These are notes from Jeff Craven over at the NWS office in Jackson... who will also be our special guest speaker at Storm Alert XTREME at Briarwood Presbyterian Church on October 15:
I'm sure most of you know that the storm is 145 knots/165 mph, and 914 mb, making it our 2nd CAT 5 of the 2005 season. It is amazing how similar the storm looks to Katrina.
Will have opportunity to take a run at 900 mb tonight as it passes over the loop current bath waters of the central Gulf of Mexico. Already some buoys/rigs reporting near tropical storm force winds as much as 300 miles north of the storm in the Louisiana Coastal waters south of Houma.
There was a drop sonde that measured 172 knots 130 meters above sea level, or about 400 feet off the ocean surface. That is 198 mph.
Hopefully, this thing will have much more time to weaken in the western Gulf than Katrina had in the northern Gulf. At this time, the thinking is that the tides will be about 2-3 feet above normal for the next day or so along the MS coast due to the storm, with fairly high swells and surf.
Yet another annular storm, with interesting vortices rotating through the eye. Eye is extremely dry, with a 23 degree C T - Td depression at 700 mb when the plane went through the 914 mb recon.
Even though the storm is expected to go close to Port Lavaca TX, compare the distance from landfall there to Galveston Bay. It is similar to Katrina at Waveland to Mobile Bay.
BTW, rumors have been problematic today.
Rumor #1: FEMA will shut down and limit gasoline usage starting at 5 pm today. Result, large lines in parts of Jackson with some stations around High Street Running out of fuel.
Rumor #2: People see wobble to the NW in past couple of hours, Rita is taking same path as Katrina. Some scared/concerned calls, even from EMs.
These rumors are FALSE.
I'm sure most of you know that the storm is 145 knots/165 mph, and 914 mb, making it our 2nd CAT 5 of the 2005 season. It is amazing how similar the storm looks to Katrina.
Will have opportunity to take a run at 900 mb tonight as it passes over the loop current bath waters of the central Gulf of Mexico. Already some buoys/rigs reporting near tropical storm force winds as much as 300 miles north of the storm in the Louisiana Coastal waters south of Houma.
There was a drop sonde that measured 172 knots 130 meters above sea level, or about 400 feet off the ocean surface. That is 198 mph.
Hopefully, this thing will have much more time to weaken in the western Gulf than Katrina had in the northern Gulf. At this time, the thinking is that the tides will be about 2-3 feet above normal for the next day or so along the MS coast due to the storm, with fairly high swells and surf.
Yet another annular storm, with interesting vortices rotating through the eye. Eye is extremely dry, with a 23 degree C T - Td depression at 700 mb when the plane went through the 914 mb recon.
Even though the storm is expected to go close to Port Lavaca TX, compare the distance from landfall there to Galveston Bay. It is similar to Katrina at Waveland to Mobile Bay.
BTW, rumors have been problematic today.
Rumor #1: FEMA will shut down and limit gasoline usage starting at 5 pm today. Result, large lines in parts of Jackson with some stations around High Street Running out of fuel.
Rumor #2: People see wobble to the NW in past couple of hours, Rita is taking same path as Katrina. Some scared/concerned calls, even from EMs.
These rumors are FALSE.
on September 21, 2005, 9:59 pm
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