VIDEO: Category 4-5 Conditions?

[Category 5]

Hurricane Ivan in Grand Cayman.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj7BSCNqZF4[/youtube]

[loro-rojo]

Strong winds, but they look cat 3 to me. Maybe a cat 4 gust here and there, but mostly cat 3.

[CycloneJim]

I agree, the winds look cat-3 to me also. Probably averaging 110 to 120 mph during the video. I like the scene of the royal palm getting its top blown off.
Jim

[HURAKAN]

Nice video. It looks very violent outside and makes me realize even more that what I experienced during Katrina and Wilma was nothing compared to a significant hurricane.

[Blown Away]

I know 80-100 mph winds w/ @115 gusts when I see them. Frances, Jeanne, and Wilma. That video reflects Cat 1,2 winds w/ low Cat 3 gusts.

[Derek Ortt]

would be good to get some real cat 4 winds from Cayman in Ivan (if anyone was recording during then)

To give an idea how strong the winds were there (reported sustained at 130KT, so the 130KT in the BT may be on the low end, 135-140, IMO, would have been appropriate (especially based upon how Ivan was declared to have been a cat 3 at landfall, despite only having cat 1 winds reported), despite the fact that Cayman went under water during the storm, the winds by far did the majority of the damage.

A sustained EF3 tornado with gusts to the EF4 range. Do not need a surge at those winds to flatten large parts of the coast

[Scorpion]

I know 80-100 mph winds w/ @115 gusts when I see them. Frances, Jeanne, and Wilma. That video reflects Cat 1,2 winds w/ low Cat 3 gusts.

The only hurricane that hit us with winds that high was Wilma

[wxman57]

Just got home and took a look at the video. For the most part, it looks like 45-70 mph winds with some peaks between 70-85 mph. That's certainly not Cat 3-4 winds. Such winds would have torn the roofs off the buildings/houses. I didn't see any wind that looked over 100 mph. Most people have never seen true 74+ mph sustained winds (or even gusts to 74+ mph). Wind force quadruples with a doubling of wind speed. That is, a 100 mph wind is 4 times as strong as a 50 mph wind.

[Opal storm]

Those winds in the video look very similar to what I saw during Dennis.

[Category 5]

Looked alot higher last time I watched it.

Watching it again it doesn't look as high.

[SouthFloridawx]

Amazing every time I see winds like that...

[docjoe]

Those winds in the video look very similar to what I saw during Dennis.

I was thinking the same thing except stronger. There was a brief period just before the eye where I have no doubt we had noticeably stronger steady winds and stronger gusts. I was able to film it all but later lost the video when I recorded my house damage for the insurance company.

docjoe

[Extremeweatherguy]

Just got home and took a look at the video. For the most part, it looks like 45-70 mph winds with some peaks between 70-85 mph. That's certainly not Cat 3-4 winds. Such winds would have torn the roofs off the buildings/houses. I didn't see any wind that looked over 100 mph. Most people have never seen true 74+ mph sustained winds (or even gusts to 74+ mph). Wind force quadruples with a doubling of wind speed. That is, a 100 mph wind is 4 times as strong as a 50 mph wind.

I somewhat agree with your analysis (though I think the winds might be a little higher), but to be fair I should note that the building in the foreground is missing half of it's roof during the video. Also, there were many wind reports of sustained winds over 120mph with a top gust as high as 181mph on the island of Grand Cayman during Ivan ( According to this link: http://stormcarib.com/reports/2004/SRYCAYMAN.PDF ). Was this video just not shot during the highest winds I guess? Because I have no doubt that some areas of Grand Cayman did see Cat. 2-4 force winds at some point during the storm.

[Blown Away]

I know 80-100 mph winds w/ @115 gusts when I see them. Frances, Jeanne, and Wilma. That video reflects Cat 1,2 winds w/ low Cat 3 gusts.

The only hurricane that hit us with winds that high was Wilma

Martin County had Cat 1 low end Cat 2 sustained winds w/ gusts over 100mph.

[Scorpion]

Those winds look at least hurricane force... there is no way I would be able to stand in that (I was able to stand during the worst of Wilma, but barely)

[x-y-no]

Those winds look to be an order of magnitude weaker than what I saw during Andrew (post-assesment says Andrew was strong Cat-3 in that neighborhood.) So I'd say that's middling Cat-2 in the video.

[vacanechaser]

i would say they looked to be near 100mph with some places in the video looking near cat 3... i would have to agree with jim above... he has been in more hurricanes than anyone here.. if he says cat 3, then it is cat 3 or very close...



Jesse V. Bass III
http://www.vastormphoto.com
Hurricane Intercept Research Team

[Ptarmigan]

Just got home and took a look at the video. For the most part, it looks like 45-70 mph winds with some peaks between 70-85 mph. That's certainly not Cat 3-4 winds. Such winds would have torn the roofs off the buildings/houses. I didn't see any wind that looked over 100 mph. Most people have never seen true 74+ mph sustained winds (or even gusts to 74+ mph). Wind force quadruples with a doubling of wind speed. That is, a 100 mph wind is 4 times as strong as a 50 mph wind.

If Hurricane Gilbert had hit Texas in 1988, many Texans would of experienced real hurricane force winds. Alicia does not past muster for sure.

[Hurricane Freak PR]

Hello to all...

I agree there with Jim, seems like solid hurricane conditions, specially given the appearance of the vegetation and the palm tree with its top being blown off. In places like Grand Cayman would be harder to get many roofs flying in a video as it has a lot more strict building code than many other countries in this basin...

Jose

[Category 5]

This is 100mph at least (I stink as estimates)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6mq2c7J ... ed&search=

And the imfamous video of Hugo in Pueto Rico

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lhj2QUFIyQ