ATL: DELTA - Post-Tropical - Discussion

[JRD]

Unlike Beta, which attempted extratropical transition (including an attached very short stationary front) but failed (it failed to form a cold front, and the aforementioned stationary front degenerated to a trough which then dissipated), Delta succeeded, though the occlusion seems to indicate that post/ex-Delta will be short-lived.

[Do_For_Love]

My area is supposed to see between 1-3 inches of rain from Delta's remnants over the next 3 days.

Just a couple of quick thoughts about the system. #1: As I understand it, the difference between Delta and hurricane Wilma (the atlantic GOAT imo) was some unexpected wind shear on approach to the Yucatan. It's great that it happened and prevented a devastating hit to that region and probably an even stronger one to SW Lousiana, although it looks like that area got hit pretty hard anyway. That said, it's pretty crazy how close that was to happening. This storm looked like it was going deep into Category 5 range for a minute this week. The RI during that period was remarkable.

#2: Very sad how this storm managed to impact an area that had just been hit by a major recently. The images on the news tonight looked pretty rough in terms of structural damage, flooding, trees down etc. in a lot of places. It's a real shame.

#3: I wonder if this will be the last hurricane of the 2020 season. I kinda hope so lol. Although I love watching these systems like everyone else on here I kinda feel like the region could use a break at this point. I guess we'll see...

[Nimbus]

That was quite a storm for Lafayette. Acadiana Regional Airport which is nearly 15 miles due east of me measured gusts 80-85mph for over 3 hours. Official reading at the airport appears to be 75mph but that station seemed to be underreporting winds through the entire event. I'd estimate gusts 90mph+ in my area of south Lafayette. Never lost power somehow(!) but my yard is littered with neighbors shingles. I'd estimate over half the homes in my neighborhood lost a significant amount of shingles, I nearly got struck by some while standing in my garage watching the height of the storm. The Parish is currently 70% out of power and over 600,000 customers in the state are out. Thankful for the beautiful and somewhat cool morning after yesterday, we are so done with hurricanes this year in Louisiana .

I was on generator for a week after Irma, the freight train approaching with each new squall indicates cat 1 winds. Neighbors roofs have been replaced since but it is expensive if you can't wait. When I bought my house I re-cemented shingles that had broken glue strips which saved them from tearing off during Irma. Except for more broken glue strips and ductwork flashing my roof survived Irma. I'm more worried about the people that can't log in and report.

[Hurricane_Apu]

Just out of interest, how did the wind in Lafayette from Delta compare with Andrew in 1992?

I wasn't here for Andrew and can't comment on that. Some of the TV mets who've been here since the early 2000's say it's the worst they've seen. Note that the 75 mph peak gust from the Lafayette airport is bogus. That wind gauge has been reading consistently low. The local mets have been complaining about it since Laura. Last night one of the TV guys was comparing it to the readings he was getting at his station (about 2-3 miles away) and guessing that it was about 20 mph low. If so, that peak gust was 95. That's plausible and maybe even conservative... New Iberia gusted to 90, but we were much better positioned to get strong winds, right in the inner eyewall.

Where I was (near downtown), it was nasty. Especially between 7 and 7:30. That's when the wind noise went from a roar to that shrieking, wailing sound you've probably heard in all the hurricane intercept videos. Sustained winds slacked off after that but kept getting huge gusts (easily hurricane force, some well over) for three more hours. Had constant power flashes for two hours, then they all stopped. Not because the wind stopped but because there was nothing left to flash. Lafayette basically lost 99.9% power. Last night was absolutely eerie,the deepest darkness I've ever seen outdoors. Not a light on for miles.No moon, no stars and thick clouds... but no light from below to reflect from them.

I haven't left my neighborhood yet, but from what little I could see it's a huge mess. Big trees down, power poles leaning and lines hanging down to or near ground level. And, as noted above, shingles everywhere. It was snowing shingles last night. Lots of blue tarps in our future. Just got power back after about 24 hours. I'm amazed it was that quick. It probably helped being near downtown and the university. That area was probably at the top of the list.

[CrazyC83]

I haven't heard of any fatalities in the US from Delta. If that holds up, that would be remarkable. Even in Mexico, there were no direct deaths (known) and 2 indirect deaths.

