Hurricane Wilma Live Thread, Part IV

NHC - NOAA ^ | 24 October 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Category Three Major Hurricane Wilma is barreling toward the Southwest Florida coastline. The storm is packing wind speeds of 125mph, moving NW at 20mph, with an enormous eye 65 miles in diameter. Landfall is anticipated shortly in Collier County between 6:00 and 7:00AM ET.

Storm surge flooding of 9 feet to 17 feet is possible along the coast near and to the south of where Wilma makes landfall. Storm surge of 5 to 8 feet is predicted for the Keys. The storm has spawned tornados throughout the Florida peninsula since yesterday evening.

The following links are self-updating:

Public Advisory Currently published every 3 hours 0500, 0800, 1100 etc. ET
NHC Discussion Published every six hours 0500, 1100, 1700, 2300 ET
Three Day Forecast Track
Five Day Forecast Track

Wilma Forecast Track Archive
Forecast Models
Buoy Data SE Florida
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Florida
Florida Department of Emergency Management

Images:

Storm Floater IR Loop
Visible Storm Floater Still (only visible during daylight hours)
Color Enhanced Atlantic Loop
Florida Radar/Sat Loop Caution: Broadband users only
Extra Large Miami Radar Broadband only
Extra Large Key West Radar Broadband only
Miami Long Range Radar Loop
Key West Long Range Radar Loop
Miami Radar Still Image w/watches warnings
Melbourne Radar Still Image w/watches warnings
Key West Radar Still Image w/watches warnings
Tampa Bay Radar Still image w/watches warnings

Streaming Video:

WBBH-TV/WZVN-TV Ft. Myers (WMP): http://waterbc.wm.llnwd.net/waterbc_netvideo
WESH-TV/DT Orlando/Daytona Beach (RP): http://mfile.akamai.com/7883/live/reflector:24028.ram
WFTV-TV/DT Orlando (RP): http://mfile.akamai.com/7883/live/reflector:20361.ram
WKMG-TV/DT Orlando (RP): http://mfile.akamai.com/7883/live/reflector:23942.ram
WPBF-TV/DT West Palm Beach (RP): http://mfile.akamai.com/7883/live/reflector:24035.ram
WSVN-TV/DT Miami (WMP): http://216.242.118.140/windowsmedia/asx/wsvn_broadband.asx
WTVJ-TV/DT Miami: http://nbc6.feedroom.com/iframeset.jsp?ord=381015
WPLG-TV/DT Miami (RP): http://mfile.akamai.com/8660/live/reflector:23941.ram
WFOR-TV/DT Miami (WMP): http://wfor.dayport.com/viewer/content/special.php?Art_ID=612&Format_ID=2&BitRate_ID=8&Contract_ID=2&Obj_ID={obj_id}
WTSP-TV/DT St. Petersburg/Tampa (WMP): mms://wmbcast.gannett.speedera.net/wmbcast.gannett/wmbcast_gannett_sep252004_1915_64623
Hurricane City (Real Player) - http://hurricanecity.com/live.ram
ABCNews Now (Real Player) - http://reallive.stream.aol.com/ramgen/redundant/abc/now_hi.rm

Additional Resources:

Pet Friendly Florida Shelter Info
Central Florida Hurricane Center
Hurricane City
CrownWeather.com

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

Previous Threads:
Hurricane Wilma Live Thread, Part III
Hurricane Wilma Part II
Hurricane Wilma Live Thread
Tropical Storm Wilma
Tropical Depression #24

[Michael Goldsberry]

will not turn back on if it doesn't have AC present

For many models, you have to hold the button in something like five seconds for it to come up without input power.

[commish]

JUst got off the phone with my brother. Initial reports are that my parents Trailer in Okechobee has been destroyed.

They evacuated to Stuart to my cousins house. They were able to get through to a friend who told them that thier entire entire neighborhood had been basically "flattened".

My cousin's house in Stuart has also been severly damaged. He took massive roof damage and interior damage in Francis and Jeanne, and had just completed interior repairs in September. MY stepdad said that that all 4 of them were hunkered down in the bathroom and that they heard the roof start coming apart and then started to hear things crashing and windows breaking.

The entire roof failed and the front portion of the house has collapsed.

They are hoping to be able to get over to Okechobee and see if anything is left of thier home tomorrow.

[Strategerist]

Lake Okeechobee had the highest surface sustained winds and gust of anywhere in Florida;

Doesn't seem to have been a reporter anywhere remotely near the area.

[publiusF27]

Luis is most likely trying to dry things out while he has daylight. Still lots of people without power down in the SE part of the state.

[jeffers]

Laz was seeing sporadic power outages before disappearing, and with most of Miami reporting all power out, we can hope that's all that's preventing Laz from checking in.

