ATLANTIC: MAJOR HURRICANE EARL

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

Hey Chris. Guess what sound I already started hearing by the time I got home!

Uh, oh ... That "eeeoooup!" brake groaning sound?

I hope you had a good intercept there otherwise. At least you guys got "something", and that may be all you'll get the way this year's going.

Hopefully not.

 

[Jason Foster]

Good day all,



Uh, oh ... That "eeeoooup!" brake groaning sound?

I hope you had a good intercept there otherwise. At least you guys got "something", and that may be all you'll get the way this year's going.

Hopefully not.

"eeeooooup" is right!!! Cane chasing is so taxing...arggg. Full rinsing coming today. New brake pads for sure also on order.

Yeah....I'm very happy with what I got. Sure would have been nice to get that Cat.4 to landfall, but hey....not bad. Even though I got to go with the Hurricane Hunters (USAF Reserves) last year, I did not get any landfall chases. This will hold me for a year if it has too, although I to am keeping my fingers crossed for another intercept before the year is out...luckily we can go until October with decent chances. I often refer to Lily in 2002 as an example.

 

[Jeremy Gilchrist]

Below is tidal surge coming out of Pamlico Sound at Buxton, shot from the second floor of the Comfort Inn: during Emily, 1993. I wonder how high the water got there this time.

One of my hurricane chasing partners, Brad Riley, noted that he saw many chasers at the Inn yesterday evening. He also noted that while filming some minor surge 1/2 mile down the road, about midnight, from another (abandoned) motel parking lot, some dingbat chaser pulled their vehicle (a van) directly between his truck and the surge, just yards away, and ignorantly blocked his camera field of vision. Sounds like some of the "behavior" I have read about this spring taking place during chaser convergences in tornado alley.

There wasn't too much in the way of chaser convergence. Where I was in Nags Head everyone cooperated very well I thought. We had alot of media around and they were careful not to block our shots and we didn't block theirs. Information was pretty well shared overall as well between different groups. The only exception was one douchebag in a restore one truck who had no 2nd thoughts about blocking our shots and would walk and stand right in front of us. He also decided to park his truck under the hotel canopy in front which was a horrible idea to begin with and blocked shots. It was clear multiple people were trying to shoot at that spot because you could capture conditions and protect your equipment and yourself.

 

[Jason Foster]

One of my hurricane chasing partners, Brad Riley, noted that he saw many chasers at the Inn yesterday evening. He also noted that while filming some minor surge 1/2 mile down the road, about midnight, from another (abandoned) motel parking lot, some dingbat chaser pulled their vehicle (a van) directly between his truck and the surge, just yards away, and ignorantly blocked his camera field of vision. Sounds like some of the "behavior" I have read about this spring taking place during chaser convergences in tornado alley.

Not what I observed at all. I was all over: Hatteras, Nags Head, Kitty Hawk, etc. Everyone behaved well. I personally did pass another vehicle (typical rental film crew style chaser...Gammons/Edds or J.Teague, etc. IDK or just a local) that was going slow, but it was a double yellow. I'm probably was the most impatient of anyone and that was the worse move I made the entire trip. One instance you mentioned was likely a mistake and just happens from time to time...you get over it in 2 seconds. You can't know what's going in inside another car...there is just too much going on. Besides....no one has any "right" to a clear shot. Courtesy yes, but it's just that...courtesy.

There were locals however, and they don't have a clue as to any of this camera and media stuff, so I'm not going to go running up to one and say "hey, you blocking my shot".

 

[Jennifer Bankier]

Earl hits Nova Scotia

Earl ran over my house in Nova Scotia. I didn't have to chase it ... it came to me. Only a limited amount of damage out here but apparently a whole lot in Halifax, loss of power in many parts of the province, but I got lucky and kept my power.

I stayed up late watching the various meteorological information, and by the middle of the night it became clear that NHC (which had declared Earl a tropical storm while it was still over Massachussetts) and the Canadian Hurricane Centre which still believed, and showed it as, a Cat. 1 hurricane, were in disagreement with each other about the status issue. There is continuing disagreement at this time, about whether Earl came inland as a Cat. 1 hurricane (CHC) or a tropical storm (NHC), with the Canadian Hurricane Centre saying that ground evidence about damage will have to be collected to resolve the disagreement.

I wonder whether the disagreement may be affected by perspectives on water temperature. The power of our last hurricane that did significant damage in Nova Scotia (Juan) was attributed, in part, to the fact that the water temperatures off Nova Scotia were warmer than usual. (Historically the waters are cold enough to downgrade hurricanes into tropical storms before they reach Nova Scotia.)

