[NautiNurse]

It's extremely unusual for a storm to maintain Cat 5 status for an extended length of time. Problem with the GOM storms is that the storm surge tends to reflect the strongest status of the storm, regardless of wind speed/SS Category at landfall.

For this reason, I shake my head in dismay when folks split hairs about the minute wind speed detail at the moment of landfall.

[AntiGuv]

Hurricanes have a tendency not to maintain Cat 5 status because they have a tendency to move from warmer water (the Caribbean Sea & east of the Windward Islands) to cooler waters (the Gulf of Mexico and north of the Antilles).

[BurbankKarl]

http://www.click2houston.com/video/4998700/detail.html

Here is the storm surge video from CH2...




***can the KPRC 2 live video link be added to the next header http://www.click2houston.com/video/5000985/detail.html

[kenth]

One of the odd effects of categorization is that some people see the category, but do not look at the relative strength of the storm. Some think a drop in category automatically translates into a magnitude drop in strength; as if a one mph drop from cat 5 to 4 will make a difference in the survivability.

I don't understand the thinking there.