Same goes for the guy with the less than desireable patio enclosure in Boco Ratan. With the last second jog to the right at landfall, the inner right eyewall looks to have grazed Boco, and the outer right eyewall grazed Miami.

It probably didn't feel like a graze to anyone there, since the eyewall was wide and not sharply defined with this storm.

[commish]

Yeah, it doesn't sound good. They lived right on the lake in Okeechobee. So what isn't flattened is most likely flooded.

Oh well, if things are for the worst, my brother and I will head down, salvage what we can, and pack them up and bring them north.

[janetjanet998]

the shear is strong but Wilma is moving NE very fast with the shear..so the "net" shear may be much lower..that MAY be what is happening

[patriciaruth]

I just talked to the Red Cross.

Phone lines in Miami and surrounding areas are down. The Red Cross phone lines in those areas aren't working.

We are hanging tight hoping my old aunt is okay in her old home, that her roof is still on even if the phone lines are down.

But even after Andrew, the phone lines didn't go down...so still asking for prayers.

[janetjanet998]

the may have gttoen a large surge that suprised alot of the people too...looks like winds were SE piling the water up on the NW side of the lake for a while and the winds may have chnaged direction and moved the water SE towqrds Pahokee/belle glade

[Lorraine]

I'm so glad you made it home and that everything is fine. I just had a few small branches from my oak tree come down in the yard that had been hanging in the top since last summer. It wasn't nearly as bad as I feared here. The cooler weather this afternoon is wonderful.

[sheikdetailfeather]

I certainly hated to hear you report. I hope the initial report about your parents' home proves to be wrong.

[jeffers]

Sorry to hear about your family's houses, but glad to hear they are ok.

If anything pops up on Okeechobie, I'll ping it to you. There wqas one tornado warning for the area last night, but it was well north of town, up by Yahoo Junction.

[hipaatwo]

Latest word from Sunrise. My friends hubby said they took a drive around and it looks like, his words, Vietnam. Total devastation. Their son has a condo in the area and a tree fell onto his car. I can't get hold of my aunt and uncle who live in Delray Beach. I guess their phone lines are down.

[MIsunshine]

Yes! Thank-you.

I couldn't wait any longer & called them at 8:30 this morning, before the backside if Wilma was clear of them. Their cell phone worked & still works. I didn't sleep at all last night, but I actually woke them up! Just in time for the continental breakfast, which the hotel had.

I would have posted earlier, but after I called other worried sibs I just crashed. Woke up just in time for a dentist appointment.

I just called them again. They are just fine. (Thank-you Lord!) The hotel lost power sometime last night & they're still without. They can't get to their condo complex between Naples & Marco Island cuz the roads are closed. Don't know if that's because of flooding or to prevent looting. They can't get a hold of the office at their complex either.

If anyone knows how the flooding is between Naples & Marco Island south of 41, I sure would appreciate hearing about it.

They're staying put in Naples for tonight & do have their hurricane survival 'kit' so they don't have to go anywhere.

They went for a walk this afternoon & said the roads were dry, the sky was blue, and the sun was so bright my dad had to go back to the hotel for his sunglasses.

Dad said it looks like a wind storm went through --branches down, blown trash, but no seeable damage.

They had no idea how strong or how huge Wilma was as she passed over them until I told them.

Not only did they survive their 1st hurricane, I did too!

For next year we're looking for a pet friendly hotel with generator backup.

Thanks for the prayers everyone. They work.

Got to catch up on everyone else ---

[sheikdetailfeather]

I was wondering why this monster never dies. That makes a lot of sense. Maybe that is what is happening and also WAS what was happening. Therefore, it just never weakened before landfall in Fla.. Usually, shear knocks them down and so does land.

[jeffers]

Lake Okeechobie was mostly subject to left eyewall airflow, NE to SW. The town may well have escaped major surge effect.

[onyx]

Have most of our FL people checked in?

[NonValueAdded]

...that foward speed of the hurricane is factored into the equation when they assign it a rating on the saffer-simpson scale.

Yes, heard that too but not only did the channel 9 guy say add the forward speed but the channel 2 guy did too, both stations in Orlando. I'll take Steve Lyon's word over a local weather dude or dudette.

[publiusF27]

LOL! I lived in S Dade in '92, and you just reminded me that I did indeed have a working phone the morning after the storm, despite utter devastation for miles around.

By that afternoon, an FPL assessment team came through, cutting anything that didn't get out of the way, checking what little was left of their lines. They cut my phone line.

I didn't care much that morning, figured it would be back soon, and anything FPL did to get my power back on was OK with me.

We got power a month later, and phone two months later. In fact, that's how I came to own my first cellphone. Darned expensive things to own and use, and about like carrying around a brick.

[sheikdetailfeather]

Yes. I love the weather here. Crisp and nippy with a bright sun.