[Hurricane_Apu]

That was one big windfield, especially if you consider that Lafayette should probably be in that arc of 90+ numbers. And that eye was absolutely massive... raking Lake Charles and Lafayette simultaneously with opposite eyewalls.

[StormyWaters93]

I am normally a lurker on here, but we were bailing water out of or house last night in Downtown Atlanta. We had 2 shop vacs going and tons of towels and blankets trying to keep the water at bay. It was interesting to say the least.

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[PTrackerLA]

Just out of interest, how did the wind in Lafayette from Delta compare with Andrew in 1992?

I wasn't here for Andrew and can't comment on that. Some of the TV mets who've been here since the early 2000's say it's the worst they've seen. Note that the 75 mph peak gust from the Lafayette airport is bogus. That wind gauge has been reading consistently low. The local mets have been complaining about it since Laura. Last night one of the TV guys was comparing it to the readings he was getting at his station (about 2-3 miles away) and guessing that it was about 20 mph low. If so, that peak gust was 95. That's plausible and maybe even conservative... New Iberia gusted to 90, but we were much better positioned to get strong winds, right in the inner eyewall.

Where I was (near downtown), it was nasty. Especially between 7 and 7:30. That's when the wind noise went from a roar to that shrieking, wailing sound you've probably heard in all the hurricane intercept videos. Sustained winds slacked off after that but kept getting huge gusts (easily hurricane force, some well over) for three more hours. Had constant power flashes for two hours, then they all stopped. Not because the wind stopped but because there was nothing left to flash. Lafayette basically lost 99.9% power. Last night was absolutely eerie,the deepest darkness I've ever seen outdoors. Not a light on for miles.No moon, no stars and thick clouds... but no light from below to reflect from them.

I haven't left my neighborhood yet, but from what little I could see it's a huge mess. Big trees down, power poles leaning and lines hanging down to or near ground level. And, as noted above, shingles everywhere. It was snowing shingles last night. Lots of blue tarps in our future. Just got power back after about 24 hours. I'm amazed it was that quick. It probably helped being near downtown and the university. That area was probably at the top of the list.

Agree 100% about the LFT wind readings being bogus. We had shingles starting to fly through the air and they were recording gusts in the 30-50s and I'm only 7 miles SW of the airport. I wonder if there's any way they will be able to correct/revise the winds. I think it's important data to know for this area when facing future storms. The models did a great job showing the incredibly large windfield at landfall.

The damage is easily the worst since Lili 2002, but I think Lili was still a little worse. This blows away the damage and winds we received during Gustav. I know many people with trees on their homes and saw three different buildings in town yesterday with brick wall/siding failures. My neighborhood was a zoo yesterday with all the roofing companies out, but I'm still so fortunate to not lose power in the Kaliste/E. Broussard area.

[MBryant]

I just got power back after losing it about 3:30 Friday. There is a report of a 95 MPH gust at the High school 2 miles north of me. The west side wasn't weak this time. But it's strange the amount of power outages without a lot of additional trees down. Also, the stronger winds seem to stay aloft most of the time with only occasional gusts reaching the ground.

[nutkin517]

I just got power back after losing it about 3:30 Friday. There is a report of a 95 MPH gust at the High school 2 miles north of me. The west side wasn't weak this time. But it's strange the amount of power outages without a lot of additional trees down. Also, the stronger winds seem to stay aloft most of the time with only occasional gusts reaching the ground.

Yes, most of the winds were high up. For instance, I have a plastic bowl on my back porch that I use to feed a stray cat. It didn't move an inch.

After venturing out a little more, there are quite a few trees down in Beaumont and even some houses/buildings with roof damage. Golden Corral near Washington Blvd. has half the siding missing off of the back side of the building.

[Blinhart]

I lost power at 5:30pm Friday and just now got power back on. The wind readings I think are off a good bit, I know we had sustained winds around 80 with gusts over 100. The damage in Crowley is the worse I have ever seen, including Lily, Andrew, Rita, Katrina, Ike, Gustav, Laura. Some areas around here might not get power for another week or more, oak trees that had to be over 100 years old were uprooted, signs that were in cement were pushed down and the cement looked like it was a tree root ball, just saying how hard the wind was blowing here.