# Where did the majority of Ida’s water come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2021, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-majority-of-ida-s-water-come-from/949975 "2021-09-02T10:35:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-majority-of-ida-s-water-come-from/949975/1 "2021-09-02T10:35:08Z")
Hurricane Ida dumped a huge amount of water on the southeastern US as it landed in LA. As the system moved northeast, it continued to produce heavy rain, and then finally dropped record-breaking rainfall amount on portions of the Northeast (including my area). I assume the majority of the water in the Southeast was from moisture the storm accumulated from its journey across the Atlantic and Gulf. But what about water that fell across its journey? Was that additional moisture that it picked up, or still the original water from the ocean? Finally, when it made its way to PA, NJ, NY, etc., was a large proportion of that water new from the North Atlantic? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-majority-of-ida-s-water-come-from/949975/2 "2021-09-02T10:41:41Z")
It brought the water with it, same as most storms. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-majority-of-ida-s-water-come-from/949975/3 "2021-09-02T11:17:22Z")
The water comes from the ocean. While they have access to the ocean, they function as giant pumps, evaporating water out of the ocean and dumping it into the ground. (Warm water also gives them power.) > **[Hurricane Ida could be ‘prolific rainmaker’ in NYC: Forecaster details the...](https://www.silive.com/weather/2021/08/hurricane-ida-could-be-prolific-rainmaker-in-nyc-forecaster-details-the-latest.html?outputType=amp)** > > The storm knocked out power to more than 1 million homes and businesses and left at least two people dead, prompting a massive relief effort across the Gulf Coast. Shows that the storm was back over the water as it dumped rain on New York. Some of the water may have been in the clouds all along, but some of what it dumped in NY and NJ it probably picked up locally. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-majority-of-ida-s-water-come-from/949975/4 "2021-09-02T11:36:37Z")
Sorry perhaps my question should have been clearer. I assume that close to 100% of its water dropped in LA was from the south Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. But what about the water that was dropped in PA, NJ, and NY? Would that be more like 50% “original” water and 50% “new” water, or some other proportion? Not looking for an exact breakdown, but just ballpark. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-majority-of-ida-s-water-come-from/949975/5 "2021-09-02T19:21:37Z")
I would think the Gulf has more than enough water to go around. After all, the whole of the central USA from Denver west to Maine gets its water from either the Gulf or the Pacific despite the distance it needs to travel - most weather goes from west to east, often working its way north if it’s warm. I suspect another factor is that the supersaturated clouds of Ida (or any other storm) also shed more water along the way northward because they are cooling off after the Gulf and cooler means less carrying capacity. ---
**Author:** ![mu34tant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/0ea827/32.png) [@mu34tant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mu34tant)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-majority-of-ida-s-water-come-from/949975/6 "2021-09-02T22:28:12Z")
Huge 750 mile radius storms bring massive amounts of moister with them for many many miles. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2021, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-majority-of-ida-s-water-come-from/949975/7 "2021-09-04T02:10:31Z")
One thing I definitely remember from reading “The Perfect Storm” is that a large hurricane can encompass a million cubic miles of atmosphere. That’s always stuck with me. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2021, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-majority-of-ida-s-water-come-from/949975/8 "2021-09-04T02:30:04Z")
So why did Ida wait until she was in eastern PA to dump those massive amounts of rain? What about all the states between LA and PA? They seem to have received just get “normal” amounts of hurricane rain. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2021, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-majority-of-ida-s-water-come-from/949975/9 "2021-09-04T03:22:47Z")
Thanks, I was going to follow up with this question as well. That was actually what made me ask the question to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2021, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-majority-of-ida-s-water-come-from/949975/10 "2021-09-04T03:31:22Z")
That water was probably always there. When Ida encountered lower temperatures, the storm released its water because the atmosphere could no longer contain it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2021, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-majority-of-ida-s-water-come-from/949975/11 "2021-09-04T13:22:43Z")
Huh, I’d always heard that the amount of water that a hurricane drops over its life is an order of magnitude or more larger than the amount that’s in the air at any given moment. So it’s mostly not carrying its water with it, but continually refreshing it.