Hurricane Maria
Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 3:08 pm
September 20, 2017, 5:15 AST, Yabucoa, PR
(Time Magazine reported the time as 6:15 EST, though PR was on AST, so I have adjusted it above.)
I just realized I never did a full work-up on Hurricane Maria. So much was happening in the weather... we watched it coming, we commented after, but never dug into the event of its decimation of Puerto Rico. There was so much data on the different regions of impact, I never boiled it all down to a single report.
It is the worst natural disaster in Puerto Rican history, with similar impact on the Commonwealth of Dominica. It also exacerbated damage in other parts of the Caribbean caused soon before by Hurricane Irma. One minute sustained winds reached 175 mph, reaching Category 5 storm September 18 (just before hitting Dominica). By the time it hit Puerto Rico, it had weakened to Category 4 (155 mph sustained winds), which is no solace for the ravaged island.
Only 112 deaths have been confirmed (64 of them in Puerto Rico), although follow-up reporting suggests that 1,133 is the correct number (nearly all in Puerto Rico). Damages are estimated at $91.61 billion, making it the costliest hurricane in Puerto Rico history, and the third costliest anywhere. About 80% of all PR agriculture was stripped away, and enormous ecological damage was caused. The entire PR power grid was famously destroyed, and even today hasn't been fully restored. Nearly all (85%) of above-ground phone and internet cabling was damaged or destroyed, and only one radio station continued to operate. El Yunque rain forest, one of my favorite spots on earth, was stripped almost naked.
At the moment of landfall, a half-degree Mercury-Neptune opposition was exactly on the horizon, with Mars just a few degrees away. It was surely a moment of chaos, insanity, and violence. Moon was only 2° past conjunction with Sun, but the New Moon chart (a common tool of traditional mundane astrology) was of no particular distinction for Puerto Rico.
Year: Capsolar (Dormant.)
Year: Cansolar (Dormant.) Moon-Uranus conj. (3°57').
Bridge (None.)
NB. p Venus-Neptune sq. exact 10/7, only 0°03' wide; but it's not a standard hurricane aspect
Quarter: Arisolar
Mars on MC (2°19')
Month: Caplunar
Sun on Asc (0°26')
Neptune on Dsc (2°27')
-- Sun-Neptune op. (2°47')
Moon-Jupiter (2°14' in mundo)
Week: Canlunar
Saturn on Asc (0°37')
Sun on MC (4°23')
-- Sun-Saturn sq. (1°29')
Moon-Jupiter sq. (0°10')
Moon-Uranus sq. (1°23' in mundo)
Day: Capsolar Quotidian & Transits (Dormant.)
Day: Cansolar Quotidian
(Angles identical to those for landfall.)
p Asc conj. t Mercury (1°10'), op. t Neptune (0°47')
-- Mercury-Neptune op. (0°23')
p EP conj. t Mars (0°48')
p MC conj. s Venus (1°34'), sq. t Neptune (0°14'), sq. s Neptune (1°49')
-- p Venus-Neptune sq. (0°03')
SUMMARY
Year (Capsolar): (Dormant.)
Year (Cansolar): (Dormant.) Moon-Uranus.
Bridge: (None.)
Quarter (+2): Mars.
Month (+2): Sun Neptune. Moon-Jupiter Sun-Neptune.
Week (+2): Saturn (Sun). Moon-Jupiter Moon-Uranus Sun-Saturn.
Day (Capsolar): (Dormant.)
Day (CanQ, +2): Mercury Venus Mars Neptune. Mercury-Neptune Venus-Neptune.
(Time Magazine reported the time as 6:15 EST, though PR was on AST, so I have adjusted it above.)
I just realized I never did a full work-up on Hurricane Maria. So much was happening in the weather... we watched it coming, we commented after, but never dug into the event of its decimation of Puerto Rico. There was so much data on the different regions of impact, I never boiled it all down to a single report.
It is the worst natural disaster in Puerto Rican history, with similar impact on the Commonwealth of Dominica. It also exacerbated damage in other parts of the Caribbean caused soon before by Hurricane Irma. One minute sustained winds reached 175 mph, reaching Category 5 storm September 18 (just before hitting Dominica). By the time it hit Puerto Rico, it had weakened to Category 4 (155 mph sustained winds), which is no solace for the ravaged island.
Only 112 deaths have been confirmed (64 of them in Puerto Rico), although follow-up reporting suggests that 1,133 is the correct number (nearly all in Puerto Rico). Damages are estimated at $91.61 billion, making it the costliest hurricane in Puerto Rico history, and the third costliest anywhere. About 80% of all PR agriculture was stripped away, and enormous ecological damage was caused. The entire PR power grid was famously destroyed, and even today hasn't been fully restored. Nearly all (85%) of above-ground phone and internet cabling was damaged or destroyed, and only one radio station continued to operate. El Yunque rain forest, one of my favorite spots on earth, was stripped almost naked.
At the moment of landfall, a half-degree Mercury-Neptune opposition was exactly on the horizon, with Mars just a few degrees away. It was surely a moment of chaos, insanity, and violence. Moon was only 2° past conjunction with Sun, but the New Moon chart (a common tool of traditional mundane astrology) was of no particular distinction for Puerto Rico.
Year: Capsolar (Dormant.)
Year: Cansolar (Dormant.) Moon-Uranus conj. (3°57').
Bridge (None.)
NB. p Venus-Neptune sq. exact 10/7, only 0°03' wide; but it's not a standard hurricane aspect
Quarter: Arisolar
Mars on MC (2°19')
Month: Caplunar
Sun on Asc (0°26')
Neptune on Dsc (2°27')
-- Sun-Neptune op. (2°47')
Moon-Jupiter (2°14' in mundo)
Week: Canlunar
Saturn on Asc (0°37')
Sun on MC (4°23')
-- Sun-Saturn sq. (1°29')
Moon-Jupiter sq. (0°10')
Moon-Uranus sq. (1°23' in mundo)
Day: Capsolar Quotidian & Transits (Dormant.)
Day: Cansolar Quotidian
(Angles identical to those for landfall.)
p Asc conj. t Mercury (1°10'), op. t Neptune (0°47')
-- Mercury-Neptune op. (0°23')
p EP conj. t Mars (0°48')
p MC conj. s Venus (1°34'), sq. t Neptune (0°14'), sq. s Neptune (1°49')
-- p Venus-Neptune sq. (0°03')
SUMMARY
Year (Capsolar): (Dormant.)
Year (Cansolar): (Dormant.) Moon-Uranus.
Bridge: (None.)
Quarter (+2): Mars.
Month (+2): Sun Neptune. Moon-Jupiter Sun-Neptune.
Week (+2): Saturn (Sun). Moon-Jupiter Moon-Uranus Sun-Saturn.
Day (Capsolar): (Dormant.)
Day (CanQ, +2): Mercury Venus Mars Neptune. Mercury-Neptune Venus-Neptune.