Hurricane Rita gust map (and more)

[Extremeweatherguy]

I just found this interesting map of top wind gusts from Rita across SE Texas. I don't know if it has been posted before, but if not; it is interesting to look at.

http://lagic.lsu.edu/images/hurricanes/ ... kgusts.pdf

It is amazing to see how different the effects were within such short distances. For instance, in western Harris county top gusts were under 50mph with little to no damage; yet in eastern Harris county gusts were as high as 80mph with tree and power line damage much more common. Looking at this, it seems that if Rita would have followed the Galveston to Houston path that was originally forecasted that most of Harris county would have seen wind gusts over 100mph. Wow, we really lucked out.
^^I am not sure if this map is 100% accurate, and these winds gusts are only estimated. Some places could have seen higher/lower winds than stated on this map. Overall though, I would say that this is pretty accurate.^^

ALSO, here are a few good wind analysis sites from other storms:

Hurricane Frances: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/data/pdfs/FrancesPSDA.pdf

Hurricane Charley: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/data/pdfs/CharleyPSDA.pdf
^^Interesting to note that Orlando's wind instrument failed. This means that the top gust could have been even higher than 105mph!!!^^

A very good site with GREAT wind maps for Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/rebuild/mat/fem ... _chap2.pdf

Great Katrina wind maps for LA (and what winds would have been if Katrina would have hit further west):
http://hurricane.lsu.edu/files/katrinafinal.pdf

Hurricane Ivan: http://www.weather.gov/om/data/pdfs/IvanPSDA.pdf

[Jim Cantore]

do you have these in a non Acrobat format, all it does is slow/freeze my computer.

[flashflood]

That was interesting. The east side of Harris County got up to 80mph gusts while the other side of the county got nothing, well, almost.

[wxman57]

That was interesting. The east side of Harris County got up to 80mph gusts while the other side of the county got nothing, well, almost.

I doubt there were 80 mph gusts in Harris County. The shade there indicates a range of from 66-80 mph. Since the color barely got into eastern Harris County, we should assume that gusts were in the lower end of that range.

[Extremeweatherguy]

That was interesting. The east side of Harris County got up to 80mph gusts while the other side of the county got nothing, well, almost.

I doubt there were 80 mph gusts in Harris County. The shade there indicates a range of from 66-80 mph. Since the color barely got into eastern Harris County, we should assume that gusts were in the lower end of that range.

good point Wxman, but I still do believe hurricane force gusts may have been felt in the extreme eastern sections. Even up in N. Central Harris county there were microbursts with hurricane force winds. One of these microbursts occured right behind my area and downed 3 decent sized trees and bent a few palm trees (not something I would expect from the 61mph gusts recorded at IAH). Either way though, we were really lucky with Rita. 100+mph gusts would have been a lot worse for the Houston area.

[Extremeweatherguy]

do you have these in a non Acrobat format, all it does is slow/freeze my computer.

I am not sure. I just happened to find these by searching around on google. I think the Acrobat format is all you can get them in.

[hurrican19]

[Jim Cantore]

thanks alot, I was getting sick of Acrobat Freezer

[Jagno]

Yep, my house showed every gust of 125-150MPH winds with Rita....and the side show of tornadoes as well. It's amazing to go back and look at these things now. Thanks for the info.

[Extremeweatherguy]

The one weird thing about the Rita gust map is that after looking at the Lake Charles NWS site, it seems like it is wrong. According to the NWS, the top gust in Lake Charles was near 110mph and in Beaumont it was 105mph. This does not fit with the maps estimate. I guess one thing to consider is that this map was done by FEMA (something I didn't realize at first) and not the NWS.

Either way, this map is still a good estimate of the winds, though not 100% correct.

[Jagno]

The Lake Charles National Weather Service is located at our airport. One of the first unforgetable scenes I saw on national media was planes being flipped over. That is when I realized I probably didn't have a house since I live very near. I'm wondering if the 110 is where the equipment stopped functioning or if in fact FEMA is incorrect??? I guess I'll never know since I have no plans on sticking around for a major hurricane.

