Does the downgrading of Irma to a cat2 also mean that the lower wind speeds will weaken the storm surge?
Katrina dropped from a Cat 5 to a Cat 3 at landfall. Still had Cat 5 surge. Windspeeds tend to drop off faster than a mound of water in motion.
Yes. But earlier they were showing how the wind had pushed a tremendous amount of water out of the bay, so when the wind shifts I’d imagine there will be a wall of water rushing back in that could do a lot of damage.