Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VIII

NOAA - NHC ^ | 29 August 2005 | NOAA - NHC

[NautiNurse]

Category 4 Hurricane Katrina is approaching landfall in Eastern Louisiana. At 4:00AM EDT the storm's center was about 90 miles south of New Orleans.

The following links are self-updating:

Public Advisory Currently published every 3 hours 5A, 8A, 11A, 2P, etc. ET
NHC Discussion Published every six hours 6A, 11A, 6P, 11P
Three Day Forecast Track
Five Day Forecast Track
Navy Storm Track
Katrina Track Forecast Archive Nice loop of each NHC forecast track for both three and five day
Forecast Models
Alternate Hurricane Models via Skeetobite
Bouy Data Louisiana/Mississippi
Buoy Data Florida

Lake Ponchartrain Real Time Water Level

Wind Speed Data

Images:

New Orleans/Baton Rouge Experimental Radar Subject to delays and outages - and well worth the wait

Mobile Long Range Radar Loop

New Orleans/Baton Rouge Radar

Ft. Polk, LA Long Range Radar Loop

Northwest Florida Long Range Radar

Storm Floater IR Loop
Storm Floater Still & Loop Options
Color Enhanced IR Loop

Other Resources:

Hurricane Wind Risk Very informative tables showing inland wind potential by hurricane strength and forward motion
Central Florida Hurricane Center
New Orleans Web Cams Loads of web cam sites here. The sites have been very slow due to high traffic
New Orleans Music Online Couldn't resist--love that jazz
Golden Triangle Weather Page Nice Beaumont weather site with lots of tracks and graphics
Hurricane City
Crown Weather Tropical Website Offers a variety of storm info, with some nice track graphics

Live streaming:

Cut and Paste:

http://www.wwltv.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=beloint_khou&props=livenoad

Fully-linked version of the live feeds (just in case a few people don't want to first open up WMP to cut-and-paste) -

WWL-TV/DT New Orleans (WMP) - mms://beloint.wm.llnwd.net/beloint_wwltv
WVTM-TV/DT Birmingham (WMP) - mms://a1256.l1289835255.c12898.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/

1256/12898/v0001/reflector:35255
WDSU-TV/DT New Orleans (WMP) - http://mfile.akamai.com/12912/live/reflector:38202.asx
Hurricane City (Real Player) - http://hurricanecity.com/live.ram
ABCNews Now (Real Player) - http://reallive.stream.aol.com/ramgen/redundant/abc/now_hi.rm
WKRG-TV/DT

Mobile (WMP) - mms://wmbcast.mgeneral.speedera.net/wmbcast

.mgeneral/wmbcast_mgeneral_aug262005_1435_95518 WDSU-TV/DT New Orleans via WESH-TV/DT Orlando - http://mfile.akamai.com/12912/live/reflector:38843.asx

Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VII
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part VI
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part V
Hurricane Katrina, Live Thread, Part IV
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part III
Katrina Live Thread, Part II
Hurricane Katrina Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm 12

Category	Wind Speed	Barometric Pressure	Storm Surge	Damage Potential
Tropical Depression	< 39 mph < 34 kts			Minimal
Tropical Storm	39 - 73 mph 34 - 63 kts			Minimal
Hurricane 1 (Weak)	74 - 95 mph 64 - 82 kts	28.94" or more 980.02 mb or more	4.0' - 5.0' 1.2 m - 1.5 m	Minimal damage to vegetation
Hurricane 2 (Moderate)	96 - 110 mph 83 - 95 kts	28.50" - 28.93" 965.12 mb - 979.68 mb	6.0' - 8.0' 1.8 m - 2.4 m	Moderate damage to houses
Hurricane 3 (Strong)	111 - 130 mph 96 - 112 kts	27.91" - 28.49" 945.14 mb - 964.78 mb	9.0' - 12.0' 2.7 m - 3.7 m	Extensive damage to small buildings
Hurricane 4 (Very strong)	131 - 155 mph 113 - 135 kts	27.17" - 27.90" 920.08 mb - 944.80 mb	13.0' - 18.0' 3.9 m - 5.5 m	Extreme structural damage
Hurricane 5 (Devastating)	Greater than 155 mph Greater than 135 kts	Less than 27.17" Less than 920.08 mb	Greater than 18.0' Greater than 5.5m	Catastrophic building failures possible

[Ditter]

In the Galveston storm of 1900, ALL the children in the orphanage and ALL the nuns were lost. They were swept away in the storm surge. Some of their bodies were found tied together with ropes. The nuns had tried to keep them together.

