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

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

[trussell]

Been holding my breath for a while now. I am getting pretty blue!!

Weather here has been very odd for a few years. Highs in the triple digits. Normal for this area use to be high 80's. Wish it would get back to that. I hate the heat!!

I guess I will just have to resort to doing a rain dance!! LOL (Mixed with a whole lot of praying)

[John H K]

Current models and the official forecast place the landfall between Corpus Christi and Houston;


The Brownsville landfalls are old forecasts.

[MeekOneGOP]

Ah, thanks. All the better for me, then.
Maybe we'll get a little rain out of it.

[MeekOneGOP]

I guess the Admin Mods are busy, short-handed or something.
They haven't fixed the title.

[MeekOneGOP]

Well, me and my buddy John are gonna take his ski boat to the lake. He had it stored for a few years while he was in Illinois. He's moved back to Texas, worked on it and we're going to take it for a spin. If no setbacks, we might even break out the skis !

See y'all LATE tonight or in the morning.

[kinghorse]

somefix the headline before it causes a coronary for some high strung gulf coast resident (me!).

Sitting in my office on I-10 and Eldridge I see the puffys starting the roll in. The thing that is not impressive and what's been mentioned is the puffy clouds are not toppy. Upper air is shearing this thing. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out but there is a marked lack of concern here in Houston.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

[Stat-boy]

Here is the official forecast as of this morning:


MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 65 MPH...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. SOME
STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS...AND CLAUDETTE
COULD BECOME A HURRICANE LATER TODAY OR TONIGHT.

TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 140 MILES FROM THE
CENTER. AN OIL RIG REPORTED 75 TO 85 MPH WINDS AT A HEIGHT OF 150
FT ABOVE SEA LEVEL.


I think the AP writer misread the forecast. The winds "extend outward up to 140 miles"; they are not "140 mph!"

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

"Puffy"? "Toppy"? I don't remember those vocabulary words from my meteorology classes.

:-)

[kinghorse]

OK you got me. In today's meteorology class, puffy would be

lavander tinged and wrapped in flowing chiffon-like ribbons

and toppy would be

sparkling little dainty rivlets of broken white against a royal blue background

nevermind. I know all about meteorology class .

Back to you in the studio Chuck, you savage you.

/checking into sensitivity training class this afternoon

[kinghorse]

In all honesty, it would be ok if the whole thing blew down just as long as the national people don't discover another Dan Rather tilting sideways in the wind.

/obscure carla reference

[justlurking]

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

This statement says that "tropical force winds extend out to 140 miles from the center". The reporter may have just associated the wrong number with the wind guests.

[potlatch]

See y'all LATE tonight or in the morning.

Nah, you're gonna be 'working out', while I'm working out - in the yard putting up hundreds of plants, baskets, garden art, and patio furniture!! LOL! Unless it changes direction, it's headed right at me!

[GalvestonGal.com]

Where are you? I'm 5 blocks from the seawall. I still have power, but sat.dish is getting spotty. The dish certainly works in the rain, but not if there is a high thunderhead.

Anyway, here is a personal report. Gusty winds, about 40-45, slanted rain - it's not pouring, but gusty and squally. My street is not flooded. The port is closed, port road is closed. 61st Street impassable in some parts (main street between Seawall and causeway for people on west end). Causeway is open, but not recommended because even heavy cars are severely rocked.

Gulf waters are pushed up to height of seawall and waves are crashing over, over the boulevard. Debris is being thrown up onto the boulevard. Cars are passing on the street because a lot of people can use only that high road to get to where they need to - especially hostpital staff. And of course the idiots.

The pier at 61st street is breaking up. On my street and on a friend's near the center of the island: we are getting gusty winds that are blowing the trees. Oak trees in this kind of wind - limbs break off and can damage cars and block the street.

Nobody is "scared". People on the west end with no seawall are screwed. The exit road is impassable. Water in some areas on west end have water from the Gulf to the bay. Most areas on west end hard if not impossible to leave the house. They are ok from all reports.

Sending this now because power just blinked. It would be limbs beating lines more than wind.

[TBall]

That's very dangerous what that surfer is doing. Can't we make a law to stop surfing during hurricanes?

[GalvestonGal.com]

http://www.guidrynews.com
This is a good link to Galveston news and photos, links to other sites.
www.galveston.com weather page has a link to webcams, but they aren't up to date.

This one is good for webcams. Click on the one's that are most south - causeway shots:
http://traffic.tamu.edu/cameras/gulf_cameras.aspx

[AppyPappy]

Darwin at work.

[TBall]

Nah, just a young surfer pushing the edge and having some fun.

[fatima]

Wow GalvestonGal.com,stay in touch and prayers for all.

[potlatch]

Hope things turned out OK for you, Galveston Gal. I'm in Victoria and we got hit a bit harder than the news was telling, I'm thinking!! My niece lives in one of those old houses on the corner of Winnie and 'some number'!!

We just got power late last night, and just got SLOW ISP back up mid-day today!! Our 100 year old Ceder tree broke up and crushed our patio cover, and messed up our roof. Think a small twister might have gone through. Parts of privacy fence down too! Looks like a war zone, LOL!

Sure was good to get lights and AC back on. Hope you fared better than us! Potlatch