the buzz log
Hurricane Hunters, Cloud Gazers and Weather Fiends
Twisters are getting off to a lackadaisical start this year, but no matter how late, a storm that works itself up into a hurricane frenzy will get attention. Of three Atlantic tempests knocking around, Bill's the one that fulfilled hurricane aspirations and may go beyond a Category 3.
Wild skies don't just kick people into disaster preparedness mode (witness lookups on Yahoo! for "storm doors," "hurricane shutters," and "hurricane supplies"). Nature's ferment also gets minds wondering and searches swelling about weather phenomena in general. An overview of some raging queries, below:
Getting up to (hurricane) speed
The Department of Atmospheric Services at University of Illinois explains the degrees of intensity. Thunderstorms hanging out together over warm ocean waters become a tropical depression, with winds swirling between 23-29 mph. They can gather oomph to become a tropical storm (39-73 mph) within a short period of time (a few hours to two days), then if conditions are right (or not right, depending on your perspective), the rainstorm graduates into a full-fledged hurricane.
Tracking the mighty hurricane hunter
These kinds of hunters may not shoot down and truss up their prey, but they court all kinds of danger by flying into the eye (center) of a raging hurricane. Amateur stormchasers exist, but the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron (which runs the Hurricane Hunters Association site) transmits data to the National Hurricane Center. Although the employees and their equipment (like the Lockheed-Martin WC-130J plane) belong to the Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce runs the program. For a profile on the first Hurricane Hunter, check here.
Alien ships and other cloudy questions
Some people love an overcast day. Figuring out all the different formations of suspended droplets number among the most popular online weather searches. Some water vapors in question now:
• Billow Clouds are among the rarest, and look like ocean waves. The same winds that cause these clouds also cause a flag to flap.
• Noctilucent Clouds, aka night-shining clouds, take on an "iridescent" glow because they reflect the setting summer sun, as seen in this NASA photo.
• Lenticular Clouds has been likened to a "fleet of alien ships" or pancakes, and typically cling to hills and mountains. Avoided by pilots but sought out by gliders since they portend high winds, they're also attractive to photographers. Check out this cluster.
• Cumulonimbus Clouds literally translate to puffy rainstorms, those familiar, darkly swelling, and foreboding vapors.
Filed under: Weather, Science, Hurricanes, Nature
September 2008 Buzz Wrap Up: Landfalls, Financial Falls, Political Pitfalls
From Olympic highs to financial lows, "fall" took on a whole new meaning this harried September. Among the many events that befell Search, hurricanes hit fragile coasts, politics went into overdrive, and bailouts tried to stop a sinking market. Glumly mull over what the world was searching for in September.
Path of Resistance
Like the grotesque nursery rhyme of the old lady who swallowed a fly,
it seemed inconceivable how formerly redoubtable Wall Street firms had
to be swallowed up by fellow firms or the government itself. As names
like Lehman Brothers, AIG, and Goldman Sachs rippled into everyday consciousness, it was Washington Mutual's
teetering collapse that truly captured people's online attention and
brought uncertainty into the pocketbook. People keep close tabs on a
proposed massive bailout and the man behind the plan (+14,762%), and introduced the dread phrase "u.s. financial crisis" into the Search vernacular.
Path of Glory
Mother nature and father finance disrupted the presidential campaigns, so people really had to rely on the Web to keep track on the candidates, the debate, and most importantly whether Republican vice presidential pick Sarah Palin was indeed Tina Fey's alter ego.
The countdown to the Nov. 4 elections dropped into mere double-digit
days, pressuring searches to investigate rumors, media appearances,
family members, religious affiliations, voting records, personal
history, and porcine make-up tips.
Path of Destruction
Hurricane Ike followed closely behind Tropical Storm Hannah, but he gave fair warning of his category 4 visit. People monitored the impending disaster and its "projected path" (top 500 searches), but still its sheer, kinetic intensity resulted in a death toll of 67 and a devastated Texas coastline. A hopeful but critical eye turned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (+23,989%) and searches popped up for food stamps and other aid. Many organizations, private citizens, former presidents and undocumented laborers came to clean up what was left behind. Small miracles did surface, from a single Gilchrist house withstanding the impact to a mystery ship unearthed, and a lionness seeking sanctuary.
September 2008 Fastest Movers in Search
Search Terms with the Biggest Percentage Changes
- Hurricane Ike (Mega Mover! See above.)
