Posted on 07/09/2005 10:07:21 PM PDT by Reagan80
Edited on 07/09/2005 10:34:45 PM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
As of 1:00 a.m. ET, Dennis' maximum sustained winds increased to 135 mph making it a dangerous Category 4 hurricane. This is the second time that Dennis has reached Category 4 status. Dennis is a very symmetrical hurricane with a well defined eye and could intensify even more as it pushes to the north-northwest through the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Dennis’ outer rain bands are radiating northward bringing periodic bouts of heavy rain, gusty winds, and isolated tornadoes from the peninsula to the panhandle of Florida and points even farther north and west. Gusty winds will continue to impact much of Florida (particularly the western half of the state). Winds will increase across the Florida Panhandle as Dennis approaches during the overnight hours.
On Sunday, the northern Gulf Coast from east of New Orleans to the Florida Panhandle needs to be as prepared as absolutely possible for the destructive winds, battering waves, coastal flooding and flooding rains of a major hurricane when Dennis finally moves ashore during the afternoon or, at the very latest, the evening hours. At U.S. landfall, Dennis could be almost as potent as when it hit the south-central coast of Cuba on Friday. If mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for your area, leave. Rainfall amounts of 4-8 inches are likely for the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama, and southern Mississippi with locally higher amounts along and east of where the center of circulation tracks.
Hurricane warnings remain in effect for the northern Gulf Coast from the Pearl River east to Steinhatchee River with tropical storm warnings from Steinhatchee River to Bonita Beach along the Gulf Coast of Florida. The hurricane warning in the Florida Keys has been downgraded to a tropical storm warning from the Seven Mile Bridge to Dry Tortugas. In Louisiana, tropical storm warnings are posted from Grand Isle to the Pearl River, including New Orleans and Lake Ponchatrain.
Hurricane Dennis made a brief landfall near Cabo Cruz, Cuba on Thursday evening. The eye made a second landfall on the south-central coast of Cuba as a Category 4 hurricane, winds of 149 mph, near Cienfuegos early Friday afternoon. Dennis weakened as it moved over Cuba and was downgraded to a Category 1 storm with top sustained winds of 90 mph after emerging into the Gulf of Mexico, but it has dramatically recovered to a Category 4.
Four Atlantic weather systems -- Arlene, Bret, Cindy and Dennis -- reached Tropical Storm status by July 5, the earliest for so many named storms in recorded history. Only three major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher) have hit the U.S. coast in July in the past 100 years. When the maximum sustained winds in Hurricane Dennis peaked at 150 mph on Friday morning, Dennis officially became the strongest July Atlantic Basin hurricane on record and the strongest Atlantic hurricane this early in hurricane season.
Yikes! Where's landfall? Still Pensacola?
Damn! This one is going to hurt.
That's where Jim Cantore is, so I'd say that looks like a bull's eye; although there has been an ever-so-slight jog to the West...
Reagan80
Dennis is making sure he leaves his mark.
They had better be correct. If it hooks to the left, it's going to be too late to evacuate New Orleans at this point.
Well developed, Headed for Cat 5
Dear ARCADIA,
A Belated "Welcome" to the U.S.!
Very glad to have you here at the most intelligent spot on the Internet...
Reagan80
Those folks in Pensacola have taken a beating. But they are probably better prepared than those to the west. Prayers lifted for all.
Agree.
Have you been there? If a Cat 4/5 hits New Orleans, it'll be gone...
Reagan80
What would happen if a series of very large bombs (BLU-82)
were dropped and detonated at positions alongside the interior
of the eyewall of powerful hurricanes?
Could it be that they could be used to disrupt the circulating effect and cause the eyewall , and thus the storm itself , to disassemble ? There must be some physics that could be affected .
I live upstate, and have many friends there. A few have left, most haven't. Jefferson Parish, a suburb of New Orleans, called for voluntary evacuation yesterday, but it's been rescinded. It's still an outside shot, but I think the probability is going up for a westward move. The National Hurrican center so far hasn't issued a hurricane warning this far west, and the local officials are going with that.
The 1 AM update will make things somewhat clearer, and a lot of people are staying up for that. If this thing looks like it's making a left turn, there's going to be a mad dash for the exits.
Nothing significant would happen. The scale of these things has to be seen to be appreciated. You are talking about an eye that is 40,000-50,000 feet high, and several miles across; and it is moving. During the 50-60s they went so far as to consider nuking one before they gave it up.
The 1am update? I knew I was sitting up for something over here in Houston.
Unfortunately, not much. A few seconds of a Major Hurricane packs more energy than any series of bombs we've ever come up with.
Reagan80
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