11 years ago today, Hurricane Andrew which was reanalyzed at a Category 5 Hurricane devastated South Florida and Louisiana a couple of days later resulting in the costliest hurricane to ever strike the U.S., not to mention the human tragedy and loss suffered by this monstrous storm.
On my website, I've added some Hurricane Andrew images and a couple of radar loops which can be found in the Tropical Weather Archives Section under Images and Movies of Hurricanes.
SF
11 Years ago ... Catasphoric Hurricane Andrew strikes
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Stormsfury
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JetMaxx
I'll never forget the 23rd and 24th. I awoke that Sunday morning (8/23) to news that Andrew was a cat-3....and forecast to slam into Florida just north of Miami. I immediately rushed out and bought a VCR....the first one I'd ever owned. This was going to be the first major hurricane to strike southern Florida in my memory (and ONLY major hurricane) -- and I wanted it on tape.....
In 1992, we didn't have the Super-Walmart we do now that's open 24/7 -- so I had to stand outside and wait until Wal-Mart opened at 10 a.m., and the waiting was unbearable....
In any event, I finally got in, bought it and some tapes, and rushed home to hook it up.....got it installed just in time for the noon news...and learn Andrew was up to a cat 4 hurricane...to say I was excited was an understatement.
The excitement at witnessing my first SoFla major hurricane was tempered by the fact I had friends there....in Coral Gables, and a cousin and his family in Sarasota (whom I'd already called and told to evacuate...and they were already gone).
As Andrew continued to intensify, it went from excitement to alarm....the reports of 922 mb and 150 mph winds told me it would be catastrophic (and I didn't even know about the 196 mph flight level winds...which meant 175 mph at the surface). I do remember questioning the NHC sustained winds...because the satellite photos looked stronger than 150 mph...the feathery edges around Andrew's outflow reminded me a lot of Camille; so I knew it was going to be very bad.
I taped the evening and 11 p.m. weather from TV (didn't have cable at that time)....and turned on WSB radio, which was simucasting a Miami radio station -- I knew Andrew had weakened some...down to 140 mph (937 mb) on the 11 p.m. advisory, but knew he would gain strength over the Gulf Stream -- but didn't know how much...the fact Andrew was moving so quickly made me think he might only get back to 145 or so...turns out both NHC and I were wrong.
I didn't sleep at all that night....other than short catnaps with my alarm clock waking me every two hours for new NHC bulletins. Around 5 am, I knew Andrew was hitting with full fury, and came into the living room to tape the landfall (the a.m. news shows had just came on)....when I heard the NHC landfall report of 140 mph and 932 mb, I said "about the same as hurricane Donna", and knew there would be devastating damage south of Miami -- which neither the newscasters nor Dr Sheets seemed to understand. I remember Bob Sheets live on Good Morning America saying Andrew was a "category 3...maybe up borderline 4....winds running 125-130 mph in some areas" (and thought he was totally clueless).
I'd already caught some ham radio crosstalk of a major disaster south of Miami....but Miami itself had gotten off lucky (thanks to Andrew's exceedingly small eyewall). By evening it became apparent that my instincts were right....and it was near total destruction in South Dade. :o :o
I didn't know then that Andrew was a cat-5 in South Dade, but believed it was borderline cat-4/5. I estimated the wind gusts I saw over television were F3, maybe borderline F4 in some areas from damage I observed; so even before I learned the actual landfall pressure was 922 mb, I'd already theorized hurricane Andrew was more like 150-160 mph sustained with gusts of 180-200 mph; and for ten long years, my "amateur wind analysis" based primarily on tornado damage I'd surveyed using Dr Fujita's guidelines was much closer to reality than what NHC, HRD, NOAA, or anyone else was estimating.
In any event, it was a most interesting and awe-inspiring 36-48 hour period....and the catastrophic damage and suffering Andrew caused only served to convince me more of the coming hurricane disaster someday in South Florida...when the hurricane is much larger than Andrew --- more like Hugo or Floyd; and all of SoFla gets wiped out....on both coasts (as occurred in both 1926 and 1947).
