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Major Hurricane Irma


NJwx85

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16 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

Was that in Long Beach?  Was Gloria the one that reached Cat 5 at three different times in the Atlantic? I can see from the map that one of those hurricanes did that.

I had to evacuate Long Beach a little further NE inland along the South Shore closer to where the eye crossed the coast.

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2 minutes ago, NJwx85 said:

Well I'm not sure about the terrain of Anguilla however a lot of the homes in the Southeastern Caribbean are built on higher elevations precisely for this reason. St Martin is a bit of an exception with a large tourist area and the airport both located in low lying areas. Fortunately they might escape the core there.

I've been to Anguilla - it's a beautiful island and the people are wonderful. The homes are, as noted, largely reinforced concrete with sheet aluminum roofing. The roofs will lift but the structures will survive, for the most part. Anguilla's residential population is built largely on higher ground and won't be affected by surge. There are, however, a couple of really great resorts that will probably suffer extreme damage.

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2 minutes ago, NJwx85 said:

Well I'm not sure about the terrain of Anguilla however a lot of the homes in the Southeastern Caribbean are built on higher elevations precisely for this reason. St Martin is a bit of an exception with a large tourist area and the airport both located in low lying areas. Fortunately they might escape the core there.

St Martin looks to be a direct hit or at least very close to the southern portion of the eye.

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2 minutes ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

St Martin looks to be a direct hit or at least very close to the southern portion of the eye.

At least the airport and resort areas of Maho Beach are located on the SW portion of the islands, so the winds should remain offshore there. And Philipsburg is in a protected cove.

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4 minutes ago, NJwx85 said:

At least the airport and resort areas of Maho Beach are located on the SW portion of the islands, so the winds should remain offshore there. And Philipsburg is in a protected cove.

What is the elevation? Wind off- shore or not, the surge with this is going to come in like a tsunami.

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1 hour ago, NJwx85 said:

We should get some pretty good looks at the core later as Irma gets into range on KJUA radar. Current long range loop just shows some widely scattered showers from the outermost bands.

No need to wait for KJUA

http://www.meteofrance.gp/previsions-meteo-antilles-guyane/animation/radar/antilles

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2 minutes ago, NJwx85 said:

Those areas are pretty much at sea level.

If you're not familiar with that island, the runway is basically on the beach.

Image result for St maarten airports

Maho Beach is tiny and the airport will sustain major damage if this track holds.  The homes in the inland areas are poorly built so I'm very worried the people who live on my favorite vacation spot. 

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Just now, Rjay said:

Maho Beach is tiny and the airport will sustain major damage if this track holds.  The homes in the inland areas are poorly built so I'm very worried the people who live on my favorite vacation spot. 

Yeah I stayed at the Sonesta four years ago and I was on that beach. Like I said, I'm hoping since they are on the SW side of the island they will be somewhat protected.

Also hoping these mountains block some of the wind.

Image result for st maarten runway

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2 minutes ago, NJwx85 said:

Guys the HMON is not very useful here with regards to intensity because as others have mentioned it's over deepening the cyclone. With that being said the more realistic HWRF still shows a very intense Hurricane near the same spot.

hwrf_mslp_wind_11L_43.png

Its at 929mb approx now on last pass and is only entering warmer waters and what some have called an even more favorable environment. Not saying the HMON is right....likely off 30 mb+ but even if that's the case, still looking at a slightly sub 900mb storm potential. The HWRF could be the other end of the spectrum and be playing it too conservative imo. 

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54 minutes ago, hooralph said:

We have been to Saint Barths 10 + times (last time was last April). I know the island like the back of my hand and I am trying to wrap my head around that tiny island taking a direct Cat 5 hit. The island has a strong spirit, but it will never been the same. Current forecast, fwiw, has the eye passing just to the north, which will arguably be worse than taking a NW quadrant hit. Gustavia, the main commercial port, is oriented WNW, and I imagine the surge will inundate the entire downtown.

I am also trying to imagine where one can find safe shelter. Most of the roads, schools and hotels are right at sea level, backed by steep hills that will be prone to mudslides.

Screen Shot 2017-09-05 at 8.17.12 AM.jpg

 

i travel there pretty regularly too - while i agree with what you say, i think they will fare better than any other island would if it got hit with a cat 5 eyewall - as they might...

it is basically a 1st world place - people don't live in shacks...

 

 

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1 minute ago, LandofLincoln said:

So... let's say this hurricane doesn't really come across any resistance until it hits land.. is it likely to just continue strengthening overall (besides the ERC which could slow it down in the short term)?

Shear looks to remain very low, SST will only continue to increase and dry air doesn't look to be a problem.

The biggest question mark is land interaction, first with PR and then with Hispaniola or Cuba down the road. 

So to answer your question, if the core can manage to avoid land until Florida, we should see temporary weakening due to ERC followed by re-intensification. I could see Irma getting down to sub 910mb, and that's a scary thought given the cyclone already has max winds of 175mph and it's only down to about 929mb.

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6 minutes ago, LandofLincoln said:

So... let's say this hurricane doesn't really come across any resistance until it hits land.. is it likely to just continue strengthening overall (besides the ERC which could slow it down in the short term)?

Someone posted a map a page or 2 back of all the category 5 storms and their time at that strength in the atlantic basin. Have a look at it. You'll see that it's incredibly difficult for a storm to maintain this intensity for any substantial period of time. Given that history it would be a little surprising if it even maintains it long enough for the center to reach the islands. You'd expect an ERC (or something less dramatic, slight impingement of outflow, bit of shear, etc.) to occur in the next 24 hours or so which lower the intensity slightly.

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8 minutes ago, NJwx85 said:

Shear looks to remain very low, SST will only continue to increase and dry air doesn't look to be a problem.

The biggest question mark is land interaction, first with PR and then with Hispaniola or Cuba down the road. 

So to answer your question, if the core can manage to avoid land until Florida, we should see temporary weakening due to ERC followed by re-intensification. I could see Irma getting down to sub 910mb, and that's a scary thought given the cyclone already has max winds of 175mph and it's only down to about 929mb.

Agreed NJ....I think realistically ~910mb would be the bottoming out point with no land interaction. What concerns me however is that majority of guidance shows a period of rapid deepening right as it approaches FL whether that be around the Keys or on the Eastern Coast of the state. Realistically 910mb but certainly some room and some signals it could edge lower in pressure. It's easy to model hug and say the extreme pressure forecasts will verify but there is a reason sub 900mb storms are so rare. Not saying Irma wont prove me wrong, but better to be realistic at this point. 

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