the gulf waters around the projected path are 87-89.5 degrees faren. very high octane fuel for a hurricane. there appears to be NO cold patch to slow down the intensity.
she is at 906 mili. now. camille was at 26.84". katrina is trying to beat camille’s record. she hasn’t hit the 89.5 water yet…
i have never seen the weather service produce such a warning. they usually are in the understated mode. if this warning is their usual understating, i’d be heading to minn.
she isn’t gonna stop on a dime, she is gonna be a hurricane through quite a few states before she cools down to a trop. storm somewhere around id, or oh.
if you are anywhere across the path, even hundreds of miles north of where she hits, get ready for a 3, 2, or 1, coming through your area. start getting ready now.
here is her projected path though the rest of the states. check where you are and start preparing if you are near that line.
However, points east of New Orleans have huge advantages over the Crescent City in terms of storm damage.
New Orleans is essentially a bowl, with levees and flood walls keeping out water from the the Mississippi River in three directions, and Lake Pontchartrain to the north. If the levees are breeched, water comes into the city, and can’t be pumped out until the surounding waters subside.
Biloxi, MS; Mobile, AL; Pensacola, FL; etc. – these locals only have to worry about water coming in from one direction … the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Areas near inlets (like Mobile Bay, AL) have an additional direction to worry about. But nowhere else on the Gulf Coast has the bowl-shaped toppography New Orleans.
If we’re counting damages in lives and/or dollars, it’s far preferable for the storm to come ashore east of New Orleans. Yes, it will affect different individuals and still be a gigantic human tragedy – but it will not be a worst case scenario on a macroscopic scale.
My sister in Gulf Shores says the waves are already worse than she’s ever seen them and that her beach house (built on stilts, per code) is already unreachable due to enough flooding to turn the sand in the driveway to sludge. She’s encouraging me to evacuate to our mother’s in Montgomery (I live in Tuscaloosa) as the eye of the hurricane is expected to pass directly over where I am. I’m debating.
Sweet Jesus I hate the thoughts of what this is going to do to New Orleans.
BabaBooey- Fuck school. Get your butt out of there. The school is probably already closed.
Not to make light, but I can just see you there, weighing it in your mind. “A direct hit through the eye of a Cat 5 hurricane, or a three days with my mother? Decisions, decisions…”
I’ve ridden out hurricanes in both Texas and North Carolina, but what I just saw of Katrina on CNN scares the crap out of me. If anybody in New Orleans is still logged on and reading this, STOP. Get out of there NOW.
I went to school in New Orleans (Tulane) and I have read the worst case scenarios for this type of thing over the last few years. I have a little brother that lives in Baton Rouge. Katrina scares the crap out of me too. It look like the worst case scenario is about to happen.
Most of the news agencies haven’t said it yet but this will likely be the biggest and most costly disaster in U.S. history. New Orleans will likely be unihabitable for weeks or months and even then, only partial services will be restored and the city will be covered in a layer of muck. The majority of the buildings will be severely damaged. Rebuilding will likely take years. This will be complicated by all of the insurance companies serving southern Louisiana will have to declare bankruptcy.
We can hope for a miracle but we better prepare for the worst.
Please get out of there, folks. Forget your appointments, forget your schools, forget the material things that you can’t take with you, just get the hell out of there!
This is insane. 184MPH!!! And to think when Katrina made hurricane status, I was thinking, “at least it’s a little baby hurricane.” I never knew hurricanes could get this big. If this storm stays anywhere near it’s current strength when it makes landfall, it’s going to make Andrew look like an April shower. The forecasts are putting it at 160MPH at landfall, but that was before the now revised 184mph figure. I just can’t fathom a storm of this magnitude, and you can bet the people of New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast will be in my prayers tonight.
Oh…and, after reading this, if you’re still there and have the means to leave, GET OUT OF YOUR CHAIR AND LEAVE NOW!
My nephew and his wife are staying in New Orleans. She’s a nurse who’s on emergency call and the hospital and he won’t leave her. I’m assuming that if anywhere is safe, it’ll be the hospital. I don’t know.
The National Weather Service is expecting hurricane force winds 105 miles to either side of the eye. We’re 120 west, and are expecting tropical storm type weather, gusts of “just” 60 mph or so.
I’m with you, Jman, let’s hope for further weakening. I’ve been through a piddly category 2, and that was bad enough.
