HURRICANE ISABEL NOW A CATEGORY 4 WITH 135 MPH WINDS AND EXPECTED TO INTENSIFY

National Hurricane Center, Miami ^ | September 9, 2003 | National Hurricane Center

[varina davis]

BULLETIN

HURRICANE ISABEL ADVISORY NUMBER 12 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 11 PM AST MON SEP 08 2003

...ISABEL NOW A CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE...

AT 11 PM AST...0300Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE ISABEL WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 18.5 NORTH... LONGITUDE 44.5 WEST OR ABOUT 1135 MILES...1825 KM...EAST OF THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS.

ISABEL IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 13 MPH ...20 KM/HR...AND THIS MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE INCREASED AND ARE NOW NEAR 135 MPH...215 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. THIS MAKES ISABEL A CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE. SOME ADDITIONAL STRENGTHENING IS POSSIBLE DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 35 MILES... 55 KM... FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 140 MILES...220 KM.

ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 948 MB...27.99 INCHES.

REPEATING THE 11 PM AST POSITION...18.5 N... 44.5 W. MOVEMENT TOWARD...WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 13 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...135 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE... 948 MB.

THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT 5 AM AST.

FORECASTER FRANKLIN

[varina davis]

This one, some models say, may head WNW for a couple of days and then take a more westerly route due to a very strong ridge to the north.

Anyone in the Caribbean Islands and the SE U.S. needs to monitor this very dangerous storm.

[xrp]

Pray for our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico and the US VI.

[Lost and Confused]

wow, now that's a storm :-O

[kayak]

Anyone in the Caribbean Islands and the SE U.S. needs to monitor this very dangerous storm.

That certainly bears repeating!

[lakey]

Board up all of your windows & give up those flip-flop sandals. Not good for wading.

[Green Knight]

I haven't been paying attention, but is it heading towards South Florida?

[Tuxedo]

This could be the big one! Does not look like it is gonna miss the USA at this point (long range models). The islands will take some bite out of it.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

The Eastern Visible Loop shows this storm at this point.

Real Time GOES Imagery - Eastern Atlantic Visible Loop

[SeeRushToldU_So]

This one could be bad.

[WSGilcrest]

Rather than posting the HUGE pic, mash THIS LINKto see the 5-day forecast track.

[kayak]

Well, she is still waaaaaaay out at sea .... some 1135 miles east of the Windward Islands ... so it's days too early to tell. But everyone along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts should start watching Isabel now. Hopefully, she will turn north as big brother Fabian did.

[rs79bm]

I am now blinded by your beautifully captioned post. Beware the caps lock.

[pgkdan]

This one's got my attention where Fabian didn't.

[Lunatic Fringe]

That storm is a long ways out to already be a CAT4. Watch out if this thing hits land.

[RGVTx]

**Beware the caps lock.**

I believe that is the way it was orignally published. All National Weather Service advisorys I've seen are typed in upper case.

[My Favorite Headache]

As we all know here in weather fanatic land...this is about as far away in weather terms from the U.S. mainland as are the 2004 elections.

[Shaka]

GFDL has it following Fabian...this is wrong. The experimental Trantech has changed it's original forecast to going westward...towards the U.S. coast. It will probably go up and down in intensity for the next few days...but, make no mistake, there is nothing in HER future that resembles a shear. Powerful storm heading for destruction...Hold on to your hats in the north carribean.

[nwctwx]

It's a long way out to be worrying too much about it...

[blam]

As I said on the other thread, "I don't like the looks of this one. I'll be out checking the generator and chain saws tomorrow."

[kayak]

rs ~~~ that is how the NWS and the Hurricane Center issue their bulletins .... in all CAPS. Not the poster's doing.

varina ~~~ one little trick I've learned, if I have the time for it, is to copy one of these bulletins into my word processing program and then select Change Case, choosing Sentence Case. It makes it a little easier on the eyes but has some drawbacks:

.... depending on how your word processor works, you may then have to go through and re-capitalize some of the words, which takes extra time and trouble .... and then people will get on you if you miss a word that should have been capitalized.

.... it looks less 'official' when done in Sentence Case.