Live Thread - Hurricane Katrina, Part IV (Update: Now a Category 5 )

NOAA - NHC ^ | 27 August 2005 | NOAA - NHC

[NautiNurse]

Hurricane warnings and watches are posted. Hurricane Katrina continues to strengthen in the Gulf of Mexico. The forecast models continue to converge upon New Orleans. However, all interests in the northern Gulf of Mexico should follow the path of this very large and dangerous storm, and be prepared for a major hurricane landfall. There have been reports of coastal animals leaving in droves for higher ground. Meanwhile, New Orleans continues to suggest that residents evacuate.

The following links are self-updating:

Public Advisory Currently published every 3 hours 5A, 8A, 11A, 2P, etc. ET
NHC Discussion Published every six hours 6A, 11A, 6P, 11P
Three Day Forecast Track
Five Day Forecast Track
Navy Storm Track
Katrina Track Forecast Archive Nice loop of each NHC forecast track for both three and five day
Forecast Models
Alternate Hurricane Models via Skeetobite
Bouy Data Louisiana/Mississippi
Buoy Data Florida

Images:

New Orleans/Baton Rouge Experimental Radar Subject to delays and outages - and well worth the wait

Mobile Long Range Radar Loop

New Orleans/Baton Rouge Radar

Ft. Polk, LA Long Range Radar Loop

Northwest Florida Long Range Radar

Storm Floater IR Loop
Storm Floater Still & Loop Options
Color Enhanced IR Loop

Other Resources:

Hurricane Wind Risk Very informative tables showing inland wind potential by hurricane strength and forward motion
Central Florida Hurricane Center
New Orleans Web Cams Loads of web cam sites here. The sites have been very slow due to high traffic
New Orleans Music Online Couldn't resist--love that jazz
Golden Triangle Weather Page Nice Beaumont weather site with lots of tracks and graphics
Hurricane City
Crown Weather Tropical Website Offers a variety of storm info, with some nice track graphics

Live streaming:
copy/paste into player:

WWL-TV/DT New Orleans (WMP) - mms://beloint.wm.llnwd.net/beloint_wwltv
WVTM-TV/DT Birmingham (WMP) - mms://a1256.l1289835255.c12898.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/1256/12898/v0001/reflector:35255
WDSU-TV/DT New Orleans (WMP) - http://mfile.akamai.com/12912/live/reflector:38202.asx
Hurricane City (Real Player) - http://hurricanecity.com/live.ram
ABCNews Now (Real Player) - http://reallive.stream.aol.com/ramgen/redundant/abc/now_hi.rm

Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part III
Katrina Live Thread, Part II
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm 12

Category	Wind Speed	Barometric Pressure	Storm Surge	Damage Potential
Tropical Depression	< 39 mph < 34 kts			Minimal
Tropical Storm	39 - 73 mph 34 - 63 kts			Minimal
Hurricane 1 (Weak)	74 - 95 mph 64 - 82 kts	28.94" or more 980.02 mb or more	4.0' - 5.0' 1.2 m - 1.5 m	Minimal damage to vegetation
Hurricane 2 (Moderate)	96 - 110 mph 83 - 95 kts	28.50" - 28.93" 965.12 mb - 979.68 mb	6.0' - 8.0' 1.8 m - 2.4 m	Moderate damage to houses
Hurricane 3 (Strong)	111 - 130 mph 96 - 112 kts	27.91" - 28.49" 945.14 mb - 964.78 mb	9.0' - 12.0' 2.7 m - 3.7 m	Extensive damage to small buildings
Hurricane 4 (Very strong)	131 - 155 mph 113 - 135 kts	27.17" - 27.90" 920.08 mb - 944.80 mb	13.0' - 18.0' 3.9 m - 5.5 m	Extreme structural damage
Hurricane 5 (Devastating)	Greater than 155 mph Greater than 135 kts	Less than 27.17" Less than 920.08 mb	Greater than 18.0' Greater than 5.5m	Catastrophic building failures possible

[eldoradude]

New Orleans would be in grave danger.

What will happen to all of the cemeteries?

