Wilma top sustained winds below 85 mph in Dade, Broward

[T'Bonz]

**waves from Coral Springs**

I think Tamarac took it worse than we did, and from what I hear, there was much more severe roof damage in West Sunrise.

As I said, my guess is cat 2 winds here. But I'm not a pro. But here is what I got from the NHC site:

Cat 1: No real damage to building structures. Damage primarily to unanchored mobile homes, shrubbery, and trees. Some damage to poorly constructed signs. - We had this during Andrew.

Cat 2: Some roofing material, door, and window damage of buildings. Considerable damage to shrubbery and trees with some trees blown down. Considerable damage to mobile homes, poorly constructed signs, and piers.

This really fits what I'm seeing

Cat 3: Some structural damage to small residences and utility buildings with a minor amount of curtainwall failures. Damage to shrubbery and trees with foliage blown off trees and large trees blown down. Mobile homes and poorly constructed signs are destroyed.

There are pockets of this, but I really think the Cat 2 one fits.

What I've seen with my own eyes: Almost all traffic lights blown off their cables and smashed. Light poles toppled or the lights snapped and hanging down. Many trees down, including palm trees (those guys usually don't go down.) A lot of minor roof damage and some major. Mostly loss of tiles (most around me have barrel tiles and I've seen many, many houses who lost anywhere from a handful to two dozen of them.) I have seen more extensive roof damage and the blue tarps are starting to spring up.

Some facades of buildings (wooden?) ripped clean off. This happened to the school next door and the shopping center. Stop signs and road signs down and/or twisted and at an angle. Windows blown out of half of the end units (only the end units) at my mom's development. Many if not most screened porches or pool enclosures are without their screens, some of the enclosures are a twisted mass of metal.

That's why I think it was a two, due to the damage.

[MiamiensisWx]

*BUMP*

[MiamiensisWx]

Ortt, do you think that southern Palm Beach County also received small areas of sustained Category Two winds?

[Derek Ortt]

the highest winds were by Lake Okeechobee, where friction did not slow the winds. No doubt that region had cat 2 winds and that area had by far the worst damage.

Some very small parts of Broward and Palm (such as the barrier islands and possibly Davie) may have had brief sustained cat 2 winds. But most of the area went through a minimal to moderate cat 1

[MiamiensisWx]

I think my area (in eastern Boca Raton) had sustained winds for periods of time (notably in the front eyewall and, possibly, almost equally intense back eyewall) around Category Two strength. In those periods between lower winds in which I think my area had Category Two sustained winds, I estimate the Category Two sustained winds were around 95MPH to 100MPH (possibly to 105MPH) in intensity. Does that sound possible, Ortt?

[Derek Ortt]

unless you were on a barrier island, it is unlikely that you actually did receive cat 2 winds. Too much friction. Th only possible cat 2 winds were in the northern part of the county, base upon the gusts over 115KT

[Windtalker1]

the highest winds were by Lake Okeechobee, where friction did not slow the winds. No doubt that region had cat 2 winds and that area had by far the worst damage.

Some very small parts of Broward and Palm (such as the barrier islands and possibly Davie) may have had brief sustained cat 2 winds. But most of the area went through a minimal to moderate cat 1

I live in Davie and for those that know the area, I live in the neighborhood just east of BCC. I have been through cat 1 storms before and this was no way a cat 1 storm. Wooden Fences broken off at the base, sheds blown away like they were toy doll houses, the sides of buildings peeled away, roofs blown off, sliding glass doors blown in (even though I had shutters on, I had to leave my bedroom and shut the door, the sliders were still "breathing" as if they were going to blow in) the mobil home park next to me, 50% gone and another 50% damaged....all this from a cat 1 storm? Give me a break NHC....Katrina was a 1 and we nowhere had the same damage than from Wilma. I didn't even board up from Katrina. The NHC can say whatever they want....it took over 10 years to upgrade Andrew to a Cat 5....I guess it will take that long to upgrade Wilma to a Cat 2 in South Florida.

[Scorpion]

the highest winds were by Lake Okeechobee, where friction did not slow the winds. No doubt that region had cat 2 winds and that area had by far the worst damage.

Some very small parts of Broward and Palm (such as the barrier islands and possibly Davie) may have had brief sustained cat 2 winds. But most of the area went through a minimal to moderate cat 1

I live in Davie and for those that know the area, I live in the neighborhood just east of BCC. I have been through cat 1 storms before and this was no way a cat 1 storm. Wooden Fences broken off at the base, sheds blown away like they were toy doll houses, the sides of buildings peeled away, roofs blown off, sliding glass doors blown in (even though I had shutters on, I had to leave my bedroom and shut the door, the sliders were still "breathing" as if they were going to blow in) the mobil home park next to me, 50% gone and another 50% damaged....all this from a cat 1 storm? Give me a break NHC....Katrina was a 1 and we nowhere had the same damage than from Wilma. I didn't even board up from Katrina. The NHC can say whatever they want....it took over 10 years to upgrade Andrew to a Cat 5....I guess it will take that long to upgrade Wilma to a Cat 2 in South Florida.

