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

[eastforker]

Ihave no idea why observation of the truth has such a negative objection.

[rwfromkansas]

that is only slightly smaller than the size of my hometown.

[Fudd Fan]

I do understand; I used to be a Shep fan.

[RightWhale]

TS winds will be upon them within a few hours.

Point the SUV into the wind or it will take off and roll like a volleyball.

[Fudd Fan]

I do understand; I used to be a Shep fan.

[SamAdams76]

You know, the Superdome holds about 75,000 people but that's usually just for a three-hour ballgame. I just don't think they will be able to get that many people in there safely for a long duration shelter without some sort of rioting going on. I mean, you can't expect people to just quiety sit in their seats for 24-48 hours like it was some Saints/Dolphins game. I tell you, if they get more than 30,000 people in this place, and they stay cooped up in there for 24 hours or more, you are going to see some real nasty crowd-control situations.

Anyway, it appears that the storm is beginning to decrease in its intensity. The winds are already down significantly this afternoon and I wouldn't at all be surprised to see this hit as a moderate Cat 3. I was down in Alabama earlier this year for Dennis and for two days prior, everybody was hyping that storm up to be a Cat 4 or 5. It ended up being just a Cat 2 and other than some immediate coastal damage, it was no great shakes. We get several northeasters in New England every year that were equivalent to Dennis.

Not that I think we should let our guard down but 99 times out of 100, the storm is never quite as bad as the media makes it out to be.

Still, I wouldn't want to be in that Superdome tonight. Doesn't seem like a very fun place to be.

[Mo1]

Some unrest in lines...people chanting "let us in"

There's not a lot of time left .. they got to get those people in there

[kx9088]

Why don't they just let people in and then register them and search them? I know that is not a good idea but at this rate, it could be a lot worse once it begins to rain and wind turns up a bit.

[kingu]

You have to close them at some point, but even though this thing is speeding up, you can keep things open until 7 or 8.

They put a wind factor on when the bridges would be closed - at 45mph, the bridges were shut down. Gusts up to 50mph will likely still occur for those still on the bridge - it just isn't safe to cross them with these conditions, and it will get worse as time goes on.

[beyond the sea]

and I have a care for all of them.

............ and the animals too.

[steveegg]

It's moderately good news. I wouldn't necessarily say it's very good news because this thing is still so strong and massive.

[daysailor]

"...ours and many others are more like concrete, hollow, open-topped boxes that are filled with earth"

Oh boy. Didn't know that. Severe flooding will could make that place uninhabitable for a while.

[hole_n_one]

They should be giving booze to everyone going in, they will need it.

Shep Smith hanging out at the Velvet Daquari on Bourbon Street may not be such a bad idea after all.

Yeah, right.

[rwfromkansas]

It will hit TONIGHT.

[LadyBuzz]

Exactly - there is time for C5's for evacuation - who could arrange this the Gov?

[Dog]

Hurricanes go thru phases..they weaken....regenerate....then get stronger....then weaken....and they keep repeating this cycle.

So don't be fooled by a wind drop.

[Gone GF]

"Is this the end of the world?
Another storm for the media to hype."

For some reason I remembered this bit of cynicism from bluebeak just four days ago. Shows how silly you can look when you just spout off without bothering to use your brain any.

[MizSterious]

Nita, I don't think this is over-hyped, at least not much. I was in NO when Betsy hit, and that was a much smaller hurricane. The devastation from that one was just awful. I also remember Camille, and what that storm did.

[TomGuy]

Shep said some of them are using coathanger wire to wire the shutters in some of the old buildings.

[Mo1]

Has anyone thought about this? Can the Dome construction handle these conditions (weather wise)? What about the construction of the roof during these low pressure extreme times?

No one knows .. but it's better then being out in the open

These folks have no where else to go

Pray and pray hard for these folks