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

[Right Winged American]

the lightning is GREEN

I saw 2 flashes of green lightening in a Texas thunderstorm one night. That is very eiry sight! Never heard any explanation for it.

While I watched, it was constant, like the flashbulbs at god's last media event, for over an hour. My wife thought there was something wrong with our eyes, but I'm pretty sure it's due to the amount of water in the air.

[DoughtyOne]

I think that's certainly something to take into consideration, but I do think they are something folks can avoid. Sustained winds of 140-160 m.p.h. and a 30 foot storm surge are not.

Of course all these problems could be avoided if folks evacuated. The displaced snake problem may last for a while.

[PAR35]

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.

Trains would have been the best bet if they had started early enough, but by the time they got around to doing something, it was probably too late. The line that runs north runs right along the shore of the lake (Inches from the water and inches above the water). The line west crosses the Huey Long bridge (scary to drive across even in good weather) and then goes across low country on the west bank. The line east goes across the outlet from the Lake, and would just put folks in the path of the storms hitting the Mississippi coast.

[jeffers]

"Ya know, even though this is a very powerful storm, it is also an unusually large one for its power. So am
wondering, could we see some weakening right before the eyewall reaches the city simply because the
north and west side of a notable amount of the storm will by then be over land, some of which is more
than just swampland?"


I think we're already seeing weakening due to part of the storm being over land now. Hard to say how much or how soon...we still have a while till landfall and with it slowing down, potentially even longer.

That's a double edged sword though.

Longer means more weakening, but also more opportunity for water to pile up against the coast in front of the storm.

[newzjunkey]

That's the size of it. The governor had words similar to those at this press conference this morning referring to a phone call from W. He all but ordered them to pull the trigger or FEMA dollars would not be available. If you get the opportunity, watch the 'mandatory evacuation' press conference. It was spine tingling with the high levels of incompetence present.

[raygun]

(Slidell) KASD 290453Z AUTO 06015G24KT 7SM -RA FEW001 SCT021 BKN026 26/23 A2952 RMK AO2 PK WND 07029/0412 RAB01 SLP995 P0004 T02560233

(New Orleans Intl - missing)

(New Orleans/Lake - equipment malfunction indicated) KNEW 290519Z AUTO 04039G55KT 4SM -RA FEW018 OVC043 27/24 A2943 RMK AO2 PK WND 04055/0519 P0005 $

(Galliano - Larose? - 40 mi N Golden Meadow) KL49 290500Z AUTO 01031G44KT BKN014 BKN024 OVC050 26/24 A2925 RMK AO2 P0008 PWINO

(Mobile) KMOB 290456Z AUTO 07019G22KT 10SM FEW015 BKN031 BKN039 26/23 A2964 RMK AO2 PK WND 06027/0420 RAB41E54 SLP032 P0000 T02560228 TSNO

(Pensacola) KPNS 290453Z AUTO 07013G18KT 10SM BKN013 BKN021 OVC032 26/24 A2967 RMK AO2 PK WND 07028/0359 TSB0357E12RAE45 SLP047 P0021 T02560244

(Apilachicola) KAAF 290456Z AUTO 12016G25KT 10SM CLR 29/25 A2976 RMK AO2 SLP077 T02890250 403220267 TSNO

[NautiNurse]

Here you go...

[Diddle E. Squat]

What about a town dependent on tourism that apparently had zero plans for evacuating tourists without cars, when the airlines shut down a day early, as did train service and bus service, and rental cars were sold out? Should they have walked to safety?

[PhiKapMom]

You are not the person I was talking about -- know you are a Republican. :) I just think this Mayor was way over his head and some of his statements were moronic. Sounds like NO has had a series of really bad mayors. Wasn't impressed with the Governor either or the Sheriff this morning in the press conference.

Seemed to be no plan for this which makes no sense. Every road leading out of NO should have been one-way -- OUT!

[BurbankKarl]

I give you permission to complain about the LA Mayor, site unseen.

[dandelion]

Just... a hug. You are in my prayers right now, Jay. Even now, deep in the night - just on the other side of flickering electrons dancing on a screen - people are lifting you up to the God who made you. The God who loves you. You are in our prayers...

[JeffAtlanta]

Oh, I had one while ago telling me that Bush should "leave his vacation at the ranch" and go back to D.C. because it looked bad.

Great point. Some people just have to find a way to blame an elected official. I give politicians a hard time all day long (especially republicans that run as conservatives and then govern as liberals) but we should be realistic and a little more sophisticated before we start blaming officials for murders.

Self responsibility is a conservative position. Reliance on the government for guidance is a liberal position.

[PhiKapMom]

I know -- extremely fast according to Channel 2.

[CindyDawg]

Oh....that is so illegal. It happened here after 911. Within hours after many complaints it was lowered back.

[BurbankKarl]

Is/Was there a real estate bubble going on? Last time I looked at Realtor.com there were some pretty pricey homes.

[Cboldt]

... but the people of NO knew the storm was coming ...

We all have different levels of trust for incoming information. This storm did blossom realtively quickly.

[STARWISE]

If nincompoops weren't in charge .. they surely would have. I've never seen such pathetic negligence from a mayor .. this will come back to seriously haunt him ..

[aft_lizard]

They maybe be locally Dems, but nationally they went for Bush 57%.

[Tiger Smack]

He could barely read his OWN order today for the evacuation; and yesterday he actually said he didn't KNOW if he could order a mass evacuation. Anybody who doesn't know that, shouldn't be the MAYOR of any city, much less New Orleans. He's going to get blamed because he did NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO during the storm of the century.

Cut the guy some slack....you talk real big but until you are put in his shoes and overseeing and are SUCCESSFUL trying to handle a city with a million people in it then you can start bashing him.

[MplsSteve]

I suppose at this point there's nothing else the emergency personnel can do.

I wonder if they'll shut off the Pontchartrain Causeway before they go into hiding? I'd hate to see any traffic on there when the worst of Katrina comes in.