[Extremeweatherguy]

The Lake Charles National Weather Service is located at our airport. One of the first unforgetable scenes I saw on national media was planes being flipped over. That is when I realized I probably didn't have a house since I live very near. I'm wondering if the 110 is where the equipment stopped functioning or if in fact FEMA is incorrect??? I guess I'll never know since I have no plans on sticking around for a major hurricane.

Here is where I found that info. from the Lake Charles NWS:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lch/rita/rita_audrey.php
^^They compare winds to Audrey.^^

One thing that is really shocking is the fact that all of Audrey's gusts were so low when it was suppose to be a stronger storm. I wonder if Audrey was never a Cat. 4 like they thought?

There is also this gust map I found from the NWS:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lch/rita/images ... awinds.png

Either way though, the EXACT number doesn't really matter.

[jasons2k]

This is from Jeff's Rita Report. Sorry for the formatting but I was copying from Excel:

Wind (mph)
location sustained gust

Louisiana
Alexandia 49 62
Beauregard Regional Airport * 36 62
Fort Polk 37 59
Lafayette Airport 51 59
Lake Charles Regional Airport * 58 74
Lake Charles NWS Office N/A 95 ^
Salt Point * 53 72
Marsh Island * 71 93
Calcasieu Pass * 77 112
Alexandia (Research Station) 62
Crowley (Research Station) * 54 74
Calcasieu Parish Ag Center * 76 95
Port Barre 46 70
Rosepine (Research Station) 47 68
Cameron RAWS site * 72 108
Johnson's Bayou (Research Tower) 70 91

Unofficial - LA
5 miles SW of Lake Charles (storm chaser) N/A 115
Herbert's Marina N/A 133
Iberia Parish OEP N/A 60

Southeast LA/Mississippi
Biloxi 29 52
Gulfport 44 55
Belle Chase 21 43
Baton Rouge 41 53
New Orleans 35 48

Texas
SE TX Regional Airport 81 105
Orange County Airport * 36 54
Sabine 82 99
Sabine Pass * 63 94
Port Arthur (TCOON) 70 94
McFadden RAWS site * 41 68
Woodville RAWS site 49 76
Port Arthur (Research Tower) 94 129
Nederland (Research Tower) 66 107
Orange (Research Tower) 74 107
Port Arthur (Texas Tech Tower) 93 121
Orange (Texas Tech Tower) 66 94
East Beaumont (storm chaser) N/A 96
Houston BUSH (IAH) 45 61
Houston Hobby 44 55
Galveston * 45 62
Angleton 32 44
Pearland 38 47
Sugarland 38 51
Tomball 31 44
Conroe 38 55
College Station 36 47
Huntsville 35 47
Morgans Point 49 74
Eagle Point 39 55
Galveston Pleasure Pier 47 66
North Jetty 59 74

TXDOT and HCOEM Wind Gages
SH 36 at Brazos River 31
Galveston Causeway 46 60
Fred Hartman Bridge (gage blown off bridge) 47 65
Rollover Pass 58
Bolivar (Loop 108) 46
HWY 146 at Kemah (gage blown off bridge) 44
San Jacinto River at I-10 50 60
Hardy Toll Rd at I-45 39 57
Loop 610 E at Houston Ship Channel 45 64
HWY 290 at HWY 6 32 48
I-10 at Brazos River 18 39
Reliant Park N/A 44
HWY 35 at Brazos River 27 42
Lake Conroe (FM 1097) 39 56
Lake Livingston 62 117

[Audrey2Katrina]

One thing that is really shocking is the fact that all of Audrey's gusts were so low when it was suppose to be a stronger storm. I wonder if Audrey was never a Cat. 4 like they thought?

