Which makes the current issue of Scientific American so interesting. Suggested is that hurricans can be redirected or even diminished. Though probably not in our lifetime.

There's been talk of what could happen if you seed hurricane clouds. I'm not so sure that would really work. If the hurricane is over warm water, it's sucking up more than enough fuel to replenish whatever the seeding takes out. It'd be best to wait until it got at least halfway over land and by then it'll stall out on its own, not to mention the fact seeding it at that point would only bring MORE rain to the people under it.

Hmm...changing a hurricane's path. Somehow they'd have to overcome the force of the earth's rotation, because that's what makes a hurricane what it is instead of just a large unorganized cluster of storms. Besides, there's just something not right about being able to redirect a hurricane. What if we had deflected Ivan and sent it on a straight westerly path? Mexico would have been thoroughly nailed and they're frankly not as able to cope with massive hurricanes as we are here, especially in the rural areas. The death tolls would be astronomical compared to here. It'd be on the heads of whomever gave the order to change Ivan's path.

Check out this slideshow of hurricane damage from NYT
slide show

If you were to change a hurricane's path you'd probably do it when you could send them out to sea -- send them north/nne through the Atlantic until they convert to non-tropical or break up.

Here are some pictures from WashingtonPost
Slideshow

Edit:
Here are a bunch more from a local Florida paper. Click on each picture to start a slideshow. There are like 50-100 pictures here.
More Ivan destruction
Or paste this link into your browser:
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/...alleries.shtml

I'm a professional. Don't try this at home. :vader1:

How destructive can a hurricane be? Wave height appears to be a good indicator. For example the recent hurricane through Pennsacola (Frances) produced 52 foot waves at the data buoy located 64 nm off Alabama (this data buoy broke free from its moorings and is currently drifting). A data buoy located 120 east of Cape Canaveral reported only 30 foot waves. Last year's hurricane that struck N Carolina (that chopped through the Outer Banks) had 42 foot waves at Frying Pan Shoals.

Also interesting is how long a hurricane exists. This from a data buoy located off Cape Canaveral demonstrates how sudden the change can be during and after a hurricane:

Just as it appearred the hurricane season was over, look what just popped off the African coast-

Well finally...I was thinking something had gone wrong! :unsure:

I think they got at least one more after this one to worry about. No reason. Just a feeling.

Four in one year might be bad, but check out poor Japan who might be set up to endure their ninth typhoon this year, named Ma-On. Impressive wind speeds, too! :eek:

http://fox.org/~vince/out/maon.gif

160 with 195 gusts? Hmm, clay tile roof, rice paper walls, time to skedaddle. :eek:

odd wind effects
 

Thankfully with as busy as this years season has been, we on the SOuth Carolina coast have faired well. However we have had a fair bit of wind damage. I am posting a shot of one of te odder ones. Wind and water together can get into odd spots.

Here is a prime example. :eek:

Wind and water together can get into odd spots.

Must have been a hell of a storm to not only get water inside a lightbulb, but also wash in a turtle, too! Damn!

Mathews would be the 13th east coast hurricane. I believe there were 11 in the eastern Pacific. But in the western Pacific, this storm currently hitting Japan is the 24th typhoon this season - according to Radio Japan last night.