In 1992, we didn't have the Super-Walmart we do now that's open 24/7 -- so I had to stand outside and wait until Wal-Mart opened at 10 a.m., and the waiting was unbearable....
In any event, I finally got in, bought it and some tapes, and rushed home to hook it up.....got it installed just in time for the noon news...and learn Andrew was up to a cat 4 hurricane...to say I was excited was an understatement.
The excitement at witnessing my first SoFla major hurricane was tempered by the fact I had friends there....in Coral Gables, and a cousin and his family in Sarasota (whom I'd already called and told to evacuate...and they were already gone).
As Andrew continued to intensify, it went from excitement to alarm....the reports of 922 mb and 150 mph winds told me it would be catastrophic (and I didn't even know about the 196 mph flight level winds...which meant 175 mph at the surface). I do remember questioning the NHC sustained winds...because the satellite photos looked stronger than 150 mph...the feathery edges around Andrew's outflow reminded me a lot of Camille; so I knew it was going to be very bad.
I taped the evening and 11 p.m. weather from TV (didn't have cable at that time)....and turned on WSB radio, which was simucasting a Miami radio station -- I knew Andrew had weakened some...down to 140 mph (937 mb) on the 11 p.m. advisory, but knew he would gain strength over the Gulf Stream -- but didn't know how much...the fact Andrew was moving so quickly made me think he might only get back to 145 or so...turns out both NHC and I were wrong.
I didn't sleep at all that night....other than short catnaps with my alarm clock waking me every two hours for new NHC bulletins. Around 5 am, I knew Andrew was hitting with full fury, and came into the living room to tape the landfall (the a.m. news shows had just came on)....when I heard the NHC landfall report of 140 mph and 932 mb, I said "about the same as hurricane Donna", and knew there would be devastating damage south of Miami -- which neither the newscasters nor Dr Sheets seemed to understand. I remember Bob Sheets live on Good Morning America saying Andrew was a "category 3...maybe up borderline 4....winds running 125-130 mph in some areas" (and thought he was totally clueless).
I'd already caught some ham radio crosstalk of a major disaster south of Miami....but Miami itself had gotten off lucky (thanks to Andrew's exceedingly small eyewall). By evening it became apparent that my instincts were right....and it was near total destruction in South Dade. :o :o
I didn't know then that Andrew was a cat-5 in South Dade, but believed it was borderline cat-4/5. I estimated the wind gusts I saw over television were F3, maybe borderline F4 in some areas from damage I observed; so even before I learned the actual landfall pressure was 922 mb, I'd already theorized hurricane Andrew was more like 150-160 mph sustained with gusts of 180-200 mph; and for ten long years, my "amateur wind analysis" based primarily on tornado damage I'd surveyed using Dr Fujita's guidelines was much closer to reality than what NHC, HRD, NOAA, or anyone else was estimating.
In any event, it was a most interesting and awe-inspiring 36-48 hour period....and the catastrophic damage and suffering Andrew caused only served to convince me more of the coming hurricane disaster someday in South Florida...when the hurricane is much larger than Andrew --- more like Hugo or Floyd; and all of SoFla gets wiped out....on both coasts (as occurred in both 1926 and 1947).
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Stormsfury
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From Chris Landsea at AOML (Revising Hurricane Andrew)
Hurricane Andrew of 1992 caused unprecedented economic devastation along its path through the Bahamas, southeastern Florida, and Louisiana. Damage in the United States was estimated to be about $26 billion, making Andrew the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history. This hurricane struck southern Dade County, Florida, with an intensity assessed back in 1992 as a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, based upon estimated maximum sustained surface winds of 145 mph. Because of a better scientific understanding of the structure of the windfield in the violent eyewall of strong hurricanes, the intensity of Andrew has now been revised upward for five days during its track across the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Andrew of 1992 is now assessed to be a Category 5 - the highest intensity scale possible - at its landfall in southeastern Florida with peak sustained winds of 165 mph. This makes Hurricane Andrew only the third Saffir-Simpson Scale Category 5 hurricane to impact the United States since at least 1900. Documentation for why and how these changes were made are provided in the writeup below.
