Hurricane Ike Live Thread III

NOAA/NHC ^ | 12 September 2008 | NOAA/NHC

[NautiNurse]

Large and dangerous Hurricane Ike approaching the Upper Texas coast. Mandatory evacuations began in earnest Thursday as an estimated one million coastal residents headed inland. There were widespread reports of gas stations running out of fuel.

The National Weather Service posted dire storm surge predictions of 20-25 ft storm surge along the coast and bay heads. Hurricane warnings covered a 400 mile swath of the Gulf of Mexico.

Wholesale gasoline prices spiked 30 percent Thursday, or nearly $1 a gallon, out of fear of what Ike might do.

Public Advisory Updated every 3 hours

Discussion Updated every 6 hours

Buoy data: Western Gulf of Mexico

Forecast Models

Houston/Galveston Long Range Radar
Corpus Christi Long Range Radar
Brownsville Long Range Radar
Lake Charles Long Range Radar

Ike
Single Image		Image Loop
Lat/Lon	No Lat/Lon	Short	Long
Visible	Visible	Visible	Visible
Shortwave	Shortwave	Shortwave	Shortwave
Water Vapor	Water Vapor	Water Vapor	Water Vapor
Infrared Channel 4 Enhancements
None	None	None	None
AVN	AVN	AVN	AVN
Dvorak	Dvorak	Dvorak	Dvorak
JSL	JSL	JSL	JSL
RGB	RGB	RGB	RGB
Funktop	Funktop	Funktop	Funktop
Rainbow	Rainbow	Rainbow	Rainbow

Additional Resources:

Navy Tropical Cyclone
Storm Pulse Very cool site

KHOU Houston
ABC 13 News Houston
FOX News Houston

KPLC Lake Charles
KFDM 6 Beaumont/Port Arthur
KKBMT 12 Beaumont
KRIS-TV Corpus Christi
KZTV Corpus Christi

Brazoria County Emergency Management
Galveston County Emergency Management
Chambers Country Emergency Management
Liberty County Emergency Management

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 Ike Live Thread II
Hurricane Ike Live Thread I
TS Hanna, Hurricane Ike & TS Josephine [Other than that, the tropics are calm]
Tropical Storms Hanna, Ike and Josephine, TD Gustav (Other than that, the tropics are calm)

[Fundamentally Fair]

Fox is KILLING any credibility they might have by letting Gerry ramble on about himself (and Chuck Norris) like this.

[Shortstop7]

I’ve been trying to figure out if his hair is thin on top, or those are grey roots ??

[dirtboy]

The eyewall looks like it will have completed rebuilding itself by the time it hits the coast. The eye diameter looks like it is down to 20 miles or so now. But I don’t see how the eye can come in SW of Galveston now. That is seriously good news for Clear Lake, Texas City and other areas to the west of Galveston Bay, along with 2/3rds of the Houston metro area. But it means Galveston itself is going to take a direct hit from the eyewall very soon.

[conservative cat]

I think Nobama should be there to stop the waters from rising.

[eyedigress]

He’s about to get washed away by that first big one, nightime is no time to be there.

[rdl6989]

I’m watching ABC-13 Houston online. They just said that half a million are without power.

[txhurl]

NFW!

[Toki]

I think we lost that when Geraldo started not converting the wind speeds from Km to miles.

[Jaded]

We lost power for about an hour. No internet, no FR. Aaaaakkkkk.

I was surprised it came back on. I only missed about 300 posts.

[mrsalty]

Geraldo is so full of S*^*! He reported 2 hours ago about wind speed of over 100MPH!!! No other station reported nothing close, hardly over 50MPH at the time!! Why dramatize things!! I hate to say it, but cable news has gone to the dogs!! I understand the reasons(Money)! Be durn, please tell the truth!!

[dirtboy]

And the main body of the metropolitan area has not seen the worst of things yet - nowhere close.

[MHGinTN]

That was unfair and uncalled for.

[El Gato]

It’ll be less than 100. People are better at survival than you give them credit for.

If the water gets above the seawall, on the average, with much larger waves, all the survival skills in the world aren't going to help you much. It would be like being on the deck of submarine that has submerged to the point where the deck is under water, but the conning tower is still above water, and the hatches on it are open.

[fatima]

:) Last shot of him was holding onto a Palm tree spitting out water.Geraldo is a classic-heheheee

[PleaseNoMore]

Reporter on KHOU stated a squall line came through a bit ago and “peeled a 60 to 90ft section of a brick wall on the Holiday Inn on Galveston Island.” He said they are completely underwater. Isn’t that where Cantore is?

[gab1279]

Yeah...but anything that makes the chance higher for the Port Arthur-Beaumont area to flood would be just horrible. Massive devastation of an area that got blasted already so hard with Rita.

My brother stayed in Nederland hoping he was on high enough ground...we got out being slightly in Port Arthur...we’re in North Dallas holed up at a Quality Inn.

I wish they would mention on TV what’s going on down by us. Having trouble getting info with a VERY slow DSL connection here at the hotel. Are there no weather people down there anymore because it’s not doing much? That would be a good thing...

I think the surge is not over the seawall yet, but we are nervous. :/

[modest proposal]

I like Geraldo too.

He knows how to build up dramatic theatrics during a storm.

He makes you laugh at him and worry about him slipping and being pulled out to sea all at the same time.

[MamaDearest]

... hope the wind grabs a jellyfish out of the water and slings it in his face. :

That's just cruel to do to a jellyfish.....

Too bad they didn't send Alan Combs along to keep him company - the two of them seem to have so much in common.......

Seriously, prayers up for those in charge of keeping people safe (like the media and those who should have evacuated long ago) who remain in Ike's path while risking their own lives in the process.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

OH - have not read back through all the thread - but the Weather Channel people reported a few minutes ago about how the Mayor of Houston took 3 buses down to an area where many people were reported to be unable to get out from that area earlier today - and despite language barriers - managed to get all those people on those buses and get them out to safety.

They said it was a really heroic act - and that the area where those people had been is now under water.

Did you all hear that and discuss already today? If so, what was the area - I do not remember its name.

Kudos to the Mayor of Houston for this courageous and successful act!

[pax_et_bonum]

I hope you’re right.