- Hurricane Ike Projected Path (Mega Mover! See above.)
- Sarah Palin Tina Fey (See above)
- Don LaFontaine (+80,143. The deep-throated trailer guy spoke his last.)
- Shackle (+64,991%. The lionness sought refuge from Ike in a church.)
- Jerry Reed (+45,657%. The country singer died Aug. 31)
- Eva Longoria Parker (+36,182%. Pregnancy rumors surround the actress, but it could be just lots of M&Ms)
- FEMA.com (+23,989%. See above)
- New iPod Nano (+21,843%. Its slim figure debuted at Apple's developer conference.)
- Atom Smasher (+20,949%. Flouting doomsday predictions, the world's largest debuted to Search fanfare, then promptly got glitches.
September 2008 Top 10 Personalities
People Commanding the Most Searches Overall
(parenthetical refers to percentage change in searches compared to previous month)
- Sarah Palin (+138%)
- Britney Spears (+24%)
- Obama (+32%)
- Jessica Alba (+38%)
- Lindsay Lohan (-15%)
- Kim Kardashian (+7)
- Miley Cyrus (-36%)
- John McCain (+91%)
- Paris Hilton (-9%)
- Lil Wayne (+7)
Filed under: Politics, Monthly Wrapup, Recaps, Money, Hurricanes, Elections, Wrap Up, Economics
Not All Houses Are Created Equal
Hurricane Ike flattened just about everything in its path. Well, almost everything. Pictures of a lone home that managed to survive the storm's fury are causing a ruckus in the Buzz.
Gilchrist, Texas was right in the storm's path. A large section of the town was completely leveled except for the bright yellow home owned by Warren and Pam Adams. Theirs is (literally) the only house left standing. Striking photos of the surviving structure sent shock waves through the Buzz and had some wondering if they were real or Photoshopped. It wasn't until relatives stepped forward that the fakery rumors ceased.
So how did this one house manage to survive Ike while neighboring homes didn't? According to CNN, Mr. and Mrs. Adams did their best to make their house hurricane-proof after their previous house was flattened by Hurricane Rita in 2005. They hired an engineering firm to oversee the construction of the new house and built it several feet higher than sea level. Sadly, despite their efforts, water still managed to flood the inside of the home, making it all but uninhabitable.
Fortunately, the Adams have insurance. And if there is a bright side, it's that we now know it's possible to build a house that can survive a furious storm. As one witness remarked, "If I were to ever build a house on the coast, I'm going to contact the guy who built this."
Filed under: Hurricanes
Hurricane Ike Digs up a Mystery Ship
Hurricane Ike scraped its way across the southern United States, leaving a wake of destruction in its path. But on a beach in Alabama, the storm unearthed unexpected treasure in the form of a mysterious shipwreck.
According to news reports, the nautical ruins, which had previously been buried under sand at Fort Morgan, reveal a "badly burned" ship that is 150 feet long and built of heavy timbers. Some local citizens have wondered whether the wreckage could be the long-sought Ivanhoe, a steamship designed to evade Union blockades during the Civil War.
Not likely, says the Naval Times, adding that the vessel is probably "some type of rum runner" from the Prohibition-era. That still sounds pretty cool to us—and to searchers, too. Queries for "hurricane ike mystery ship" are climbing the Search charts, while articles on the anonymous vessel have floated upwards in Buzz.
Filed under: Disasters, Hurricanes
A Buzz Pick: Stormpulse
Filed under: Weather, Hurricanes, Storms
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nidal Malik Hasan | Breakout! |
| 2 | Fort Hood Shooting | Breakout! |
| 3 | Tyrannosaurus Rex | Breakout! |
| 4 | Fort Hood | 43518% |
| 5 | Tropical Storm Ida | 4377% |
| 6 | Willie Aames | 3325% |
| 7 | Shannon Dedrick | 3299% |
| 8 | Gretchen Rossi | 2702% |
| 9 | Epic Mickey | 2583% |
| 10 | Lee Harvey Oswald | 1907% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danica Patrick | +194 | 207 |
| 2 | Fort Hood | +185 | 185 |
| 3 | Angelina Jolie | +114 | 164 |
| 4 | Rihanna | +39 | 157 |
| 5 | New York Yankees | +54 | 154 |
| 6 | Alicia Keys | +139 | 153 |
| 7 | +1 | 153 | |
| 8 | NFL | +6 | 138 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
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