Hurricane Andrew's revision is a part of "The Atlantic Hurricane Database (HURDAT) Re-analysis Project" (NOAA/NASA Grant #GC02-093) that the author is Principal Investigator for. The goals of this project are to extend the database back in time and to revisit and possibly revise all of the tropical storms and hurricanes back to 1851 of the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, including Hurricane Andrew. This database is utilized in a wide variety of ways: climatic change studies, seasonal forecasting, risk assessment for emergency managers, analysis of potential losses for insurance and business interests, and development/verification of official National Hurricane Center and compter model predictions of track and intensity.
Unfortunately, this Atlantic hurricane database contains many systematic and random errors that need correction. Additionally, as our understanding of hurricanes has developed, analysis techniques have changed over the years at NHC, leading to biases in the historical database that had not been addressed. Finally, recent efforts led by the late Jose Fernandez-Partagas to uncover previously undocumented historical hurricanes in the mid-1800s to early 1900s have greatly increased our knowledge of these past events, which also had not been incorporated into the hurricane database.
Andrew is just one of the hundreds of hurricanes that we are revising. It is a special case, naturally, because of the huge societal impact that it had in South Florida. While Hurricane Andrew would have been examined sequentially in this project sometime in late 2004 or early 2005, I was asked by the Director of NHC, Max Mayfield, to put Andrew at the front of the list for re-analysis because of its significance, because of the new research findings of the wind structure in strong hurricanes and because of its ten year anniversary.
One example of a very practical aspect of the outcome of Andrew's re-analysis is the potential impact on building codes and insurance rates. Previously, Hurricane Andrew was assessed as a Saffir-Simpson Category 4 hurricane hitting Southeast Florida (comprised of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties). During the 20th Century when we have had relatively complete records, four Category 4 hurricanes were noted to have hit the area - Andrew, the 1926 Great Miami hurricane, the 1928 Lake Okeechobee hurricane and the 1947 Broward hurricane. This gave an average "return period" of 25 years (100 years/4 strikes) for the Southeast Florida for Category 4 hurricanes, though these occur rather unevenly within the 100 years. However, with Andrew being re-classified as a Category 5, this is the only one to have struck the area in (at least) 100 years. ("At least" because records before 1900 are too sketchy for confidence in the intensity of hurricanes that hit south Florida.) Thus the return period is equal to or greater than 100 years for a direct strike on the region by an Andrew-intensity (Category 5) hurricane.
So if one is interested in what the return period of extremely devastating hurricanes (as the public, government agencies, insurance companies and building code designers are), the category assigned is quite important. If - as it was until recently - Andrew is denoted a Category 4, then these are rare events (about four times in a century). But with Andrew being re-classified as a Category 5, this indicates that the type of destruction that Andrew caused is an extremely rare event - with a return period much longer than previously thought.
Certainly not all the changes to tropical storms and hurricanes in this re-analysis project are going to have as big an impact as Hurricane Andrew's. But the intensity and track assigned to Hurricane Andrew and the other 1273 tropical systems since 1851 is much more important than just keeping the records accurate. It should have a direct impact on how buildings are constructed and what insurance rates ought to be. Please feel free to contact me for more information about Hurricane Andrew's re-analysis or other storms that will be looked at in the database.
