Incidentally, a
longtime friend of ours (he's got some awesome photos from the eye of a hurricane on that page; the images are scaled down, so "View Image" to get the full size) works for the Hurricane Research Division of the NOAA. My dad just forwarded an email to me from him, and I thought I'd post it here for you all to see:
[q]
Storm Warnings: Cat 5 Katrina nearing landfall
I don't need to tell folks much about this storm, except to say for those anywhere near its path (and that includes people well inland) -- please take every precaution. A storm like this will break devastating winds, storm surge (as high as 25 ft or so), torrential rainfall, and some tornadoes -- even 100's of miles from the center. If it maintains its Cat 5 strength, or even at least Cat 3-4, I shudder to think of the devastation we will witness after it has passed. And that could include incredible flooding when it passes over the mountains of Tennessee, etc. We need to keep those that will be affected held up in prayer! Pray that people will HEED the warnings and evacuate where necessary. I write this with a heavy heart. The meteorologist in me is amazed and awed by this storm but the other part of me (having lived through Cat 5 Andrew) has trouble even fathoming what will be the impact of this storm. The pressure, as most of you know, went down to 902 mb -- the 4th lowest pressure ever measured in an Atlantic hurricane. While we were in teh storm today, the pressure dropped ~30mb in just ~6 hr. That is VERY rapid intensification.
I just completed a mission on the NOAA G-IV jet early this morning. Early Monday morning ~3am, I will be on board the NOAA P-3 aircraft which will do a "landfall" mission into Katrina. We try and measure the strength, and changes to the strength as the eye actually hits land. This will be quite a historic flight for a historic (and devastating) landfall. Prayers are appreciated for a safe and a successful mission that can supply useful data to NHC and for later research.
By the way, try and follow Mark Sudduth's activities on his website as he sets up instruments on the ground in the path of Katrina. (See below.)
We now have TD13, and the season is far from over. PLEASE check and improve your preparations. Many in SE FL are STILL without power after Katrina. And there, it was only a Cat 1.
That's all for now. I need to get a bit more rest before our flight.
Regards,
Stan[/q]