Canadian Hurricane Centre had pointed out before Earl's arrival that this time the water temperatures were two to four degrees warmer than with Juan, and that we had a tropical air mass already sitting on top of us this week (worst of the summer).

When I looked at the water temperature data myself I was interested to see that the water temperatures off the northern part of the American East Coast were actually *colder* than the waters off the part of the Nova Scotia coast where Earl ultimately came onshore. I wonder if the difference in the positions of the two hurricane centers might be attributable to the fact that the NHC only looked at the (relatively) cold offshore American water, without considering that Earl would then move over warmer Canadian offshore water and might be reinvigorated.

Canadian Hurricane Center did a lot of research after Juan and discovered some interesting things about both Juan and other hurricanes in Canadian waters. I've been meaning to pass some of this on to Americans through one of the discussion lists ... perhaps this will be the impetus for me actually to do so.

 

[Jason Foster]

Quick photo update:

This is Mark Suddith's set-up on the tower located at Oregan Inlet along the Hatteras National Seashore about 1/3 the way down from Nags Head to the Cape with the Rt.12 bridge in the background.

 

[Bart_Comstock]

Here is a quick blog update with my chase log of Earl. I hope to have my video up tonight.

http://svrwxchaser.com/?p=356

Below is tidal surge coming out of Pamlico Sound at Buxton, shot from the second floor of the Comfort Inn: during Emily, 1993. I wonder how high the water got there this time.

One of my hurricane chasing partners, Brad Riley, noted that he saw many chasers at the Inn yesterday evening. He also noted that while filming some minor surge 1/2 mile down the road, about midnight, from another (abandoned) motel parking lot, some dingbat chaser pulled their vehicle (a van) directly between his truck and the surge, just yards away, and ignorantly blocked his camera field of vision. Sounds like some of the "behavior" I have read about this spring taking place during chaser convergences in tornado alley.

The surge wasn't nearly as bad. I was one of the chasers that stayed at the Comfort Inn. The surge at its peak came high enough to start to creep into east side of the parking lot but never got more than a inch deep in the lot.

As for the "van guy," Brian and I came across him. He wasn't a chaser, just some sort of a weather enthusiast that was on site for the storm. IIRC he was from the mainland in NC and just came out for the storm. He had a little go pro and was very excited at the site of chasers. He about crapped himself when speaking to us. The guy was harmless but obviously wasn't exorcising self control.

I think this is the van you are talking about, let me know if I am right...

 

[Jeremy Gilchrist]

Quick photo update:

This is Mark Suddith's set-up on the tower located at Oregan Inlet along the Hatteras National Seashore about 1/3 the way down from Nags Head to the Cape with the Rt.12 bridge in the background.

He measured a gust to 85mph with this setup and sustained at 65mph. We had similar obs at its worst so it feels good to have this backing up what we observed. I feel much better about what we have reported now, in addition to other surrounding observations.

 

[Jennifer Bankier]

Canada: Hurricane to Tropical Storm

Environment Canada still says that Earl arrived as a Cat 1 hurricane in Nova Scotia, and then transitioned to a tropical storm:

"Earl first made landfall at 10:30 a.m. about 85 kilometres southwest of Lunenburg as a Category 1 hurricane. It had been downgraded to a tropical storm by 1 p.m., with sustained winds of about 110 kilometres an hour, officials from Environment Canada said Saturday. "

 

[Bart_Comstock]

He noted that he was certainly disappointed that the 140 mph storm he left his house to chase the day before, from western S. Carolina, did not materialize. But, as always he enjoyed being in a good storm.

It could be worse, he could have driven 23 hours from Arkansas.

Yes I remember meeting him on the day after the storm when we were all trapped by the sand that had washed over NC 12.

 

[George Kourounis]

I FINALLY got around to uploading video of Hurricane Earl's final landfall in Nova Scotia. I believe we were the only storm chasers to get the right side of this storm, and in daylight none the less. The waves at Peggy's cove were enormous.

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp84gnF7rq8

Photos & more:
http://www.stormchaser.ca/Hurricanes/Earl/Earl.html

George Kourounis
www.stormchaser.ca

 

[Mark Sudduth]

Here is the wind data plot from our 5 meter tower. As the photo from Jason Foster shows, it was sited very well, out in the open, no obstructions. This was a stark contrast to the poor siting conditions we had during Ike despite the tower being placed in a seemingly open area at Galveston College.