I don't know the elevation of the NO Superdome but I fear the 20+ foot storm surge.

[cajungirl]

Oh my Lord, that sounds so bad. Those people need to get to an interior wall and huddle. My Lord, this is awful.

[NonValueAdded]

Guenevere ... I am transcribing the WDSU feed, I'm not there!!!

[mrobison]

Except for the roof, evidently, which they must have constructed to lower standards than the rest of the building, if you're thinking is right.

[CT]

However, I've been watching Steve Harrigan on FOX and I have to say I'm impressed.

Hey, wasn't he the guy whose eyes looked all spooky during the liberation of Afgahnistan? Wold Boy, or something to that effect?

[11th_VA]

He's imitating him with, "Oh, look a piece of roof just blew past me."

I recall during the last hurricane season a reported got socked in the gut with a coconut - she went down but survived.

[tiredoflaundry]

If this isn't "the big one" it's one hell of a dress rehearsal..

You got that right!

[dawn53]

I think MSNBC is the best to watch for the coverage in the Dome. He was able to get still pictures out and you can see the holes in the roof.

Looks like Fox's weather lady's concerns are coming true.

[Right_in_Virginia]

For what it's worth...it's been reported that the 20+ storm surge for NO is now unlikely.

[gopwinsin04]

Temps getting warmer inside the Superdome.

[Graymatter]

From the map I see at post 878 it seems the eye is passing directly over the Superdome.

[spycatcher]

Photo of Superdome roof (before picture)

[IMRight]

If I read the report correctly on the dome posted last night, it said each piece of the dome is structurally dependent on the parts. The roof being one of the key parts. If I understood the report last night.

I haven't read the report, but I'd bet they were saying that each piece of the dome (i.e. the roof) is structurally dependent on the others.

There ARE buildings where the roof is an essential part of the entire structure (your home is a likely example)... but this is not such a structure (at least not from what I can see).

[metmom]

The areas where the eyewall passes over are likely to sustain a lot of damage. After the eye passes over the eyewall hits again at full force. No gradual increase as when the hurruicane is approaching. Just WHAM! Could really do a number on already weakened structures.

[lifacs]

The only people who will be any danger will be those stupid enough to stand under falling parts of the roof. The structure itself is in little danger.

Sounds like a scenario we've heard many times before. Reporters trying to hype a situation.

[LadyBuzz]

Yes, poor Janice had a hard time holding it together yeaterday - as far as I know she has not been on Fox yet today

[NonValueAdded]

... backup generators going, they can see now but before it was so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face ... (silver lining optimist, hole in the roof but at least now we can see) ... [report ends]

[Gondring]

Excuse me, but what do you think "Mississippi river silt" has to do with breaching levees?? The levees that might be breached are on Lake Ponchartrain---not the Mississippi, and the silt load of the Mississippi is dropped WAY out in the Gulf (which is why the swamplands are eroding---LACK of silt, not too much).

Tell me...why is the silt being deposited way out into the Gulf? Because the natural distributary process has been subverted! I'm not talking about today...think longer-term and broader.

Secondly, levees could breach in multiple places. Lake Pontchartrain AND the river...but that's not the point. Why is there a levee for Lake P.? Perhaps because of its elevation relative to the the developed areas? Why such a difference? Again, think of long-term policies, not just today.

(And I note that the river elevation is "high," and the lake elevation is the "normal.")

[jeffers]

"I watched the roof collapse of Miller Stadium . . . . So much steel tends to go . . .down."

These roof panels are very heavy per the technical specs posted here last night. If they are vibrating and lifting, there's a good chance they will not fall inside, instead they can be lifted off and flung elsewhere.