Typhoon Ioke Thread #2

[LeeJet]

^What did Andrew look like outside? Was it blinding rain?

[bostonseminole]

It arrived at night and it was pitch black.. you know the rain was not such a huge issues with Andrew, but the howling wind was incredible and just the noise you would hear outside your house, like a big grinding machine was tearing everything up .. we were lucky, we were in a townhouse pretty solid, made of concrete, we lost lots of shingles but that was it. But many ... many home around us where gone.. if you lived in Miami you would know where I lived, only 5 miles from country walk an area that was devastated, I experienced the whole northern wall of Andrew

[weunice]

Obs every 6 min?

[Coredesat]

Wake's starting to get some consistent near-50 kt readings. Pressure's down to 979 mb:

1890000 20060831 04:06 49.76 350.00 64.15 79.16 84.20 979.60

And yes, obs every 6 minutes, but there's a slight delay between now and the most recent one.

[bostonseminole]

Obs every 6 min?

yea, that is the one I am using

[LeeJet]

It arrived at night and it was pitch black.. you know the rain was not such a huge issues with Andrew, but the howling wind was incredible and just the noise you would hear outside your house, like a big grinding machine was tearing everything up .. we were lucky, we were in a townhouse pretty solid, made of concrete, we lost lots of shingles but that was it. But many ... many home around us where gone.. if you lived in Miami you would know where I lived, only 5 miles from country walk an area that was devastated, I experienced the whole northern wall of Andrew

Andrew was 160 mph sustained, correct? Can you imagine 180?

[mtm4319]

Wake might just barely miss the western eyewall.
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/mtsat/flt/t2/loop-avn.html

[LeeJet]

I think this French guy is "french TOAST"!

[bostonseminole]

71knot wind gust

[bostonseminole]

It arrived at night and it was pitch black.. you know the rain was not such a huge issues with Andrew, but the howling wind was incredible and just the noise you would hear outside your house, like a big grinding machine was tearing everything up .. we were lucky, we were in a townhouse pretty solid, made of concrete, we lost lots of shingles but that was it. But many ... many home around us where gone.. if you lived in Miami you would know where I lived, only 5 miles from country walk an area that was devastated, I experienced the whole northern wall of Andrew

Andrew was 160 mph sustained, correct? Can you imagine 180?

no.. I could not. nothing would be left standing

[wxmann_91]

Eye already at latitude of Wake. I think it's going to miss the eyewall - barely.

[CentralFlGal]

CDO - Central Dense Overcast. It's the core of the storm as it appears on satellite, the solid area of convection that all of the storm's feederbands feed in towards. Usually circular in shape, and centered around the eye if one is present.

CPA - Closest Point of Approach. Self-explanatory.

Thank you, Windrunner.

[CentralFlGal]

Posted: August 30, 2006 02:50 PM

Researchers captured amazing video while waiting for the storm to pass.

Researchers Ride Out the Storm
A KGMB9 Exclusive Report
Cedric Moon - cmoon@kgmb9.com

The "Searcher," a skiff anchored in Oahu, makes about six trips a year for research and educational tours. Some of its crew members have been onboard for years and they say they never had to ride through anything like Ioke.

For the "Searcher" to be sitting at Ko Olina Marina and its crew to be there now is a miracle, because one week ago, they were living in chaos.

The "Searcher" left for tiny Johnston Atoll on August 17, a man-made island where the military has been dumping thousands of tons of chemical weapons for decades. A team of researchers and the ship's crew was heading out there to test the waters. But even on the first night of the trip, they ran into trouble.

"We got in the water and we looked and, sure enough, there's a big old net tangled in the prop," said Capt. Jon Littenberg.

But their luck got worse. The tangled net delayed the trip. They got to the atoll five days later, just in time for Ioke, a massive hurricane no weather report warned them of.

"The last one we had checked before we got there said there was a tropical depression and winds and rains, but no hurricane," said Littenberg.

On August 21, Ioke was just getting started and got stronger as the hours passed.

"We basically spent that afternoon scrambling and getting everything battened down as best we could," said Littenberg.

By 2 a.m. the next day, the winds strengthened and they had to find cover when 140 mph gusts started blowing through.

"The winds were just howling," said crew member Bill Unruh. "It was blowing for way more than 10 hours. It blew for a good 24 to 30 hours, really strong."

And if their own safety wasn't enough to worry about, there was also the ship.

"We were worried we were going to lose her, and then we wouldn't have a ride home," said Unruh.

By August 23, the winds started dying and the crew was able to see how much damage Ioke had done to the island. But their ship was still there, with just nicks and cuts to the boat and to their nerves.

The crew and the researchers ended up staying on the island for two more days to finish their job. They returned to Hawaii less than a week later and say the return trip was smooth sailing.
Source: http://kgmb9.com/kgmb/display.cfm?storyID=9064

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

Its not working any more...At least it has not been updated. Maybe gone.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

Likely updating super slow!

[WxGuy1]

Its not working any more...At least it has not been updated. Maybe gone.

How is this station communicating with the outside world? I find it highly likely than any and all means of communication will be knocked out well before Ioke's closest approach. Assuming the station survives, we'll probably have to wait until after Ioke in order to view the data.

So, anyone know what communication system is being used to disseminate the observations? I'd think that this relies heavily on satellite communication, which will likely become useless soon (if it hasn't already), owing to attenuation from the rain and intense winds hits the satellite.

Latest data I see (~440UTC) shows 976mb pressure, with 52kt winds, gusting to 70kts.

[bostonseminole]

this is the last point I have

1890000 20060831 16:48 52.10 348.00 69.59 78.08 84.02 976.00

[SunnyThoughts]

1890000 20060831 04:48 52.10 348.00 69.59 78.08 84.02 976.00
still updating

[bostonseminole]

Its not working any more...At least it has not been updated. Maybe gone.

How is this station communicating with the outside world? I find it highly likely than any and all means of communication will be knocked out well before Ioke's closest approach. Assuming the station survives, we'll probably have to wait until after Ioke in order to view the data.

So, anyone know what communication system is being used to disseminate the observations? I'd think that this relies heavily on satellite communication, which will likely become useless soon (if it hasn't already), owing to attenuation from the rain and intense winds hits the satellite.

DSL?

[Aslkahuna]

There's an offshore reef around Wake which will trip the open sea waves so it's unlikely that they would get the 50 footers though they will still get big waves.

Steve