[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Ok - one of you brilliant people tell me this - when the storm hits the coast, how far inland do the winds continue to have maximum strength?

[bwteim]

I am not one of the brilliant people, but it depends on forward speed of storm for one as well as original intensity of storm. I think Ivan had 80mph+ sustained and higher gusts in central Alabama, well over 100 miles from coast.

[Dog Gone]

The hurricane draws its strength from the eye, so as long as that's over water, it will still have maximum force winds onshore.

The winds are stronger closer to the eye, though, and just as soon as the eye crosses the shore, the storm begins to weaken.

You won't get the same strength winds at your place as they did at the shoreline.

But depending on how fast the storm is moving in a northerly direction, it might not weaken fast enough to be too noticeable to you.

Let's just say Rita is packing 130 mph winds when it comes ashore and the eye will pass over your house. Since you're nearly 50 miles inland, your maximum sustained winds might be 105 to 110 mph, with gusts probably 10 or 15 mph higher than that.

It's more than enough to turn loose objects into projectiles.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Wellllllllllll, technically speakin' there will ALWAYS be a maximum sustained winds from a hurricane - as long as there are any winds at all, some of the gusts will be above average, some will be below average, and some will be at the local maximum.

8<)

But, realistically speakin' - cause ah know you're worried (and rightfully so!) figure that the guesses are just about right.

As soon as the eye passes over the coastline, the winds will begin diminishing: Figure that they'll drop continuously as long as the storm stays over land: even crossing Florida in only 8-12 hours caused hurricanes to lose 20% or more force.

So if winds are 120 continuous at the coast for 3 hours, inland 50 miles later they'll may gust to 100 mph for only a 1-2 hours when the eye goes by; if they are 100 away from the eye for four hours: then that same area may get only 75-80 mph for two hours 50 miles inland.

Tree damage very common at sustained gusts over 80 and long power outages can be expected as lines are torn down by falling trees and falling poles. Flooding (in the Sugarland area - where my sister and SIL live) is likely ONLY if those lakes and flood plains overflow/break the dikes into the old rice fields north of I-10. Otherwise, flooding is not going to be too bad for too long.

At 60-80 mph many fewer trees are knocked over, but tornado damage in local areas is more obvious. "Most" (not all) modern houses can take 75 mph for a while with moderate damage. Poorly built/cheaply built modern houses start getting killed (losing whole roofs and walls!) at 75 mph, with complete damage at anything much over 100: That's what got Homestead in FL: poorly applied local building codes didn't require girder truss clamps and beam fasteners to the roof, so builders didn't add them to cheap houses, so roofs were completely blown away. THAT, in turn, meant the entire interior was destroyed by water and wind damage. Otehrwise, if the roof and walls had stayed, the inside could have been liveable after the storm went by.

[alnick]

Ok - one of you brilliant people tell me this - when the storm hits the coast, how far inland do the winds continue to have maximum strength?

When I was returning home following Katrina, I saw trees snapped in half and highway signs down as far north as 220 miles. That is extremely unusual. We stopped at a restaurant in Meridian, about 200 miles inland, and the waitress told us Katrina blew through there as a category 2.

Usually I go about 100 miles inland. For Katrina we saw forecasts of the area we were planning to go to getting hit hard by Katrina as a strong hurricane so we went on to Tennessee (550 miles north) to visit family.

[daybreakcoming]

A weather guy on KHOU said tonight that 100mph SUSTAINED winds would be felt in an arched area around Houston that includes Liberty county. Hope they show that again on the 10 news.