07L: Hurricane Gustav

[Stan Rose]

I was surprised there was virtually no mention of the effects of crossing western Cuba, which is far from completely flat. It might not have made a huge difference to a cat 2 storm, but it certainly is going to affect a cat 4/5, as it clearly has affected Gustav. Will be interesting to see what sort of evolution occurs now that it is back over water.

 

[rdale]

There is no constitutional authority for police to force people from homes. They can keep people out of an area, or tell them they will not respond afterwards, but cannot force them from their home. Look up the Mt St Helens guy...

I was surprised that Cuba was specifically listed as a non-threat to Gustav.

 

[Chad Cowan]

Can police literally go in there and force you to leave? Or is it, if you stay....you are on your own?

Not sure about the legalities of it but they pretty much said that if you do stay, you can't call 911 and expect someone to answer and/or help you.


4 STREAMING NEW ORLEANS TV STATIONS:
http://www.maroonspoon.com/wx/gustav.html

(The Met at the FOX station, far right, is a real character)

 

[Chris Hayes]

Gustav is crossing cuba into that patch of warm water at a good time. During the night it's cloud tops should cool off, allowing it to strengthen and grow larger overnight. So far a saving grace is that Gustav is a fairly compact storm when it comes to it's wind field.

 

[James Skelton]

Hi all. New to the board. Great to have this forum. Anyways, I'm in Pensacola, FL and if anyone needs a base to intercept from, I welcome you and will assist you anyway I can. I think we need more teamwork and comraderie as chasers as we are a small demographic. I am still thinking about intercepting myself, but am not sure yet.

By the way, interesting to note the models changing their tune about the ridge. I am personally thinking New Orleans is in for it bad. Maybe, if I'm feeling frisky, dare I even say Mobile?

 

[rdale]

Ship report just 40 NE of the center! That'd be fun Sustained 69mph, waves 19ft

 

[Marc Austin]

Models have converged slightly to the right of their earlier runs. Now they seem to indicate the center will pass just SW of New Orleans. This would certainly be a worst case for storm surge concerns. IR imagery throughout the day has shown a couple of wobbles more northward. If the track just SW of NO verifies, we may be calling it New "Atlantis". I pray everyone is taking the situation seriously and is getting the hell out of there.

 

[Doug_Kiesling]

In New Orleans

I'm In New Orleans.

This place is a freaking war zone right now.

Cops are all over the place with check points being setup around the airport. Now the forecast track looks like it may shift to hit just to the west of the city now.

In the city, survival supplies are pretty much gone. Fuel is running low as people are gassing up to get out of town.

If you were not here by yesterday and you did not bring in all your own survival supplies, your pretty much "S O L".

This is the real deal and everyone is freaking out like Burger King stopped selling the Whopper.

 

[Chris Hayes]

Eye has now gone offshore and the cloud tops are starting to cool back down again as they get further from interaction with land.

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/flt/t1/avn-l.jpg

 

[James Skelton]

Not looking good tonight boys and girls. NO is starting to turn chaotic already according to my buddies already there. If anyone goes there, I'd be just as concerned with people as the storm itself. I think the cops will be in a bad mood to so look out.

 

[Robert Rohloff]

Having had friends deploy to NO after Katrina both in the Guard and as LEO, anyone thinking of staying should be prepared. Many shots were fired at rescue personnel. Some of these friends had been in combat and said it was a very dangerous place. We had officers from our Special Operations Team hired by media to deploy and protect them.

There were enough fatalities not caused by the storm or flood that you should give alot of thought about being there. For all that chase good luck and prayers go with you...................

 

[rdale]

Listening to live NO scanner links and there seems to be confusion here and there but certainly doesn't sound like things are out of control.

 

[Jason Bolt]

Rob care to post a link to that?

 

[Marc Austin]

Listening to live NO scanner links and there seems to be confusion here and there but certainly doesn't sound like things are out of control.

I can't imagine it would be total chaos, but I imagine some people are in a slight panic about now.

I just wanted to add this link: www.crownweather.com

I'm sure many of you already know of it, but I thought I'd list it just in case. It's kind of an all-in-one resource with the latest statements, models, vis/IR/WV satellite images of the storm, etc.

This also includes several links to non-stop media coverage in New Orleans and several New Orleans webcams as well as webcams all over the Gulf coast.

 

[cedwards]

Having had friends deploy to NO after Katrina both in the Guard and as LEO, anyone thinking of staying should be prepared. Many shots were fired at rescue personnel.

Yes, I believe it. When I first went just after Katrina hit, I had to be escorted everywhere by two US marshals.