Well you likely only got TS winds from Katrina, so strong Cat 1 winds can be a big difference. Wilma was a Cat 2 here, yes, but only in small areas, just like in any other hurricane. Land causes friction as well. So in a Cat 3 eyewall, you are likely only going to get Cat 2 winds. The damage from Rita in Beaumont is indicative of Cat 2 wind-speeds, and I did not see any indication of that kind of damage here.

[MiamiensisWx]

unless you were on a barrier island, it is unlikely that you actually did receive cat 2 winds. Too much friction. Th only possible cat 2 winds were in the northern part of the county, base upon the gusts over 115KT

I don't live on a barrier island. I do live close to the coast. However, a strong band in the eyewall (based on radar) moved through northern and central Broward and southern Palm Beach counties. If northern Broward and northern Palm Beach counties had small areas of inland Category Two sustained winds, why do you not think that my area in southern Palm Beach County did not get ANY very small areas of at least brief sustained Category Two winds? I was in the middle, so why do you think my area may not have gotten such winds?

[Windtalker1]

the highest winds were by Lake Okeechobee, where friction did not slow the winds. No doubt that region had cat 2 winds and that area had by far the worst damage.

Some very small parts of Broward and Palm (such as the barrier islands and possibly Davie) may have had brief sustained cat 2 winds. But most of the area went through a minimal to moderate cat 1

I live in Davie and for those that know the area, I live in the neighborhood just east of BCC. I have been through cat 1 storms before and this was no way a cat 1 storm. Wooden Fences broken off at the base, sheds blown away like they were toy doll houses, the sides of buildings peeled away, roofs blown off, sliding glass doors blown in (even though I had shutters on, I had to leave my bedroom and shut the door, the sliders were still "breathing" as if they were going to blow in) the mobil home park next to me, 50% gone and another 50% damaged....all this from a cat 1 storm? Give me a break NHC....Katrina was a 1 and we nowhere had the same damage than from Wilma. I didn't even board up from Katrina. The NHC can say whatever they want....it took over 10 years to upgrade Andrew to a Cat 5....I guess it will take that long to upgrade Wilma to a Cat 2 in South Florida.

Well you likely only got TS winds from Katrina, so strong Cat 1 winds can be a big difference. Wilma was a Cat 2 here, yes, but only in small areas, just like in any other hurricane. Land causes friction as well. So in a Cat 3 eyewall, you are likely only going to get Cat 2 winds. The damage from Rita in Beaumont is indicative of Cat 2 wind-speeds, and I did not see any indication of that kind of damage here.

True, I don't think you did either in Jupiter, but here in DAVIE it was surly a Cat 2 Storm.

[MiamiensisWx]

I live in Davie and for those that know the area, I live in the neighborhood just east of BCC. I have been through cat 1 storms before and this was no way a cat 1 storm. Wooden Fences broken off at the base, sheds blown away like they were toy doll houses, the sides of buildings peeled away, roofs blown off, sliding glass doors blown in (even though I had shutters on, I had to leave my bedroom and shut the door, the sliders were still "breathing" as if they were going to blow in) the mobil home park next to me, 50% gone and another 50% damaged....all this from a cat 1 storm? Give me a break NHC....Katrina was a 1 and we nowhere had the same damage than from Wilma. I didn't even board up from Katrina. The NHC can say whatever they want....it took over 10 years to upgrade Andrew to a Cat 5....I guess it will take that long to upgrade Wilma to a Cat 2 in South Florida.

Actually, the NHC says Wilma was a Category Two in south Florida. When Wilma exited near West Palm Beach, the advisory said that sustained winds were 105MPH, or Category Two strength. Why are you seemingly blaming or getting upset at the NHC?

[Derek Ortt]

I'm convinced that parts of Davie, and I already said as such, did get cat 2 winds. Davie is fairly close to the glades. However, it is unlikely due to prolonged land friction, that cat 2 winds occurred near the mainland east coast. On barrier islands, no doubt what so ever.

