Posted on 08/28/2006 7:27:21 AM PDT by NautiNurse
Florida Governor Jeb Bush ordered a state of emergency in advance of Ernesto's anticipated Florida landfall as a hurricane. During his press briefing, Governor Bush emphasized the need to, "Have your family plan in place. Be prepared to be on your own for 72 hours. I know it sounds like a broken record." Jeb then repeated his message in Spanish.
All of the South Florida peninsula and Keys are under a hurricane watch, and portions of the watch areas may be upgraded to hurricane warnings later today.
NASA is moving Space Shuttle Atlantis from the launch pad back to its protective hangar, with the launch postponed until at least Sept. 7-8.
Hurricane Ernesto was downgraded to Tropical Storm status after battering Haiti and the Dominican Republic all day Sunday. The death toll in Haiti from Ernesto currently stands at 1 person; storm reports from Hispaniola are scarce this morning.
Ernesto has approached the eastern portion of Cuba, where the government issued a hurricane warning for six provinces, tourists were evacuated, and baseball games were played earlier Sunday than originally scheduled.
Public Advisories Updated every three hours.
Tropical Storm Discussion Updated every six hours
Ernesto Storm Track Archive Nice animated progression of 3 & 5 day forecast tracks
Buoy Data Florida & Eastern GOM
Satellite Images
Additional Resources:
Central Florida Hurricane Center
Hurricane City
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 |
Tropical Storm Ernesto I
Hurricane Ernesto
Neil Frank is my favorite hurricane guy. I loved watching him on TV when he was director of NHC.
I wonder of the NHC is concerned about downgrading the storm, having people blow off preparations, and then have the storm regenerate, with all the political blame that comes from such a situation. Given the hurricane political witch hunts from last year, I can't say I would blame them.
No sign of that at this point, although given the whacky forecast history of this turkey, who knows? But that would be a very, very, VERY outside probability now.
The old sailor in me got it. LOL!
Thanks!
LMAO!
Janice Dean just said 80mph at 2pm Thu
My local favorite when I lived outside of Mobile was Dr. Bill Williams. He and his meteorology students at USA were usually pretty darn accurate with their landfall and windspeed predictions.
Does it look like it's starting to form an eye?
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/flt/t2/loop-vis.html
I love him too. Today, in the environment we now have, he is extremely careful how it says what he says. I've watched him so many yrs on local weather...I've learned to read between the lines in what he's saying. Today, he continued to talk about the 'cone of uncertainty.' So I looked at that cone and could see he's saying if Ernesto comes off Cuba as even a system...folks look eastward...
I doubt it would be - sometimes you get brief sat images that look like an eye. It would need to be near peak tropical storm strength to be starting to form one.
The NHC is currently predicting that this storm will make landfall in the Carolinas on Thursday as a Cat 1 hurricane.
South Carolina Ping
Add me to the list. | Remove me from the list.
Hey, there's a good blob west of Puerto Rico on the last few frames - maybe the center's THERE!
A Marty Feldman hurricane.
OK...so that's why Jebby gave a presser...today or was it yesterday...
"...who are all weather dudes,argue more than we do..."
I've been hanging out there as well and I expect they will start dueling with pistols if this system doesn't fade away.
Little professional courtesy or respect by some in that bunch.
That really isn't much convection for a tropical system, there are no reds in it, and it's fading down over the last few frames. I've seen summer thunderstorms over Cuba that looked meaner that this.
And where is that center?
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