Chris Landsea, September 2002
Hurricane Andrew of 1992 caused unprecedented economic devastation along its path through the Bahamas, southeastern Florida, and Louisiana. Damage in the United States was estimated to be about $26 billion, making Andrew the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history. This hurricane struck southern Dade County, Florida, with an intensity assessed back in 1992 as a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, based upon estimated maximum sustained surface winds of 145 mph. Because of a better scientific understanding of the structure of the windfield in the violent eyewall of strong hurricanes, the intensity of Andrew has now been revised upward for five days during its track across the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Andrew of 1992 is now assessed to be a Category 5 - the highest intensity scale possible - at its landfall in southeastern Florida with peak sustained winds of 165 mph. This makes Hurricane Andrew only the third Saffir-Simpson Scale Category 5 hurricane to impact the United States since at least 1900. Documentation for why and how these changes were made are provided in the writeup below.
Hurricane Andrew's revision is a part of "The Atlantic Hurricane Database (HURDAT) Re-analysis Project" (NOAA/NASA Grant #GC02-093) that the author is Principal Investigator for. The goals of this project are to extend the database back in time and to revisit and possibly revise all of the tropical storms and hurricanes back to 1851 of the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, including Hurricane Andrew. This database is utilized in a wide variety of ways: climatic change studies, seasonal forecasting, risk assessment for emergency managers, analysis of potential losses for insurance and business interests, and development/verification of official National Hurricane Center and compter model predictions of track and intensity.
Unfortunately, this Atlantic hurricane database contains many systematic and random errors that need correction. Additionally, as our understanding of hurricanes has developed, analysis techniques have changed over the years at NHC, leading to biases in the historical database that had not been addressed. Finally, recent efforts led by the late Jose Fernandez-Partagas to uncover previously undocumented historical hurricanes in the mid-1800s to early 1900s have greatly increased our knowledge of these past events, which also had not been incorporated into the hurricane database.
Andrew is just one of the hundreds of hurricanes that we are revising. It is a special case, naturally, because of the huge societal impact that it had in South Florida. While Hurricane Andrew would have been examined sequentially in this project sometime in late 2004 or early 2005, I was asked by the Director of NHC, Max Mayfield, to put Andrew at the front of the list for re-analysis because of its significance, because of the new research findings of the wind structure in strong hurricanes and because of its ten year anniversary.
One example of a very practical aspect of the outcome of Andrew's re-analysis is the potential impact on building codes and insurance rates. Previously, Hurricane Andrew was assessed as a Saffir-Simpson Category 4 hurricane hitting Southeast Florida (comprised of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties). During the 20th Century when we have had relatively complete records, four Category 4 hurricanes were noted to have hit the area - Andrew, the 1926 Great Miami hurricane, the 1928 Lake Okeechobee hurricane and the 1947 Broward hurricane. This gave an average "return period" of 25 years (100 years/4 strikes) for the Southeast Florida for Category 4 hurricanes, though these occur rather unevenly within the 100 years. However, with Andrew being re-classified as a Category 5, this is the only one to have struck the area in (at least) 100 years. ("At least" because records before 1900 are too sketchy for confidence in the intensity of hurricanes that hit south Florida.) Thus the return period is equal to or greater than 100 years for a direct strike on the region by an Andrew-intensity (Category 5) hurricane.
So if one is interested in what the return period of extremely devastating hurricanes (as the public, government agencies, insurance companies and building code designers are), the category assigned is quite important. If - as it was until recently - Andrew is denoted a Category 4, then these are rare events (about four times in a century). But with Andrew being re-classified as a Category 5, this indicates that the type of destruction that Andrew caused is an extremely rare event - with a return period much longer than previously thought.
Certainly not all the changes to tropical storms and hurricanes in this re-analysis project are going to have as big an impact as Hurricane Andrew's. But the intensity and track assigned to Hurricane Andrew and the other 1273 tropical systems since 1851 is much more important than just keeping the records accurate. It should have a direct impact on how buildings are constructed and what insurance rates ought to be. Please feel free to contact me for more information about Hurricane Andrew's re-analysis or other storms that will be looked at in the database.
Chris Landsea, September 2002
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JetMaxx
There have been quite a few changes done by the HURDAT project...
