Katrina

Impressive rainfall from Katrina as noted below from the NWS Miami local storm report. Unfortunately there were some fatalities as well.

0730 AM

I like this site a lot when looking at tracking and hurricanes…

NRL Monterey Marine Meteorology Division
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/ATL/12L.KATRINA/ssmi/gif/full/Latest.html

I sure hope it doesn’t go where they are tracking it right at the moment… Just left of New Orleans… not a good place for what looks like might be a Cat 3 when it hits land again.

Looks like the Big Easy (New Orleans for those not from the US) will get hit hard. For those abroad, New Orleans is below sea level and depends on a series of dikes, levies and pumps. And Lake Pontchartrain is north of them so they could get it from both directions if Pontchartrain floods.

Say a prayer for those souls in N’awlins.

Are there any WD folks in that area?

Frank

looks like might be a Cat 3 when it hits land again

Looks like a cat 5 now, see http://blogs.chron.com/sciguy/archives/2005/08/katrina_now_a_c.html

My heart goes out to anyone in the path of that.

I hope everyone in the affected area is getting out of town, looks to be a major storm with devastating potential for damage and flooding.

Check out this high resoltion image - quite impressive!

http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/hurseas2005/Katrina1545zD-050828-1kg12.jpg

Latest report is 902 mb pressure. The NWS statements are horrible. They project no power or water for WEEKS maybe MONTHS! Its the 4’th most powerful. They say most of the city will be UNINHABITABLE for a month!

You can see webcams at nola.com and http://www.wwltv.com/ which is a local tv startion.

Any WD folks nearby? I am in central GA

Frank
NWS STATEMENT
…DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED…

.HURRICANE KATRINA…A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED STRENGTH…RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS…PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL…LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE…INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY…A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD…AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS…PETS…AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS…AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING…BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BEKILLED.

Currently sustained winds of 175 mph. If it keeps up like this, it will be only the 3rd cat 5 hurricane to strike the U.S. since they began keeping records…Good Luck New Orleans!

Looks incredibly bad on the sat loop!
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/DATA/RT/float-ir4-loop.html
I hope no one is staying around
There are some WD users along that coast line, I remember from the last hurricane they had…

I still would like to have a world map that shows every WD station with a clickable link to their website. One of those crazy ideas I had that comes to mind when these storms move in…Awekas http://www.awekas.at/en/index.php?land= seems like it could handle this project and it already interfaces with WD. If more USA based WD stations submit their data I think Othmar would create a USA map. Seems they have Europe covered but I think I am the first USA station to sign up with them…

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?CW0069
is a wd station…just need to find the WD web site page…
ahh, found it:
http://www.datasync.com/~magee/weather/
and also see this site:
http://www-frd.fsl.noaa.gov/mesonet/
shows alot of other CWOP stations
what they need is a link to the persons web site…

Frank - could you provide a link to that NWS statment?
Thanks

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8030&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
check that forum thread, there is links there to where it was sourced

As I was posting the text of that I heard FOXNEWS anchor reading it verbatim on the air.

NWS projects storm surge as high as 28 feet. And many parts of New Orleans are 10 feet BELOW sealevel. That means a 38 foot wave!

Good speed to all in the area. I hope our WD friends are safe.

Frank

Got it - thanks Brian.
That statement is chilling me to the bone…

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/productview.php?pil=NPWLIX&version=0&max=51

here is a NWS bouy getting affected badly now:
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/show_plot.php?station=42001&meas=wdpr&uom=E

becuase of the long coastline and big land mass (i.e no more moisture source) that it runs into, hurricanes qucikly weaken when they hit the gulf shores…compared to say crossing an Island in the Carribean…or even florida (where it can still pull in moisture from the other side of florida)…drier air getting into the eye quickly nocks down the eyewall and the hurricane weakens rapidly
(its like creating a whil pool with a stick…as soon as you stop , the whirppool lowest center part quickly comes up…but then it will reach a level at which it only more slowly weakens from…but the stronger it is in the first place, even a weakening, will still mean it will be very destructive when it reaches landfal…also
if its travelling fast, then it does not weaken much before the eye hits landfall…
thats my understanding :slight_smile:

Gosh, this is one very impressive storm - one of the most dangerous to hit the USA!..Especially considering the fact that it will be hitting the New Orleans area.

It now looks like the storm may even make landfall sometime late tonight (EDT) - around 12 AM, which is earlier then they originally expected.

–Tim

Live webcams in the way of the storm…

http://www.earthcam.com/events/extremeweather/

Marine data from buoys and oil platforms…

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/radial_search.php?lat1=26.9N&lon1=89.0W&dist=250&time=3

Also to add to what Tom said…

If anyone has weatherbug, then you can set your new location to “Grand Isle, Louisiana”.

[quote author=aifan27 link=topic=10876.msg81908#msg81908 date=1125272889]
Also to add to what Tom said…

If anyone has weatherbug, then you can set your new location to “Grand Isle, Louisiana”.