Never Forget

I would be remiss not to mention on this the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attack on America, how the weather greatly aided the attackers in their mission.  Aviation and meteorology go hand in hand.  This is why historically most official observation sites are located airports.  Wx obs are crucial for aviation.  The surface map in terms of pressures for that infamous day of September 11, 2001 is shown below.  This map is not too dissimilar from what is progged to occur later this week.  Look at the sprawling area of high pressure that made flying easy (unfortunately) on Sept 11, 2001.  It was clear sailing from TX north to MN and east to New England!

Here are the 4 flight paths in question on that day of infamy.

So the weather most certainly cooperated with the attackers on that late summer-early fall day.  Had there been a hurricane or tropical system similar to what we've had over the last 2 weeks here in the east, history would most certainly have been changed.  I'm not saying that these attacks would have been prevented.  But in a touch of irony, in the height of the hurricane season statistically, none were evident in the eastern part of North America on September 11, 2001!  Look at the frequency chart below and note how this day marks the peak of tropical activity in the Atlantic Basin....

Let's never forget that day!

Smitty

AA:  How the weather affected the plot of the September 11, 2001 attacks.