Major Hurricane Helene

[BoulderWX]

Probably about 3 hours until landfall 

[BoulderWX]

Looking upstream…

[CoastalWx]

2 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

I’m still surprised because the eye is not really impressive at all. But she seems to still be strengthening I guess.

It’s like the 60% of the eyewall is extremely intense and just sucking up all the air lol.

[USCG RS]

1 minute ago, andyhb said:

Potential aborted recon mission here. This does not happen often at all from a TC itself.

A poster (I can't remember/find it a few pages back) literally just posted this link about a Hurricane Hunter in Hurricane Hugo - https://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/articles/hunting-hugo-part-5

 

Uncanny. 

[andyhb]

2 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

I’m still surprised because the eye is not really impressive at all. But she seems to still be strengthening I guess.

Huh?

2/3 of the eyewall is enveloped in some really intense convection right now. That's still going to drop the pressure even if one quad is a bit ragged.

[Floydbuster]

2 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

I’m still surprised because the eye is not really impressive at all. But she seems to still be strengthening I guess.

Sometimes storms get that way. I remember Harvey had a messy ragged eye, Irma after leaving Cuba, but as long as those pressures are falling and the winds respond, sometimes the strongest ain't the prettiest. 

[BTRWx's Thanks Giving]

I wonder if that outer rain band to the southwest of the center is slowly becoming the new eyewall.

[Amped]

2 minutes ago, BoulderWX said:

Looking upstream…

Valdosta GA, Augusta GA, and Colombia SC could all get hurricane force gusts.

[NeffsvilleWx]

4 minutes ago, USCG RS said:

A poster (I can't remember/find it a few pages back) literally just posted this link about a Hurricane Hunter in Hurricane Hugo - https://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/articles/hunting-hugo-part-5

 

Uncanny. 

Mentioned it a few pages ago in response to the flight path when people were speculating that they were just doing continuous fixes to find the center and it got deleted.

[Random Chaos]

2 minutes ago, Radtechwxman said:

On radar it's even less impressive in the southern eyewall. Kind of open and not much precip. Wonder if we have hit our max winds despite pressure drops. 

Intense storms always give radar shadows and this comes up every landfalling hurricane.

[BTRWx's Thanks Giving]

1 minute ago, Random Chaos said:

Intense storms always give radar shadows and this comes up every landfalling hurricane.

Could it be going through an eyewall replacement cycle?

[WxWatcher007]

Down to 990.2mb

[buckeyefan1]

There's a banter thread for a reason. Please use it.

 

 

Now back to your regular scheduled hurricane discussion

[CoastalWx]

7 minutes ago, andyhb said:

Huh?

2/3 of the eyewall is enveloped in some really intense convection right now. That's still going to drop the pressure even if one quad is a bit ragged.

For a strengthening cat 4 like that and a ragged 40% or so of the eyewall, it’s surprising to me it intensified like that. In the following post, I mentioned the intense convection. 

[HillsdaleMIWeather]

Lots of lightning in the eyewall rn, might not be done yet 

[DDweatherman]

1 minute ago, CoastalWx said:

For a strengthening cat 4 like that and a ragged 40% or so of the eyewall, it’s surprising to me it intensified like that. In the following post, I mentioned the intense convection. 

The bumpiness of the eye on radar now and lightning is still indicating those rotating mesovortices. Looking at velocities we definitely have some impressive #’s on the radar out of TLH. 

[Radtechwxman]

3 minutes ago, WxWatcher007 said:

Down to 990.2mb

That would be up. By a lot. Lol

[dseagull]

Just now, Radtechwxman said:

That would be up. By a lot. Lol

At his location in Perry...

[NeonPeon]

I can't think of many land falling hurricanes in the Gulf that don't have this look in terms of a slightly open or ragged eye wall on the far side. You seem to need a real outlier not to get it.

[WxSynopsisDavid]

2 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

For a strengthening cat 4 like that and a ragged 40% or so of the eyewall, it’s surprising to me it intensified like that. In the following post, I mentioned the intense convection. 

Radar attenuation. Those towers are very large and blocking view of the west and south side of the storm. Reason why the intensification is surprising to you because you didn’t account for such.

[Radtechwxman]

1 minute ago, dseagull said:

At his location in Perry...

Lol. Oops. I was thinking in the hurricane. My bad

[40/70 Benchmark]

Just now, Radtechwxman said:

Lol. Oops. I was thinking in the hurricane. My bad

Same...thought it was a typo.

[WxWatcher007]

 

Things are about to pick up. 

[Prospero]

The observed tide is higher than the predicted and we have a few hours to go in Pinellas County.

https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/inundationdb/cidstorm.html?stormname=Helene

[Doc Jon]

1 minute ago, WxWatcher007 said:

 

Things are about to pick up. 

Yeah, lightning starting to kick back up.  Helene's gettin' pissed!

[Radtechwxman]

2 minutes ago, WxWatcher007 said:

 

Things are about to pick up. 

Man that's going to be a wild ride. You live there or chasing? 

[NeonPeon]

3 minutes ago, WxSynopsisDavid said:

Radar attenuation. Those towers are very large and blocking view of the west and south side of the storm. Reason why the intensification is surprising to you because you didn’t account for such.

It's weird how the same area isn't filled in regardless of radar used, and that it isn't attenuating the area further away based on the radar location. It's a strange explanation that defies my understanding of how a radar functions, but it comes up every time we have one of these storms, which is why I remember they have this look.

[wthrmn654]

ADT satellite estimates suggest we have leveled off. 

[MattPetrulli]

Despite the southern eyewall opening on radar, VDM says its closed. Also, velocities continue to intensify on radar, Helene is still intensifying.

[Doc Jon]

Can't believe the Hurricane Hunters in the blown Orion are heading back IN?  That's some huevos!