FIRE STORM

With over forty million gallons of oil having been released into the Gulf of Mexico since the BP disaster began a little over a month ago and the prospects of over one hundred million additional gallons being released by this well before it is contained? This area of sea surface covered by crude oil could reach the size of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama put together.

Aside from the environmental impact of such a large area of water covered by a layer of crude oil and the possibility of massive oil plumes stretching for miles beneath the surface an unforeseen catastrophe could be looming in the near future. This could have worldwide consequences of Biblical proportions if this oil on the water over were to catch fire either by natural forces such as a lightning strike or intentionally or accidentally set ablaze by humans. Either way this would be the greatest disaster our civilization has ever witnessed: A fire storm in literal terms.

Such a scenario would possibly black out the eastern half of the United States for days with a thick layer of black smoke and soot making breathing nearly impossible.

The size of the fire itself would immediately change the weather in the eastern half of the country generating massive amounts of heat in the Gulf of Mexico which would generate extreme weather phenomena over this area and especially along the Gulf Coast itself. Areas of severe thunderstorms the size of Texas could boil up in these areas causing massive amounts of rainfall, dangerous hail, extreme winds of the likes we have not ever witnessed. The heat, humidity and atmosphere would be ripe for such storm development.

Aside from this the environmental impact of such a wide area getting massive amounts of precipitation the mixture of oil in it would make water supplies unusable for millions and kill most if not all vegetation it fell on rendering the eastern U.S. a virtual dead zone.

The prospect of such a grand scale fire burning over such a wide area of open sea could also generate the formation of a super hurricane which would go beyond the current scale of a category 5 to possibly that of a cat. 10 with winds in excess of 400 mph, rainfall rates of over a foot an hour and the size of such a storm system could be that of the entire Gulf of Mexico itself.

The worst case scenario would be the formation of a super firestorm of the same grand scale and force moving ashore affecting most of the eastern half of the U.S. and obliterating most of the Gulf States in its path. It would be like imagining the largest hurricane in history and the strongest storm ever made but this one would consist of fire from the convection of the blaze over water at this size.

The impact on the world would also be felt as the overall global temperature could increase as much as ten degrees from such a large scale fire and possibly be increased even more by being helped along by the smoke trapping all the heat in the atmosphere below the cloud line.

Of course this is only science fiction fantasy, however with crude oil blanketing the Gulf of Mexico over such a large area and quite possibly more oil beneath the surface it is more than possible this could come to fruition. At this time of year many thunderstorms form in the Gulf and hundreds of lightning bolts hit the water every day increasing the chances of igniting the oil.

There are also forces in the world which would plot the chance to start such a Fire Storm catastrophe by setting the oil on fire and this must be realized by the U.S. and other governments so precautions can be taken to avert or lessen the chances of it becoming reality.