Among those:
Lowered the intensity estimate of the powerful Sept 1909 hurricane in Louisiana (known as "Grand Isle") from 931 mb cat-4 to a 952 mb cat-3.
Revised the landfall central pressure of the 1900 Galveston hurricane from 931 mb to 936 mb (based on storm surge levels).
Revised the Oct 1898 Georgia hurricane from 90 kt cat-2 to a 938 mb/ 120 kt cat-4...based on storm surge levels of 16-19'.
Revised the Oct 1906 Florida Keys-Miami hurricane from 967 mb cat-2 to 953 mb cat-3 (the 967 mb value was recorded in Miami-- AFTER the hurricane had devastated the Keys, taking 100+ lives.
Here's one I DISAGREE with...
They lowered the Oct 1909 Florida Keys-Naples looping cat-3 hurricane to a cat-2...which boggles my mind, and IMO is a mistake. The pressure of 955 mb was recorded at Naples...and was even stronger at Key West hours earlier where the lighthouse was swept away and all inside killed...winds based on available data exceeded 120 mph in Key West, and is most certainly criteria for a major hurricane (offshore central pressure was measured by two ships at 941 and 944 mb --between Key West and Dry Tortugas in the Gulf Stream).
I also disagree with the re-assessment of the Great Sea Islands hurricane of August 1893 that killed 1000-2000 along the Georgia and lower South Carolina coast. HURDAT revised the intensity upward from a 90 kt cat-2 to a 950 mb/ 100 kt cat-3...but records clearly indicated storm surge levels east of Savannah were OVER 17' (Tybee Island was completely underwater)...indicating a category 4 hurricane similar to both Hazel and Hugo (Hugo occurred in 1989 during a full moon...why the storm surge was 20' and not 17-18' as would normally be expected with a 934 mb hurricane in that area (in 1954, hurricane Hazel produced a 16-17' storm surge in the Little River Inlet-Calabash-Cape Fear area with a central pressure of 938 mb/ 27.70").
Of course, it took NHC and HRD almost ten years to realize I was much closer to Andrew's true landfall intensity than they were
Among those:
Lowered the intensity estimate of the powerful Sept 1909 hurricane in Louisiana (known as "Grand Isle") from 931 mb cat-4 to a 952 mb cat-3.
Revised the landfall central pressure of the 1900 Galveston hurricane from 931 mb to 936 mb (based on storm surge levels).
Revised the Oct 1898 Georgia hurricane from 90 kt cat-2 to a 938 mb/ 120 kt cat-4...based on storm surge levels of 16-19'.
Revised the Oct 1906 Florida Keys-Miami hurricane from 967 mb cat-2 to 953 mb cat-3 (the 967 mb value was recorded in Miami-- AFTER the hurricane had devastated the Keys, taking 100+ lives.
Here's one I DISAGREE with...
They lowered the Oct 1909 Florida Keys-Naples looping cat-3 hurricane to a cat-2...which boggles my mind, and IMO is a mistake. The pressure of 955 mb was recorded at Naples...and was even stronger at Key West hours earlier where the lighthouse was swept away and all inside killed...winds based on available data exceeded 120 mph in Key West, and is most certainly criteria for a major hurricane (offshore central pressure was measured by two ships at 941 and 944 mb --between Key West and Dry Tortugas in the Gulf Stream).
I also disagree with the re-assessment of the Great Sea Islands hurricane of August 1893 that killed 1000-2000 along the Georgia and lower South Carolina coast. HURDAT revised the intensity upward from a 90 kt cat-2 to a 950 mb/ 100 kt cat-3...but records clearly indicated storm surge levels east of Savannah were OVER 17' (Tybee Island was completely underwater)...indicating a category 4 hurricane similar to both Hazel and Hugo (Hugo occurred in 1989 during a full moon...why the storm surge was 20' and not 17-18' as would normally be expected with a 934 mb hurricane in that area (in 1954, hurricane Hazel produced a 16-17' storm surge in the Little River Inlet-Calabash-Cape Fear area with a central pressure of 938 mb/ 27.70").
