Late Afternoon Look at Ophelia

She is still a tropical storm, but a strong one. She could reach minimal hurricane force later.

At 4pm, CDT, she was centered 110 miles east of Charleston and also 110 miles south of Wilmington, N. C.

Movement...a very slow 4 mph toward the NNW. (You can walk that fast)

Highest sustained winds 70 mph.

FORECAST
Latest official NHC track forecast is for Ophelia to move directly along the North Carolina Coast Wednesday. After reaching the Cape Hatteras area, she is expected to go offshore and remain in the Atlantic until passing east of SE Canada Sunday.

RAINFALL
As much as 6 to 10 inches possible over NE South Carolina and Eastern North Carolina. Isolated spinoff tornadoes also possible for those areas.
Posted by Mike  
on September 13, 2005, 3:26 pm
I just saw this from the National Hurricane Center:

HURRICANE OPHELIA TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATE
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
502 PM EDT TUE SEP 13 2005

DURING THE PAST HALF-HOUR...FLIGHT-LEVEL WIND DATA ALONG WITH
STEPPED-FREQUENCY MICROWAVE RADIOMETER SURFACE WIND DATA FROM A
NOAA RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INVESTIGATING TROPICAL STORM OPHELIA
INDICATE A SMALL AREA OF SURFACE WINDS OF AT LEAST 75 MPH WERE
LOCATED NORTHWEST OF THE CENTER. BASED ON THIS INFORMATION...
OPHELIA HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO A 75-MPH HURRICANE AS OF 5 PM EDT...
OR 2100Z.

FORECASTER STEWART

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Posted by   www
on September 13, 2005, 4:01 pm
Question: Katrina's eye wall was 35 miles wide at one point I believe, she topped Camille for low barometric pressure but where does she fit in the ratings for eye wall size? Is there such a rating?
Thanks!

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