07L: Hurricane Gustav

[Jeff Snyder]

It seems that, for the majority of tropical cyclones that make landfall, there are no observations close to the NHC "max wind speed". Of course, the coverage of the strongest winds in a hurricane is often very, very small, and ASOS/AWOS stations can be spaced relatively far apart, giving ample opportunity for the strongest winds to go unsampled.

New Orleans staying relatively dry (i.e. no surge flooding within the city) is no surprise given that they likely only experienced TS-force winds and were, at the closest, approx. 60 miles from the eye. The water were still able to "lap" over the levees.... I agree that if the eye were to have passed 30-40 mi closer to NOLA, the city may have been under water in places. Regardless, Gustav came close enough to the city for it not to be a "false alarm" in my book. The media hype before hand was troubling, and hearing/reading an occasional comment about how NOLA was able to stay dry after a hit from Cat 3 Gustav is disheartening and a massive disservice to all people within that area. I'd hate to see folks become complacent again after many false alarms (again, I DON'T consider this one a false alarm given that a strong hurricane still passed 60 miles from downtown), and we'd just end up with the same pre-Katrina mentality.

It also tends to bug me when people talk about "hurricane-force winds" when the ob is 50 mph sustained with 75 mph gusts. That is TS-force winds. SUSTAINED winds are the notable data point when looking at TS vs. hurricane-force winds.

For what it's worth, the AOML analysis of Gustav near landfall shows an area of 75-80 kts over water, but nothing terribly impressive:
1330 UTC wind analysis

 

[Darren Addy]

Yeah, well this guy is no Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris would have let the levee fail, drank the water as it tried to flow into NOLA, and then urinated on Iran.

We use LOL far too often, but this was definitely a Laugh Out Loud moment for me. Well played.

 

[Bob Schafer]

Just shoot me now.

You guys who replied to my comments took them WAAAYYYY out of context. Stop reading between the lines, for Chrissakes. You'd think I'd accused the guy of raping 11 year old boys.

Okay, he's a hero. Let's give him the Congressional Medal of Honor for swimming 20 feet and put him on a Wheaties box. Happy?

 

[John Farley]

Did you guys get it on video?

A pizza guy in Pensacola got one:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-72406

 

[Andrew Ryan]

Just shoot me now.

You guys who replied to my comments took them WAAAYYYY out of context. Stop reading between the lines, for Chrissakes. You'd think I'd accused the guy of raping 11 year old boys.

Okay, he's a hero. Let's give him the Congressional Medal of Honor for swimming 20 feet and put him on a Wheaties box. Happy?

Ask and you shall receive...

 

[Bill Hark]

A pizza guy in Pensacola got one:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-72406

Here is another video (cell phone) of probably the same tornado.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-_zzklsEOA

Maybe there will be some more today.

Bill Hark

 

[Angie Norris]

A pizza guy in Pensacola got one:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-72406

That's good vid of a nice tornado. Talk about right place, right time
Is a tornado that good a bit atypical? I thought rain band tornadoes were on the small side.

 

[Blake Michaleski]

Did you guys get it on video?

Of course not...

we were doing something and saw/heard a small power flash, turned around and there was a BIG power flash that lit up the cone.... not but maybe a 1/4mile away.


0508 AM TORNADO GULFPORT 30.39N 89.07W
09/01/2008 HARRISON MS TRAINED SPOTTER

REPORTED BY UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA STORM SPOTTER.
MOVED ONSHORE NEAR HIGHWAY 49. POWER LINE FLASHED NOTED.

 

[Tim Marshall]

HURRICANE GUSTAV CHASE SUMMARY: A fun, but long chase. Shawn and I departed Dallas at 11 PM and drove all night to Lafayette, LA. We arrived at 5:15 AM and were lucky to find a convenience store that was still open so I topped off the fuel tank (also had 30 gallons in the bed of the truck). Seeing the open eyewall on radar and dry air and shear still affecting Gustav, I knew it would continue to decrease in intensity. Fearing CAT 1 at landfall, we headed southeast on Rt. 90 to Morgan City, LA. We encountered the north eyewall at Bayou Vista (just west of Morgan City) and stopped to ride it out. White-out conditions lasted for about 30 minutes and I estimated winds were 65 MPH sustained with occasional gusts to around 80-85 MPH. We saw numerous tree branches break, a few power poles go down, a few plastic signs shatter, and roof shingles become displaced.

