2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season Running Thread

Lived in South Florida for 26 years. Too many near-misses to count. Only direct hit was a Cat 2. Pretty damn lucky, all things considered.

 

As I've noted here, last year, and most likely in my 2021 running thread, I've slept in my truck in the middle of a Cat 1, not because of the winds but because I got stranded because of flooding many miles inland.
At least in NC, the inland flooding does more damage than the direct hit of the storm.

 

"Tell Laura I'm leee-eaaaaveng ..."

 

That's how it is here. Most of the tornado tracking storms come from the west past Tuscaloosa, and there's a fairly well worn track they 70-80% follow. Seldom does one come within that ten miles, but if the path is coming over my house we have a bathroom that makes a great bunker. The house was built in 1948, and has weathered it's share of storms.

 

From the 11 p.m. ET discussion. The hurricane winds are not widespread but will be intense wherever it makes landfall:

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 60 miles (95 km) from the
center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 205 miles
(335 km). A sustained wind of 43 mph (69 km/h) and a gust to 49
mph (80 km/h) were recently reported by a National Ocean Service
station at Texas Point, Texas, at Sabine Pass. A wind gust to 58
mph (93 km/h) was recently reported at Cameron, Louisiana.

The minimum central pressure estimated from Air Force and NOAA
Hurricane Hunter observations is 939 mb (27.73 inches).

 

Whoa.

 

Well, that’s certainly something. I’m just not sure what.

 

Report from my friend:
Well we are still here. Worst is past us. People, Dogs and inside cats safely accounted for, Power is of course out, we lost cell service for quite a few hours & really just getting it back now. Seeing some minor damage already but house, vehicles, trailers and tractor all seem to be in the same place we left them. Will survey more when sun rises... animals are in the fields, hoping all ok! And then clean up begins...hang on to the north, y'all aint seen one like this before...

 

Hard to tell right now, but it looks like the surge did not materialize in the way It was forecast. That's good. Glad they're okay

 

Was looking at Google maps this morning and Cameron looks like a little town filled with fishing boats, some oil rigging storage and a bunch of RV parks. Unfortunately there's not much between there and Lake Charles.

Laura made landfall near Cameron, Louisiana, around 0600 UTC (1 am
CDT) with maximum sustained winds of 130 kt, which is near the high
end of category 4 status. At the time of landfall, Laura was
a ferocious looking hurricane with a clear circular eye, an intense
eyewall, and tightly-coiled surrounding spiral bands. Since the
powerful hurricane has been inland for a few hours, there has been
some decrease in winds, and the estimated initial wind speed based
on Doppler radar data, surface observations, and guidance from an
inland decay model is 105 kt.

The hurricane is now moving northward with the initial motion
estimated to be 355/13 kt. Laura is expected to continue moving
northward through tonight, which should take the core of the system
across Louisiana and Arkansas. After that, Laura will likely
become embedded in the mid-latitude westerlies, and the much
weaker cyclone is forecast to move quickly east-northeastward
across the southeast U.S. and the mid-Atlantic states on Friday and
Saturday. By late in the weekend and early next week, Laura,
or its extratropical remnants, should accelerate northeastward
across the western Atlantic.

Now that Laura is inland, rapid weakening is forecast and it
will likely become a tropical storm later today and a tropical
depression on Friday. It should be noted that strong hurricanes
like Laura are not just coastal events. Even though Laura's
highest winds will decrease quickly as it treks inland, significant
impacts from heavy rains and strong wind gusts are likely through
at least tonight across portions of Louisiana and Arkansas. Some
strengthening as an extratropical cyclone is expected when the
storm moves over the Atlantic waters late this weekend and early
next week.