D&D General Melissa shows how badly LTH misses the mark on wind protection

[tetrasodium]

Spoiler: Some Data on Melissa

AI Overview

+8


Hurricane Melissa reached maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph) at its peak intensity when it made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 storm
.
This wind speed is significant for several reasons:

• Tied for second-strongest Atlantic hurricane by wind speed: Melissa's 185 mph maximum sustained winds tie it with four other storms as the second most powerful Atlantic hurricane on record based on wind speed. Only Hurricane Allen (1980), which reached 190 mph over open water, had higher winds.
• Tied for strongest Atlantic landfall: The storm's 185 mph winds at landfall tie it with Hurricane Dorian (2019) and the unnamed Labor Day Hurricane (1935) for the strongest wind speed of an Atlantic hurricane hitting land.
• Strongest storm to hit Jamaica: Melissa surpassed the wind speeds of Hurricane Gilbert (1988), making it the strongest hurricane to ever make landfall on the island of Jamaica.

While the maximum sustained winds were 185 mph, wind gusts were even higher. A dropsonde, an instrument deployed by hurricane hunters, recorded a gust of 252 mph inside the storm's eyewall at a lower altitude, a potential world record.

-source

Hurricanes are big.

Spoiler: probably bigger than your thinking

It's rocking Cuba as a cat3 while type this

This was last night when it was still cat5

Yes it was already covering most of Cuba when the eye made landfall in Jamaica.

I happened to look up what Melissa's peak wind speeds were and was surprised to see mention surpassing the 1935 storm given the number of mass graves and monuments near me to the damage it did. Jamaica is in for an awful recovery period and being an island probably makes the kind of prestorm prep Florida does with out of state/international linemen and such impossible.

Hurricane Andrew was my first big storm and even 60 something miles away from landfall it was an unforgettable experience deep in the realm of what d&d used to class as epic magic when the eye went over us.

No third level spell should protect against this kind of devastation and it certainly shouldn't protect against a tropical storm's sustained winds

 

[Mort]

LTH is for where the DM is ok with the group completely ignoring environmental conditions when resting, period. It's essentially a short cut to ensure that.

If the DM wants to have that be a thing, this spell needs to be first on the ban list, right along with rope trick etc.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

Are we really using real world disasters with catastrophic consequences to base decisions on whether a magical spell in a fantasy game is "realistic" or not?

 

[bedir than]

What is LTH?

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Are we really using real world disasters with catastrophic consequences to base decisions on whether a magical spell in a fantasy game is "realistic" or not?

Alchemists fire can't melt steel beams

 

[Shiroiken]

What is LTH?

I figured it to be Leomund's Tiny Hut, a sometimes problematic spell for DMs.

 

[payn]

Hurricanes are big.
No third level spell should protect against this kind of devastation and it certainly shouldn't protect against a tropical storm's sustained winds

Alchemists fire can't melt steel beams

 

[Zardnaar]

I figured it to be Leomund's Tiny Hut, a sometimes problematic spell for DMs.

Leomunds Secure Bunker.

I miss the old version.

 

[bedir than]

Wouldn't your hurricanes and tornadoes and such in a fantasy world be infused with elemental magic?

 

[TiQuinn]

No third level spell should protect against this kind of devastation and it certainly shouldn't protect against a tropical storm's sustained winds

How do we know what a third level spell should do when there is no real world equivalent to magic?