"Windspeeds over 140 mph were recorded at landfall in southeastern Louisiana while winds gusted to over 100 mph in New Orleans, just west of the eye. As the hurricane made its second landfall on the Mississippi/Louisiana border, windspeeds were approximately 110 kts (125 mph). Gusts of over 80mph were recorded in Mobile and 90 mph in Biloxi, MS."
This is a fascinating statement when one examines it. First of all, it indicates that 122 KT winds were recorded at landfall. When was landfall? I thought that was at 6:10 EST (or thereabouts 10Z); the time of the dopplar shot I took. Secondly there's no buouy data to substantiate that. So windspeeds are higher on land than over open water, o.k. Makes sense (quit bogarting that joint).
When it made second landfall, windspeeds were 110 knots, with winds gusting to 80 KTs in Biloxi, and Mobile. O.k., you convinced me (quit bogarting that join, man, and let me have some).
ENOUGH
Granted, that was a good data set you posted from Houma, but what would be more telling is a similar data set from Slidell, Biloxi, etc. I'm betting there is no data set from those areas, as the instrumentation in that area was knocked offline or destroyed well in advance of the eastern eyewall's approach. NHC reported that SLidell radar was showing winds in excess of 125 kts before it was taken out. While most of the damage in that area was done by storm surge, you need cat 4/5 winds for an extended period of time to drive up the 25+ ft of storm surge that hit Mississippi.