[spycatcher]

Agnes was a bitch

[silentknight]

Who said that animals were heading for higher ground? I read it somewhere in this thread? Anyone know what that was all about?

[PennsylvaniaMom]

I think it was the remnants of Hurricane Agnes. Extensive flooding all across PA.

[NautiNurse]

any possibility you can wait until your son arrives? Your know, that extra set of hands...

[Bogey78O]

Nagin was actually the best they had. He went in and tried to at least be different but he neglected to note that effective leadership is the last thing an urban black community demands. He has been pretty crippled by people who criticize him constantly for 'tying his shoes like a white guy'.

[nwctwx]

122kt in SE quad, 935mb... sounds like a cat 4 to me.

--

000
URNT12 KNHC 280525
VORTEX DATA MESSAGE
A. 28/05:11:20Z
B. 25 deg 07 min N
086 deg 39 min W
C. 700 mb 2530 m
D. NA kt
E. NA deg nm
F. 225 deg 122 kt
G. 140 deg 019 nm
H. EXTRAP 935 mb
I. 10 C/ 3053 m
J. 19 C/ 3047 m
K. 12 C/ NA
L. CLOSED WALL
M. E12/38/32
N. 12345/ 7
O. 0.02 / 2 nm
P. AF300 1512A KATRINA OB 16
MAX FL WIND 122 KT SE QUAD 05:05:30 Z
SLP EXTRAP FROM 700 MB
MAX FL TEMP 20C 310/9NM
LIGHTNING OBSERVED IN ONE OF THE OUTER BANDS, BUT NOT IN SE EYEWALL

[JUMPIN JEHOSPOHAT]

It proves the animals are smarter than the Mayor?

[IYAAYAS]

I'm checking in from Ft Lauderdale, I just got my Internet access back. Most still have no electricity here.

This power of Katrina took everyone by surprise here. I'd say about 20% of eastern Broward county has been defoliated,tens of thousands of downed trees, with minimal structural damage. Everyone here learned a good lesson: a "weak hurricane" is an oxymoron.

I spent a few hours driving around today, I'm impressed with the way people were driving without working traffic signals. Ft Lauderdale is a heavy traffic area with a lot of 6 lane streets. The "treat a broken signal as a 4 way stop rule" was mostly ignored but any person trying to enter or turn left across lanes was immediately let through because people actually all stopped. I'm still blown away how well traffic flowed with no signals.

We'll survive here, good luck to whoever gets her next........

[spycatcher]

It was a local caller to a radio station

[Jedidah]

The Galveston hurricane in 1900, which killed more than 6,000 people and leveled most of the city, was also most likely a Cat. 5.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Am finally catching up. Did you see this page with all the levee heights?

http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/response/amaps.asp

[wardaddy]

Folks on the Mississppi Gulf Coast should remember Camille.

I was there....all of 11.

[Heatseeker]

Is a Cat. 5 even possible that far north? The water needed to fuel such just doesn't get warm enough near Delaware, and I'm guessing that Ches. Bay isn't wide enough to sustain a 5.

I'm in that area and I work with electric utilities in the region who obviously do a lot of planning for these sorts of things. A Cat 5 is very unlikely but with the huge amount of growth of Bayfront development, a Cat 4 would be just as bad.

[rwfromkansas]

It is for dial-up users. Broadband folks like me could handle 10,000 graphics-heavy replies, but some can't.

[alancarp]

That data from flight levels (probably). 2AM advisory is 15 mins. out.

[Torie]

No, the media says they are 13 feet, but that was a figure before the subsequent settling, and they are vague about what the current figure is. Maybe your website has the current figures, about 10 feet it seems.

[simon says what]

Interesting. I always saw the satellite pics and thought it was a big storm. I did a search after your post and read that the hurricane wind radius was just 45 miles at time of landfall. It does look though like Katrina and Camille were of similar size at the Katrina's current position in the Gulf.

[NautiNurse]

So glad to hear you are back online--and safe! This storm has been one frightening surprise after another.

[LdSentinal]

Dang.

I'm supposed to travel to NO on 9/13 for a presentation.

I hope this thing hits at the Ala/Mississippi border.