
It’s for pics like this that I wish I had a seven foot projector display.
Gary 7
September 13th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Werewolf!
September 13th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
At Gary:
Saturn Dude! Don’t you even know your home planet? And that’s the North Polar region too.
September 13th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
Yay! A new desktop image for my lappy!
September 13th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Werewolf! There wolf. There castle.
September 13th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Eye-gor, help me with the bags.
Igor: Soitenly. You take the blonde, I’ll take the one in the turban.
September 13th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Okay, so apparently I’m not the only one who connected the title to Young Frankenstein.
September 13th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Heres a sat loop of Igor which is done by GOES-15 in its “super-rapid operations” mode. It takes a new image of Igor every 60 seconds.
Its a pretty big file though.
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/100913_g15_igor_vis_anim.gif
September 13th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
“That’s Fronkensteen.”
September 13th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Our local weather lady here in Providence, RI keeps making Young Frankenstein references. I like them more now!
September 13th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
I see I’m late to this party. Ah, well. “What hump?”
September 13th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Swirly thing alert!
September 13th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
“Need a hand?”
“No thanks! Got one!”
September 13th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
Oh, Phil. We read you in New Orleans. Please do not make jokes about hurricanes. That is all.
September 13th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
“Could be worse. Could be raining.”
September 13th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
I know that I’ll be accused of flogging a dead horse (not that there’s anything wrong with sadism, necrophilia and bestiality …), but I still think that this beautiful image proves my point about the inherent waste of money that the ISS represents.
Robert Park, in “Voodoo Science”, puts this case much better than I can. There’s no science that the astronauts are doing on the ISS that couldn’t be done cheaper, safer and better by robots. The life support systems on the ISS result in vibrations degrading any images taken from it. The money spent on the ISS should have gone into developing the technology to get humans to Mars.
September 13th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
So I’m not the only one that likes to pronounce the name that way.
“Walk this way!”
September 13th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
You must be joking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIA4A3QRWCE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
September 13th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
One reason I keep going to this blog is so I don’t feel so quite alone with my humor.
September 13th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
While listening to a report on Igor over NPR today, I was hoping they’d play a sound clip of the late great Marty Feldman saying “That’s Eye-gor” every time they mentioned the name. I’d also like to see Robert Preston in The Music Man on Broadway again, but hey you can’t have everything.
September 13th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
If there were an alien race out there looking in on us, it might quip: “my what puny storms the third planet has in comparison to the outer planets”
but we think its a humdinger.
All a matter of scale.
September 13th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
‘but its path is unclear’
Really?? The NHC seems to have a pretty good handle on it. Always has actually
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at1.shtml?5-daynl?large#contents
Abby someone . . . oh yeah . . . Abby Normal
(apparently mandatory Young Frankenstein joke
P
September 13th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
“Where do you get that brain?”
“Abby someone.”
“Abby Someone? Abby Who?”
“Abby Normal.”
“ABNormal!” I put an ABNORMAL brain into a seven foot 500 pound Gorillia!!!” Sound of croaking with extremism prejudice.
My favorite scene
September 13th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
If you really want “eye-gore” check out Shakespeare’s King Lear play.
Three words : “Out vile jelly!”
September 14th, 2010 at 12:29 am
Paleoprof: Note that path gets wider with time, indicating uncertainty (it’s also called the “potential track”). Also, it’s only up to a certain date; it’s not clear if it will swing in to hit the US coast or not.
September 14th, 2010 at 1:12 am
Wayne Robinson (#16) said –
“There’s no science that the astronauts are doing on the ISS that couldn’t be done cheaper, safer and better by robots.”
Sorry, I can’t resist…
“DANGER! DANGER, WAYNE ROBINSON!”
September 14th, 2010 at 3:06 am
@ 23 ggremlin: Actually, here’s that same line, but with a modern day update:
“Where do you get that brain?”
“Abby someone.”
“Abby Someone? Abby Who?”
“Abby Normal.”
“ABNormal!” I put an ABNORMAL brain into Glenn Beck?”
September 14th, 2010 at 3:16 am
Hmmmm,
just a small problem:
the name Igor is pronounciated like Egr,
there is no trace of an O in there.
Of course unspeakable for an angloamerican
tongue.
Georg
September 14th, 2010 at 3:26 am
If you don’t get the King Lear reference see :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv-F5TZajMs
Those who are squeamish may wish to avoid even though its not too graphic..
September 14th, 2010 at 4:17 am
Yeah, Young Frankenstein was also what I thought of the moment I saw the title! A bloody good flick!
To give the German dubbing of that scene:
“Du bist Igor?” (>>You’re Igor?< <)
"Das heißt Eigor... ich komme von der Nordwand" (>>That’s “Eyegor”… I’m from the North face!< <)
(The "Eiger-Nordwand" ( Eiger north face) is a famous and very dangerous ridge in Switzerland!)
September 14th, 2010 at 5:53 am
Its Fronk-en-schine. Sure my name is Eye-gor
September 14th, 2010 at 8:02 am
Thank you Phil!
A local meteorologist posted something about Igor on his Facebook page, and when I commented on it, saying “it’s pronounced EYE-gor”, he got pissed and took down my comment, plus about ten others after me continuing the Young Frankenstein riff.
“Blücher”
September 14th, 2010 at 10:22 am
“Blücher”
*Rears up on hind legs, whinnying in terror*
September 14th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
I want to work for NASA’s Aqua Team Hunger Force.
September 14th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
I live, teach and research in South Florida I know all about Cones of uncertainty and the limits of our abilities to accurately predict where these storms are going to go. And yes my degrees in geology have enabled me to read the map and see that the prediction only goes out 5 days (seriously, condescending much?)
My point is that by saying “the path is unclear” you imply a great deal more uncertainty than exists. The NHC forecast is clear enough, it’s going to turn north and may be a threat to the Eastern US but while the odds of it getting into the Gulf of Mexico are not technically zero they are practically zero. Your statement was correct but it was not accurate.
This not really a big deal and I’m sorry to be such a tool about it but one of the things I run into in trying to teach critical thinking is that my students cannot distinguish between what’s possible and probable. (Sure it’s possible we faked the Moon landings but when you look at the facts it’s not really probable at all)
Maybe this just comes down to our definitions of “unclear” I’ve followed storms where the cone of uncertainty was literally a circle around the storm. It had an equal probability of going in any direction.
Ok, sorry rambling and I’ve got class to get to. . . really do usually enjoy the blog.
Frankenstein – Igor, help me with the bags.
Igor – You take the blonde, I’ll take the one in the turban.
September 14th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
@33. GumbyTheCat Says:
The cat *whinnies*? (Puzzled)
@34. Carter Says:
I don’t get that reference – the BA’s or yours – at all I’m afraid.
But I am wondering : Were they aqua-marines?
September 15th, 2010 at 7:18 am
So is “eye as in centre of a hurricane” part of the joke, or is it just the movie?
Jokes happen, but I’m being cautious what I say about this one now so that I don’t end up feeling terribly guilty later on.