
A hypercane is a hypothetical class of extreme tropical cyclone - bane
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercane
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kethinov
Hypercanes are thought to have played a role in the biggest mass extinction
ever, the end-Permian.[1] Back then all the continents had converged into the
massive Pangea supercontinent, which was surrounded by an equally massive
global ocean. Bear in mind that today's most intense tropical cyclones are the
ones in the Pacific, the world's largest ocean. Back during the Permian, the
global super ocean would've been an even richer feeding ground for cyclones.

From the article cited below, "there might have turbocharged 'hypercanes' of
almost unbelievable intensity assaulting the supercontinent Pangaea—the result
of runaway global warming." Also bear in mind that the supercontinent Pangea
was assumed to be habitable almost exclusively along its coasts, with an
immense desert covering most of its non-coastal land. So if life was mostly
concentrated along the coasts and the coasts are constantly getting slammed by
hypercanes... yeah, not good.

Certainly lots of things contributed to the Permian extinction. Some have
referred to it as the "Murder on the Orient Express" extinction: everything
caused it. Pangea, an asteroid impact or two, volcanoes, methane releases from
the ocean floor, maybe even a gamma ray burst hit the Earth too. The sheer
scale of death seems to imply multiple causes. But regardless of what the
primary causes were, the hypercanes part of it always fascinated me.

[1]
[https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/07/a-road-t...](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/07/a-road-
trip-to-the-end-of-the-world/532914/)

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nimchimpsky
I thought supermonsoon was much more likely.

Hyercane sounds like sci fi.

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ribfeast
Hypersharkicane

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Kaibeezy
... As the area of sub-700mb atmospheric pressure slid over the Tetons and
down into the Yellowstone Caldera, an enormous weight was lifted. Like a
curious bear pushing aside the stone on the lid of a bottomless box swarming
with a quadrillion angry bees, a trillion tons of ash exploded into the
stratosphere. Within hours, half of humanity lay sprawled under a smothering
blanket of doom ...

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vosper
If any of the events required for this incredibly speculative thing to happen
occurred we'd probably have bigger things to worry about.

I hypothesize that hypertornados would go along with it, and since we're
speculating about things that could be triggered by large asteroid impacts, I
imagine there will be hyperquakes, too. We could call the long, cold period
after hyperwinter.

This link is stupid.

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cjensen
The link is pretty bizarre to me. It can only occur if an enormous region of
an ocean is tremendously heated. Short of a Chicxulub-style event in which
down falling ejecta massively heats a large region, I don't see how you get
there.

Even then, the link requires that the troposphere remains at a relatively
normal temperature, which rules out ejecta heating. I just don't see a
mechanism.

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tzs
That would be especially nasty. Even if you survive the winds and don't drown
in the storm surge, there would be a threat that ordinary hurricanes do not
pose: burns.

The ocean temperature necessary to support a hypercane is high enough to cause
third degree burns in around 10 minutes and second degree burns in around 20
minutes.

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Moto7451
I think you misread 120 degrees Fahrenheit as 120 degrees centigrade.

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LeifCarrotson
Nope, 120F is just under 50C, which is plenty hot. A blissfully hot scalding
shower is 110F/43C, and most people can't take a hot tub/spa temperature of
more than about 104F/40C.

Anything greater than 98.6F/37C will cause body temperature to rise, and you
can't expect to cool off by sweating when the neighborhood is underwater.

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askvictor
Curious if a thermonuclear explosion in the sea could kick off something like
this. Y'know, because nukes aren't scary enough as they are. How long would
the sea temperature need to be at 50C for, and what volume of water? And
presumably if you're dropping an h bomb in the sea there's going to be a
tsunami as well.

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rainbowmverse
You don't have to wonder.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_testing_at_Bikini_Atol...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_testing_at_Bikini_Atoll)

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askvictor
So the thermonuclear devices detonated near the sea surface were in the
ballpark of 10Mt. At least half of the yield (probably more due to reflection)
went up into the atmosphere. I'm curious if a more powerful weapon (Russia's
Tsar Bomba had a yield of 50Mt, with a theoretical limit of 100Mt), detonated
below the sea (so that all/most of the energy heats up water) could achieve a
hypercane, or if it's just a drop in the water (pun intended)

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skykooler
Hypercanes would be pretty intense; wind speeds of 500 mph would destroy most
buildings, and almost all skyscrapers (which are not built to withstand such
lateral loads).

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BenjiWiebe
Almost all skyscrapers? Are there skyscrapers out there that _wouldn 't_ be
leveled by a 500mph wind!?

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trapperkeeper74
300 mph tornados tear up everything except some roadways, foundations and
deeply-driven steel pilings. 500 mph would just make a messier mess. If that
were multiplied over continental size, that would definitely extinct some
species.

