Claudette heads for South Texas - winds gusting to 140 mph; the storm is strengthening

Associated Press ^ | July 14, 2003 | Associated Press Staff

[MeekOneGOP]

Claudette heads for South Texas

07/14/2003

Associated Press

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas - Campers packed up to go inland. Surfers headed out to ride the waves. All forecasters could do was simply keep watch on Tropical Storm Claudette as it lumbered toward Texas.

The state coast from Port O'Connor, about 70 miles northeast of Corpus Christi, to Brownsville and south along the Mexican coast to Rio San Fernando was under a hurricane watch early Monday. Landfall was projected in Willacy County, north of Brownsville, by late Tuesday afternoon.

Early Monday, the center of Claudette was about 310 miles east-southeast of Corpus Christi, with maximum sustained wind blowing at 65 mph, 9 mph shy of hurricane strength.

Some wind gusts, primarily to the east of the center, were up to 140 mph. Slow strengthening was expected and the storm had drifted to the northwest early Monday. It was moving about 6 mph.

"The circulation is strengthening," meteorologist Jesse Haro said Sunday at the National Weather Service in Brownsville. "That doesn't mean it's going to move any faster toward us, it simply means that it's becoming a stronger storm."

Owners of about 900 recreational vehicles parked for the summer on South Padre Island were warned over the weekend that winds of more than 25 mph would mean they would not be allowed to drive their rigs across the sole bridge to the mainland. By Sunday, most of the campers had packed up voluntarily and left.

Workers on South Padre, along the coast a few miles from Brownsville, piled sand into berms at beach accesses, and Mayor Bob Pinkerton said the resort community was bracing for high water. He said there were no plans yet to evacuate.

"We're scared of the storm surge," Joe Ramirez of Port Isabel told The Brownsville Herald in Monday's online edition. He had just brought a load of plywood to his home east of Brownsville, near South Padre Island.

Jim Campbell, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, said data buoys 200 miles offshore were picking up 10 feet swells occurring 11 seconds apart with swells closer to shore of 6 feet at 10 seconds apart Sunday night.

Campbell said the swells could lead to beach flooding and beach erosion. Forecasters warned about the rip currents, which could be dangerous for those trying to surf or swim. Advisories were already out to warn of dangerous surf conditions.

The U.S. Coast Guard said it was called in to search for 10 to 12 people who went out into the high seas at South Padre Island and got caught in strong currents. All were accounted for, including an 8-year-old girl on a boogie board who was carried down the beach more than a mile, said Petty Officer Third Class Andrew Kendrick.

He said beaches on the popular resort island were closed.

Kendrick said several of the Coast Guard's smaller boats, which can't handle the high seas, had been removed from the water in preparation for the storm.

Farther up the coast, lifeguards on Mustang Island near Corpus Christi were expected to be out earlier and stay later Monday. Police were to help make sure beachgoers knew of the dangers.

In the Corpus Christi area, city officials were concerned with the potential for coastal and inland flooding. An extra highway lane was being opened on a causeway from Padre Island to Corpus Christi to speed up voluntary evacuations from the island.

The tropical storm swept over Mexico's resort city of Cancun early Friday, battering high-rise hotels with high wind, flooding several streets and closing the international airport for several hours.

Claudette is the third tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. It developed Tuesday in the Caribbean, brushing Jamaica's southern coast with heavy rain and rough surf, battering the Cayman Islands with waves and above-normal tides and scattering rain over parts of Cuba before reaching Mexico.

Experts have predicted a busy Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1 and ends Nov. 30.

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/071403dntexclaudette.d2649.html

[MeekOneGOP]

Heads up, everybody !!

Some wind gusts, primarily to the east of the center, were up to 140 mph. Slow strengthening was expected and the storm had drifted to the northwest early Monday. It was moving about 6 mph.

"The circulation is strengthening," meteorologist Jesse Haro said Sunday at the National Weather Service in Brownsville. "That doesn't mean it's going to move any faster toward us, it simply means that it's becoming a stronger storm."

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[dirtboy]

Some wind gusts, primarily to the east of the center, were up to 140 mph.

I just read the 11AM advisory on weatherunderground, and there was NO mention of winds at this strength - and it would be way out of character for gusts to be in excess of two times the substained winds for a tropical storm.

[John H K]

I'm about 99.99% sure that some idiot at AP did the knots/mph conversion wrong.

55 kt tropical storms don't have 140 mph gusts.

Officially, gusts are up to 65 kts (75 mph.)

I've seen no recon or buoy or ship data with anything resembling 140 mph gusts.

[John H K]

The correct knots/mph conversion factor is 1.15

If incorrectly 2.15 is used on the OFFICAL gusts (65 kts) guess what you end up with:

139.75 mph.

I strongly suspect it was the AP reporter screwing up. This is unbelievably incompetent.

[MeekOneGOP]

Amazing. Leave it up to AP to screw this up. Thanks for catching that !

[SouthernHawk]

BTTT!

"She's gonna blow, Jim!"

[MeekOneGOP]

LOL ! Thanks.

Per dirtboy's and John's notes, I've asked the Admin Moderator to take out the part about the 140 mph gusts.

[John H K]

When a wire service doesn't use a specific science reporter, just a stringer, and there is anything REMOTELY technical about the story, I've seen some unbelievable errors.

[N. Theknow]

Yup.

"My Weatherbug" doesn't make any mention of gusts of that magnitude.

[ValerieUSA]

I'm slightly twisted, but I wish I could drive down to the gulf coast and take some pictures of the oncoming storm.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Some wind gusts, primarily to the east of the center, were up to 140 mph.

Can I be the first to say, this is just a mild breeze in Texas.........

[MeekOneGOP]

The storm surge is usually the worst part. It's the water that gets ya.

If ya do go, be careful !!

[mhking]

Hurricane City (http://www.hurricanecity.com/) is going to stream live coverage starting tonight around 8P ET. They'll have live feeds from the strike zone and take phone calls from there as well.

[humblegunner]

I wish I could drive down to the gulf coast and take some pictures of the oncoming storm.

Hurricane Party!!!
And "slightly twisted" means you'll fit right in!

[MeekOneGOP]

Thank you, sir !!

[MeekOneGOP]

Hurricane Party!!!
And "slightly twisted" means you'll fit right in!

AP
A surfer contends with waves on South Padre Island
as Tropical Storm Claudette approaches.

[trussell]

Is this in your corner of the world? If so, please direct some of the rain to make its way to SW Colorado. We are in our 5th year of "severe" drought, and our 11th year of diminished weather. WE NEED THE WATER!!!!!!

[ru4liberty]

Working link: Hurricane City

[MeekOneGOP]

I hope you get some rain soon, dawg-gone that El Nino, anyway !!

This storm is expected to hit around Brownsville. That's FAR FAR South Texas. I'm in a Dallas suburb about 70 miles from Oklahoma. I doubt we'll see any effects here. Maybe it'll head to Colorado, but don't hold your breath. :O(