When the winds let up, we headed over the bridge to Morgan City. Winds went near calm and people were out milling about checking out the damage. For the most part, the city escaped major structural damage. The worst damage included the loss of gas station canopies, occasional failures of overhead doors and windows, and loss of sheet metal roofing.

After completing a quick damage survey on Main street, we drove back northwest on Rt. 90 encountering the northwest eyewall between Franklin and Patterson. I drove slowly in white-out conditions for an hour encountering gusts again to around 80-85 MPH. We arrived back in Lafayette around 3 PM. Seeing the heavy rain area to the north that would slow us down, I decided to head west on I-10 and made it back to Lake Charles at 5 PM. It was eerie to see the sun shining through occasional BINOVC in a ghost town where everything was shut down. We headed north on Rt. 287/69 at Beaumont to arrive safely in Dallas at 11 PM. Total trip was 1025 miles in 24 hours. Had no sleep for 40 hours (not recommended). Used 45 gallons of fuel. TM

 

[B Ozanne]

I just a read a BBC article that said the Isle of Youth recorded a 340 km/h gust. I'll let you do the conversion.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7593543.stm

That will be amazing if that verifies. Mount Washington is still safe though.

 

[rdale]

211 miles per hour... Per NHC / AOML analysis, the peak wind at Cuba landfall was 132mph. That'd be quite an error on NHC's part

 

[Paul Austin]

Here is another video (cell phone) of probably the same tornado.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-_zzklsEOA

Maybe there will be some more today.

Bill Hark

Nice catch on both counts. Depressing, too. Despite intercepting numerous t-warned rain band storms over the years, including three with Fay, I have yet to capture a tube with any tropical system. This pic of a Fay-produced tornado was frustrating, as I was stuck at work drooling over the cell that produced it.

I flirted with the prospect of driving to LA/MS for a Gustav landfall, but Tues morning obligations nixed the idea - just no guarantee I wouldn't get trapped. The consolation - I considered driving to the panhandle to attempt some tornado intercepts, but my earlier lack of success suggested the trip not worth the gas. I stayed home, and locals get the great vid. One of these days....?

 

[Eric Flescher]

now the people from Louisiana are crabbing

From ABC news
People are saying that there is no way they are going to leave again if a hurricane approaches again.

Apparently Gustave wasn't severe enough, did not do enough damage. People wanted to get right back into their houses (even though there is no power, water etc etc) and the National Guard was trying to be cautious in letting them back.

 

[B Ozanne]

I'm sure people are complaining. We all know how close NOLA came to flooding but they probably don't. I seriously wonder how often NOLA can keep up this kind of readiness. Certainly not an evacuation of this scale every year. Even 1 in 3 years will seriously test the population mentally, physically and financially.

Nagin is going to be hard pressed to come up with some new superlatives for the next storm, he already used all the good ones for Gustav.

Also, they aren't going to be able to justify keeping the population from returning to their homes. We all know its for their best interest and safety. But its a huge contrast to the freedom Americans are used to.

 

[Brett Adair]

Of course not...

we were doing something and saw/heard a small power flash, turned around and there was a BIG power flash that lit up the cone.... not but maybe a 1/4mile away.


0508 AM TORNADO GULFPORT 30.39N 89.07W
09/01/2008 HARRISON MS TRAINED SPOTTER

REPORTED BY UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA STORM SPOTTER.
MOVED ONSHORE NEAR HIGHWAY 49. POWER LINE FLASHED NOTED.

Yup....witnessed that tornado from the deck with Blake and the rest of the crew. It was quite a cone lit by the power flash.