[RummyChick]

For you experts, how does the possible landfall for this compare in severity to the 1900 Galveston hurricane in terms of the wind and then the storm surge?

[My Favorite Headache]

Identical if you ask me.

[mewzilla]

FWIW, according to the book Isaac's Storm, the lowest barometric pressure recorded was 28.48 inches, though a later NOAA calculation pegged the lowest pressure at 27.49. Anyone know how to convert to milibars? The highest windspeed recorded in Galveston, before the anemometer blew away, was 100 mph. Later estimates have the wind speed even greater. I think a lot will depend on those sea walls, and what direction the storm comes in on. The one in 1900 came in at a 90 degree angle, which made it victim to two storm surges, one from the bay, then the other from the gulf.

[Graymatter]

Galveston got itself a good seawall after 1900. People are more weather-wise right now. And I don't think anyone really knows how strong the wind got in 1900, since it blew all the instruments away. IIRC there was a full moon when the hurricane struck in 1900---and too dark to see, when the storm reached its full fury. Eye passed just southwest of Galveston, and storm surge was around 5 pm. Lots of relatively ignorant Labor Day holiday tourists around, and weather forecasting was primitive too. They had had one bad hurricane before, I think in the 1870's, but most of the people just never expected anything as bad as they got.