As for Katrina, of course Wilma was worse. The worst winds in Katrina were in the southern eye wall. Davie likely received a moderate TS out of Katrina. The ONLY "land" that received hurricane conditions from Katrina was the Rickenbacker Causeway

[Derek Ortt]

one other mention

real cat 1 winds will rip off roofs and tear down power poles

cat 1 winds in a severe thunderstorm are very devastating. Why wouldn't cat 1 winds in a hurricane be any less? Borderline TS/cat 1 winds (based upon the surface obs with gusts to about 120 m.p.h.) ripped up Beaumont, so its not a stretch to think that most of Sfla did only receive cat 1

[x-y-no]

Well, I only have my subjective observations, so I won't argue with the official data. But I have been a sailor all my life and sailed in a number of very rough gales, and I've always been a pretty good judge of windspeed.

Katrina made landfall just east of me (I'm about a mile and a half inland) and the center crossed directly overhead. The strongest part of Katrina by far at this location was the back (east) side of the eye. I judged the sustained winds to be fairly high-end TS, 55 knots maybe a tad higher but not as much as 60 knots. Those peak winds lasted only a couple of minutes.

Wilma's eye passed north of here, but was so big that much of the southeast and south eyewall came over here. The south side of the eye was quite dry at this point. Nonetheless, Wilma was far stronger for a far longer period of time. I judged the sustained winds to be at least 15 knots higher than the peak sustained winds I saw in Katrina, which puts us in the 70 to 75 knot range. There were many 5 to 10 second gusts which were dramatically stronger, say another 20+ knots above that.

Now my estimates are quite close to the official numbers, but I have a hard time believing I was in the most intense part of the storm given how much the south side of the eye was drying out by the time it got here.

Just my 2 cents, take it for what it's worth.

[Windtalker1]

I live in Davie and for those that know the area, I live in the neighborhood just east of BCC. I have been through cat 1 storms before and this was no way a cat 1 storm. Wooden Fences broken off at the base, sheds blown away like they were toy doll houses, the sides of buildings peeled away, roofs blown off, sliding glass doors blown in (even though I had shutters on, I had to leave my bedroom and shut the door, the sliders were still "breathing" as if they were going to blow in) the mobil home park next to me, 50% gone and another 50% damaged....all this from a cat 1 storm? Give me a break NHC....Katrina was a 1 and we nowhere had the same damage than from Wilma. I didn't even board up from Katrina. The NHC can say whatever they want....it took over 10 years to upgrade Andrew to a Cat 5....I guess it will take that long to upgrade Wilma to a Cat 2 in South Florida.

Actually, the NHC says Wilma was a Category Two in south Florida. When Wilma exited near West Palm Beach, the advisory said that sustained winds were 105MPH, or Category Two strength. Why are you seemingly blaming or getting upset at the NHC?

If I have missed something since the last 2 weeks, let me know. Last I heard from Brian Norcross is that the NHC says all reporting stations say that Wilma was a Cat 1 when it came through us. Winds only adv 85mph. If you have other data, let me know...Thanks

[boca]

Can a Cat 1 storm put a piece of tree bark into a bumper of a 2003 Honda Oddessy. The tree bark cut thru the bumper and it was halfway sticking out. I tried pulling it out with pliers and couldn't hopefully I can finally get my van into the body shop the problem is everyone is renting cars causing a shortage down here. I still don't believe a force of cat 1 can do what it did to the bumper no way.

[Derek Ortt]

yes it can, and quite easily

an F-1 tornado does that, and those winds are only about 73-110 m.p.h. Microbursts, which usually only produce cat 1 winds, can do that. Therefore, why wouldn't cat 1 winds from a hurricane be able to do the same

[ericinmia]

Can a Cat 1 storm put a piece of tree bark into a bumper of a 2003 Honda Oddessy. The tree bark cut thru the bumper and it was halfway sticking out. I tried pulling it out with pliers and couldn't hopefully I can finally get my van into the body shop the problem is everyone is renting cars causing a shortage down here. I still don't believe a force of cat 1 can do what it did to the bumper no way.

also remember that it is most likely that the tree bark was attatched to a branch or what not that struck the car, and even in a blancing blow lodged the bark but the branch didn't stick around, or cause 'dent' damage.
-Eric

[flhurricaneguy]

i was in north western palm beach county, and i am pretty sure we saw cat 2 winds. it was way more intense then frances and jeanne

[jpigott]

unless you were on a barrier island, it is unlikely that you actually did receive cat 2 winds. Too much friction. Th only possible cat 2 winds were in the northern part of the county, base upon the gusts over 115KT

Derek - are you referring to N. Palm Beach Cty? who had the gusts over 115kts in N. Palm Beach Cty, I heard about a similar report in Stuart, but i've heard no wind readings about the northern part of PBC (Lake Park, North Palm Beach, Rivera Beach, Palm Beach Gardens or Jupiter). I would be interested b/c radar indicated quite a strong band on the backside eyewall that moved thru N. Palm Beach Cty.