Hurricane Katrina, Live Thread, Part V

NHC - NOAA ^ | 28 August 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Extremely dangerous Hurricane Katrina is bearing down on the North Central Gulf of Mexico. Mandatory evacuation of New Orleans is finally underway. Louisiana officials are warning of complete failure to levy systems, and pleading with people to leave low lying areas. For those who choose to stay, they are recommending picks and axes for breaking through to access their roofs during flooding.

Due to the size and intensity of this storm, all interests in the North Gulf of Mexico should be rushing hurricane preparations to completion.

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:

http://www.wjbo.com - BR radio station. Callers calling in and describing traffic etc.
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
WKRG-TV/DT Mobile (WMP) - mms://wmbcast.mgeneral.speedera.net/wmbcast.mgeneral/wmbcast_mgeneral_aug262005_1435_95518

Hurricane Katrina, Live Thread, Part IV
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

[Dog Gone]

After listening to Shepard Smith talking to the locals, it's futile to send evacuation planes. The folks who are staying are just plain stupid. I hope they enjoy their five minutes of fame because they'll praying for a rescue that won't happen tomorrow.

[HarryCaul]

Well, 9 times out of 10, it is media hype.

How many of the deaths from this one will be attributible to past hype for ratings sake?

Probably a good percentage.

Every hurricane everywhere is always going to do "major damage".

Maybe trying a little accurate reporting would mean people would listen to you when it was real.

[maggief]

Geez, sw. What fools.

[Jeff Head]

Typohoon Tip, 1979, 870mb and 190MPH winds. That was in the Pacific. The size of the circulation of that monster was 1350 miles!

Gilbert was the strongest in the Atlantic.

[toomanygrasshoppers]

Shep's getting into an argument with the guy at the bar. He's getting hot. It's gonna be an interesting next few hours. It sounds like the FOX guys in the studio are trying to get Shep to stop talking to the guy in the bar and talk to Bastardi. Now he's arguing with Bastardi.

[pax_et_bonum]

Those ppl are all potential Darwin Award winners, IMO.

Why is Shep continuing to interview Sam?

For comic relief?

It could be somewhat funny if it weren't so sickeningly serious.

[kingu]

The Super Dome was built knowing that a CAT 5 storm would come. Almost all commercial building such as those in the downtown area (not the quarter) will not even notice a CAT 5 storm. A few windows will break, but thats all.

You're right - the specs for the dome were 200 mph winds, much of the framework of the buildings downtown will not be devastatingly affected. The facades of those buildings will begin to rip off at 140mph due to the pressure differences between the inside of the building and the exterior, and when a break occurs, it will increase exponentially.

The buildings will remain - the items in the buildings might be twenty to forty blocks away.

And one final thing to remember - almost all of this is theory, never proved in an actual storm. I'm sure that no one wants to test these theories, and I doubt you'll find an engineer who would want to stake their lives on the theories.

[tomahawk]

They may be talking about this "hype" in their afterlife really soon.

[monday]

"We're going to have hundreds dead there."

We'll see I guess. Everyone has had plenty of warning. I doubt there will be hundreds.

[RDTF]

I wouldn't call that arguing.

[hole_n_one]

90 degree water off the LA coast for this beast to feed off of.

[Howlin]

You're right.

I nearly fell off my chair when the guy said "If the water comes over the levees, we'll just pump it out."

These people are clueless.

[Sonar5]

Shep may not make it at all. I think many news folks will die if they stay in NOLA.

[steveegg]

As long as the rotor blades turns counter to the hurricane your ok

The winds are a problem on takeoff/landing, and if you're trying to go into the wind. Remember, air speed is only the same as ground speed when there's no wind.

[RobbyS]

When and where was Gilbert? I can't recall.

[jayef]

Yep . . . he's gotta be careful>

[Pelican 5]

Sounds like Shep has tipped a few for the TV deficient posters here.

Pelican Five

[rwfromkansas]

bad news....it is SOUTH AND WEST of the forecast point. Bringing it closer to NO than the actual forecast.

Oh my word.

Oh my word.

[mother22wife21]

LOL.........powdered sugar...the only nose candy...

[Jeff Head]

Here is a great page that lists the strongest typhoons and hurricans. There were several typhoons stronger than Hurrican Giblert.

Super Hurricane Mitch