Was Isabel a cat 1 or 2?
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PTrackerLA
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Was Isabel a cat 1 or 2?
Correct me if I'm wrong but I haven't seen any reports of category 2 sustained winds and the highest wind gust I've seen was 100mph which is common for a category 1 hurricane wind gust.
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JetMaxx
It was a cat-2....100-105 mph based on a NOAA P-3 research plane using microwave technology to measure wind speeds at the surface at time of landfall..
According to NWS Newport/ Morehead City, gusts exceeded 110 mph on the Outer Banks; including reports of peak gusts of 121 mph and 118 mph from a university research group with mobile doppler radar and truck mounted anemometers along the Outer Banks between Ocracoke and Avon. I don't doubt it, considering 97 mph gusts were measured in Elizabeth City....farther north and 20 miles inland from the beach. It appears the strongest winds occurred between Ocracoke and Cape Hatteras, according to a meteorologist friend who was monitoring the velocity mode of the NWS nexrad doppler in Newport, NC.
I also saw a recent report on ABC of a 103 mph peak gust measured in Virginia Beach by a Norfolk, VA tv news crew with a truck mounted weather station.
There are so many folks along the coasts now with home weather stations, we may learn of even stronger gusts in the coming days.
After hurricane Andrew slammed south Dade county, Florida in 1992 -- it was private citizens with barometers and home wx station wind instruments that gave first indications of just how intense Andrew was.....private citizens with barometers that fell to readings between 921 and 926 mb...that confirmed Andrew's reported USAF recon landfall central pressure of 932 mb was incorrect; two private citizens who's anemometers recorded wind gusts of 177 and 173 mph (before being destroyed) thirty minutes before the peak of the hurricane arrived that Andrew wasn't a typical 140 mph hurricane...but in fact a small but vicious 165-170 mph (145 kt) cat-5 at landfall.
According to NWS Newport/ Morehead City, gusts exceeded 110 mph on the Outer Banks; including reports of peak gusts of 121 mph and 118 mph from a university research group with mobile doppler radar and truck mounted anemometers along the Outer Banks between Ocracoke and Avon. I don't doubt it, considering 97 mph gusts were measured in Elizabeth City....farther north and 20 miles inland from the beach. It appears the strongest winds occurred between Ocracoke and Cape Hatteras, according to a meteorologist friend who was monitoring the velocity mode of the NWS nexrad doppler in Newport, NC.
I also saw a recent report on ABC of a 103 mph peak gust measured in Virginia Beach by a Norfolk, VA tv news crew with a truck mounted weather station.
There are so many folks along the coasts now with home weather stations, we may learn of even stronger gusts in the coming days.
After hurricane Andrew slammed south Dade county, Florida in 1992 -- it was private citizens with barometers and home wx station wind instruments that gave first indications of just how intense Andrew was.....private citizens with barometers that fell to readings between 921 and 926 mb...that confirmed Andrew's reported USAF recon landfall central pressure of 932 mb was incorrect; two private citizens who's anemometers recorded wind gusts of 177 and 173 mph (before being destroyed) thirty minutes before the peak of the hurricane arrived that Andrew wasn't a typical 140 mph hurricane...but in fact a small but vicious 165-170 mph (145 kt) cat-5 at landfall.
Last edited by JetMaxx on Thu Sep 18, 2003 7:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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