While anything is possible in this day of analyze, re-analyze and reclassify, the current info, including from NOAA websites do make the following statements:

"An unofficial report of 180 m.p.h. winds was received from an oil rig, however this could have been associated with a severe thunderstorm embedded within Audrey's eye wall. Oil company tenders reported 150 m.p.h. winds which, although they are unofficial, are believed to be reasonably accurate."

It is also quite worthy of note that mechanisms half a century ago certainly weren't up to the durability of those made nowadays...all of those almost certainly "failed" as you accurately pointed out in your reference to Charley at Orlando. I seriously doubt any of the anemometers in direct path of the worst winds from Audrey could have withstood her Cat 4 winds.

A2K

[Audrey2Katrina]

Interesting story about a survivor of Audrey who was in Cameron and lucky enough to have survived... Like Katrina, and Okeechobee, doubtless the deathtoll from none of these storms will be completely known...Estimates on Audrey run from around 300 to as high as over 500..but this little NOAA snippet is a pretty good indication of what it was like as Audrey came ashore... one thing's certain, her winds weren't exactly "low"... and with Opelousas getting 90 mph winds being 100 miles inland... well... the article mentions it all including the enormous failure of just about every sort of instrumentation:

http://www.history.noaa.gov/stories_tales/hurricaneaudrey.html

It's quite possible, if not probable that this is similar to what the poor folks caught in the surge of Rita endured.

A2K

[wxman57]

The one weird thing about the Rita gust map is that after looking at the Lake Charles NWS site, it seems like it is wrong. According to the NWS, the top gust in Lake Charles was near 110mph and in Beaumont it was 105mph. This does not fit with the maps estimate. I guess one thing to consider is that this map was done by FEMA (something I didn't realize at first) and not the NWS.

Either way, this map is still a good estimate of the winds, though not 100% correct.

I don't see what you're saying. The map posted -- http://img479.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snap2op.gif -- indicates both airports near the 111 mph contour line. Remember, just because there is a range indicated for SE TX/SW LA of 111-125 doesn't mean there were 125 mph gusts in all areas in green. The 125 mph gusts may have been confined to the beach or even offshore.

[MGC]

Gulfport, MS reported higher sustained winds with Rita than Katrina. During Rita the sustained winds in Gulfport were 44kts while in Katrina they were 40kts. It just goes to show that these reports can be misleading......MGC

[Audrey2Katrina]

Gulfport, MS reported higher sustained winds with Rita than Katrina. During Rita the sustained winds in Gulfport were 44kts while in Katrina they were 40kts. It just goes to show that these reports can be misleading......MGC

Exactly! Try to tell the folks in Gulport that their top winds were only 44KTs.

A2K

[Extremeweatherguy]

The one weird thing about the Rita gust map is that after looking at the Lake Charles NWS site, it seems like it is wrong. According to the NWS, the top gust in Lake Charles was near 110mph and in Beaumont it was 105mph. This does not fit with the maps estimate. I guess one thing to consider is that this map was done by FEMA (something I didn't realize at first) and not the NWS.

Either way, this map is still a good estimate of the winds, though not 100% correct.

I don't see what you're saying. The map posted -- http://img479.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snap2op.gif -- indicates both airports near the 111 mph contour line. Remember, just because there is a range indicated for SE TX/SW LA of 111-125 doesn't mean there were 125 mph gusts in all areas in green. The 125 mph gusts may have been confined to the beach or even offshore.

Oh, you are right! lol. I was reading this map the whole time thinking the color shading for that area was 126-140mph near the coast and 111-125mph in Beaumont and Lake Charles.

[Pearl River]

MGC wrote

Gulfport, MS reported higher sustained winds with Rita than Katrina. During Rita the sustained winds in Gulfport were 44kts while in Katrina they were 40kts. It just goes to show that these reports can be misleading......MGC

As we know, the wind measurements during Katrina failed. So the 40kts is not accurate.