Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VII

NOAA - NHC ^ | 28 August 2005 | NOAA - NHC

[NautiNurse]

Extremely dangerous Hurricane Katrina is bearing down on the North Central Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans metro area. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin conceded that as many as 100,000 inner-city residents didn't have the means to leave and an untold number of tourists were stranded by the closing of the airport. At this hour, people are still filing into the Superdome after security screening for weapons and contraband. National Guard have brought in 360,000 MRE (meals ready to eat) to feed the estimated 30,000 storm refugees in the Superdome.

The following links are self-updating:

Public Advisory Currently published every 3 hours 5A, 8A, 11A, 2P, etc. ET
NHC Discussion Published every six hours 6A, 11A, 6P, 11P
Three Day Forecast Track
Five Day Forecast Track
Navy Storm Track
Katrina Track Forecast Archive Nice loop of each NHC forecast track for both three and five day
Forecast Models
Alternate Hurricane Models via Skeetobite
Bouy Data Louisiana/Mississippi
Buoy Data Florida

Images:

New Orleans/Baton Rouge Experimental Radar Subject to delays and outages - and well worth the wait

Mobile Long Range Radar Loop

New Orleans/Baton Rouge Radar

Ft. Polk, LA Long Range Radar Loop

Northwest Florida Long Range Radar

Storm Floater IR Loop
Storm Floater Still & Loop Options
Color Enhanced IR Loop

Other Resources:

Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VI
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part V
Hurricane Katrina, Live Thread, Part IV
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part III
Katrina Live Thread, Part II
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm 12

Hurricane Wind Risk Very informative tables showing inland wind potential by hurricane strength and forward motion
Central Florida Hurricane Center
New Orleans Web Cams Loads of web cam sites here. The sites have been very slow due to high traffic
New Orleans Music Online Couldn't resist--love that jazz
Golden Triangle Weather Page Nice Beaumont weather site with lots of tracks and graphics
Hurricane City
Crown Weather Tropical Website Offers a variety of storm info, with some nice track graphics

Live streaming:

Fully-linked version of the live feeds (just in case a few people don't want to first open up WMP to cut-and-paste) -

WWL-TV/DT New Orleans (WMP) - mms://beloint.wm.llnwd.net/beloint_wwltv
WVTM-TV/DT Birmingham (WMP) - mms://a1256.l1289835255.c12898.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/

1256/12898/v0001/reflector:35255
WDSU-TV/DT New Orleans (WMP) - http://mfile.akamai.com/12912/live/reflector:38202.asx
Hurricane City (Real Player) - http://hurricanecity.com/live.ram
ABCNews Now (Real Player) - http://reallive.stream.aol.com/ramgen/redundant/abc/now_hi.rm
WKRG-TV/DT

Mobile (WMP) - mms://wmbcast.mgeneral.speedera.net/wmbcast

.mgeneral/wmbcast_mgeneral_aug262005_1435_95518 WDSU-TV/DT New Orleans via WESH-TV/DT Orlando - http://mfile.akamai.com/12912/live/reflector:38843.asx

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

[Flux Capacitor]

Wait a minute -- is the causeway still OPEN?!

[bonfire]

You guys are on a roll tonight!

[CobaltBlue]

Westward to Texas is I-10, I-12, depending on whether you go north or south of Lake Pontchartrain. They hook up together in Baton Rouge and merge as I-10.


I would guess that as soon as you get as far away as Sorrento or Ponchatoula you are pretty much OK. Slidell is toast. Covington is OK. Mandeville probably toast. Laplace could go either way.

[Miss Marple]

Hi! I have been watching the coverage, but my daughter and son-in-law were here for a visit, so I couldn't be on the computer.

My son-in-law had never seen Geraldo in his purple prose mode, as he was during his two-hour block tonight. The kids won't get cable, so they had NO idea how Geraldo talks when he is wound up! I swear, my son-in-law kept staring at the TV with his mouth open, and saying things like "I have never heard a news anchor talk like that!"

[newzjunkey]

Yes. Very much a nail biter.

[NautiNurse]

Glad to assist. Was on the phone earlier this evening helping to coordinate evac route with a LA FReeper.

[Chena]

Only 10,000 in the Dome? Thought is was 30K.

I think I heard that the Dome can "hold" 30,000, but I haven't heard how many are there now. God speed!

[hoosiermama]

We stay here at FR because somehow we feel connected....ALone we can do nothing, but connected through the most common need..food (recipes) to our spiritual needs (prayers), we feel stronger and coping is easier.

I just feel so very sad. Sad for those with families and their potential loses....Sadder for those without families who will just become numbers in the history books.

Blessings for your family. Get some rest. Congratulations on the new life in your family.

[U S Army EOD]

When you do your casualty estimates you don't figure on numbers, you figure on percentage. 21% of Galveston died.

[CindyDawg]

Around here , with storms or bad weather ,it has always been that no one goes home until all of the next shift arrives. No one. It wouldn't keep people from walking out though.

[onyx]

Well, there's been a couple of swarm varieties.
And, don'tcha know, our signon dates are not always accurate...lol.

[jeffers]

"Looks to me like there's almost no way New Orleans misses the eyewall. Worst possible outcome for the
city."

Well yes, but....see how the 2200 +12/24 plot is drifting east of the 1600 one?

Fingers crossed, hoping the trend continues.

Max surge seems to take place from 355 to 015 degrees relative to the forward motion of the storm. As big as this one is, that swath will be pretty wide. I hate playing god, but I think fewer will die if the surge comes ashore someplace where the population center isn't largely below sea level.

The further east this storm drifts, the less the westward wind at the head of the eyewall will drive it into Lake P.

Note though, that she's slowing down, and that none of the actual data shows any eastward drift at all, not yet. The longer the winds have to drive the surf ashore, the worse the surge, no matter where it strikes.

[tiki]

I was wondering about school buses, I'm sure it would be good to get them out of the way of the hurricane and they could transport a lot of people too.

I think the reality is probably lack of planning.

[Termite_Commander]

Wait a minute -- is the causeway still OPEN?!

I sure hope not. =/

[PhiKapMom]

Cannot imagine being on the causeway with this bearing down. That would be terrible.

I don't do well driving over water either. I remember driving I-10 over miles of water it seemed like with signs saying to watch for the gators. I wouldn't have gotten out of the car if you paid me.

[spunkets]

" Bumper to bumper for 400 miles??!!"

According to AM 870 down there. I forgot the number of the interstate, but it extends well into TX. 20MPH.

[Sonar5]

I'm off to bed for a while, a few hours anyway.

If someone can take over and report the BOUY's and BURL1, and ping me if you can.

Take care all, praying for those in the path.

BOUY's
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/radial_search.php?lat1=27.6N&lon1=89.4W&dist=250&time=3

BURL1 (Land)
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=burl1

Regards,
Joe

[tomkat]

Oh, my !

[Spktyr]

WWL-TV just noted that the SuperDome's single primary generator is underground... No word on any secondary generators.