Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VII

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

[NautiNurse]

Extremely dangerous Hurricane Katrina is bearing down on the North Central Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans metro area. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin conceded that as many as 100,000 inner-city residents didn't have the means to leave and an untold number of tourists were stranded by the closing of the airport. At this hour, people are still filing into the Superdome after security screening for weapons and contraband. National Guard have brought in 360,000 MRE (meals ready to eat) to feed the estimated 30,000 storm refugees in the Superdome.

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 Katrina Live Thread, Part VI
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part V
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

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:

Fully-linked version of the live feeds (just in case a few people don't want to first open up WMP to cut-and-paste) -

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 WDSU-TV/DT New Orleans via WESH-TV/DT Orlando - http://mfile.akamai.com/12912/live/reflector:38843.asx

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

[NautiNurse]

Hiya PC--how are you doing? We have to stop meeting on these all nighter threads...

[TAdams8591]

Agreed.

[PAR35]

why didn't they load them all on river boats yesterday and send them North up the Mississippi out of the path of the storm????

1)Where are you going to get the river boats.

2)It may only be 90 miles by road to Baton Rouge, but it is much longer via the river. And getting to Baton Rouge isn't going to do you much good. The storm is going to pound the towns upriver as far as Vickburg.

It's sort of like the earlier suggestion about using C-130s. It would only take 1000 of the planes to get the job done before the airport closed.

[Spktyr]

And/or load them on trains and get them out that way - trains don't have to worry much about traffic in open country and can transport thousands at a shot.

[jbstrick]

"storm seems to be decaying on the south west side via radar loop..good news"

No, Not good news. The storm may be entering a cycle to form a new eyewall. During this time, the maximun winds may drop a bit, but the area affected by the maximum winds will increase.

[floriduh voter]

I'M WATCHING THE STREETCAR CAM FROM NOLA which is posted on this thread. There are large white objects blowing into the picture. I can't tell what they are. I put the streetcar cam on my pg. easier way for me to find it.

[hoosiermama]

DIdn't mean to indicate I'm the only one praying....Praying seems to be one of FR stronger facets. One of the things freepers do best.

[exhaustedmomma]

I have a dear friend NW of Mobile. I talked to her about 5:30. She said they had a tornado west of her about 4. She said they were expecting winds of about 75 MPH when the storm makes landfall.

[nopardons]

YIKES...that's a LOT of kisses!

[jeffers]

"Radar looks like she's sucking in dry air on her backside."

Sorta, but well...look at this:

http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/east/latest_eastwv.jpg

That the vapor channel, and you can see that the inflow for the whole northern side is starting to run dry. The dry slots run in spirals just like the feeder bands.

Been watching the vapor imagery most of the day since condensation is such a large part of the energy budget, and unfortunately, I don't see much weakening this beast except landfall.

[Skywarner]

"storm seems to be decaying on the south west side via radar loop..good news.

Not being a WX expert, but I wonder if what you're seeing is area that is difficult for the land-based radars to see. In any event, the 1:00AM NOAA weather statement still shows sustained winds at 160 and the pressure at 908.

[Flux Capacitor]

----I am totally disgusted. People will die because of this idiot mayor!!!----

People will die because New Orleans is fundamentally incapable of absorbing something like this and always has been. I'm not willing to lay what's about to happen at Nagin's feet even if he could have been more proactive. (But then I've had a soft spot for him ever since he endorsed Jindal in '03.)

-Dan

[Sidebar Moderator]

Of course you can, if you wish. We can even waive the hat check charge. Just don't tell the Admin Moderator.

[Howlin]

That's a rerun.......it might be updated.

[LikeLight]

I think the perceived decay in the radar is just based on the fact that the radar is land-based...can't get a good fix on the southern (seaward) side of the storm...

Haven't seen any decay on the satellite images...

Anyone know when the satellites go on the daily communications blackout?

[connectthedots]

Maybe its time to bring the Religion Moderator to this thread. ;-)

[CindyDawg]

Oh and make her Mayor:')

[Age of Reason]

I can't believe the media is not mentioning they're missing in NO.

If it weren't for FR, we wouldn't even know where they are lost.

[jeffers]

Ok, thanks.

[Lib Buster]

The Dome can hold 72,000 seated sports fans and who knows how many in this situation.