Of course, it took NHC and HRD almost ten years to realize I was much closer to Andrew's true landfall intensity than they were
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Andrew
I will never forget hurricane Andrew as long as I live. The details of that storm are etched in my memory forever for many reasons. I live in south Louisiana and even though Terrebonne parish didn't get the same hurt Florida and Morgan City got it was intense. I was 18 years old and 8 monthes pregnant, but could not evacuate from the parish. I did however have to leave my TRAILER. We watched the reports of massive destruction in Florida on the news as we packed everything. I remember telling my sister if you like it then take it with you because I don't think it will be here when we come back. I cried through the entire storm, not out of fear, but because my unborn daughter was going crazy doing flips and it hurt like you could not believe. When it was all over though my sister's boyfriend's house had floated into the middle of the street and unbelievably my trailer was in one piece with the exception of a broken window. (the only thing the survived in their house was the china cabinet that was exactly where they left it. That still inpresses me!) Parts of the area were extremly flooded and some areas did not get power back for a week including me. I actually went to someone's house who had electricity because very pregnant in August with no AC is unbearable. My daughter is terrified of storms, and I always laugh and tell her Hey you already made it through hurricane Andrew your tougher than you think.
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Stormsfury
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There was a lot of discussion about the Sea Island Hurricane and interestingly enough, these are some of the findings based on NHC and HRD debates.
* 1893 # 6 Why is 87 kt rounded up to 90 kt? Note that there may be a bug
in the plotting routine - check color change at landfall. Also note that
the Block Island wind observation is not consistent with this track.
The committee requests concurrence of BRJ on this system. (meeting 4)
* 1893 # 6 (Committee previously requested the opinion of BRJ on this
system. He prepared the following comments for inclusion in the minutes.)
I believe the Savannah Weather Bureaus observations and agree with the
current computation of intensity at landfall on the coast of Georgia! The
958 mb at Savannah makes this a weak cat 3 at this time. However, SLOSH model
runs show that even at this intensity the hurricane generated 10 to 13 foot
storm tides over a large area of southern South Carolina. Many of the barrier
islands in South Carolina, where the large loss of life occurred, have
elevations up to 15 to 20 feet and many people got there or floated there and
survived. But the ones that drowned were farmers living near their rice and
indigo fields which were at much lower elevations and they opted to stay in
their homes. Many drownings occurred when the home floated and/or collapsed
and the occupants were thrown into the water. To complicate matters all this
took place at night.
After discussion of the above comments, the committee accepts the track
changes proposed by Landsea et al. (meeting 6)
This is the entire NHC/HRD revision discussion on storms from the 1851-1910 period. Also noted in abother area that future revisions haven't been ruled out as well as new analysis projects, maybe to find a timeline as far back as 1800, and future projects for 1911-1943, and even the aircraft area since our understanding of RECON flights and conversions are far better than in that era.
SF
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/comments.htm
* 1893 # 6 Why is 87 kt rounded up to 90 kt? Note that there may be a bug
in the plotting routine - check color change at landfall. Also note that
the Block Island wind observation is not consistent with this track.
The committee requests concurrence of BRJ on this system. (meeting 4)
* 1893 # 6 (Committee previously requested the opinion of BRJ on this
system. He prepared the following comments for inclusion in the minutes.)
I believe the Savannah Weather Bureaus observations and agree with the
current computation of intensity at landfall on the coast of Georgia! The
958 mb at Savannah makes this a weak cat 3 at this time. However, SLOSH model
runs show that even at this intensity the hurricane generated 10 to 13 foot
storm tides over a large area of southern South Carolina. Many of the barrier
islands in South Carolina, where the large loss of life occurred, have
elevations up to 15 to 20 feet and many people got there or floated there and
survived. But the ones that drowned were farmers living near their rice and
indigo fields which were at much lower elevations and they opted to stay in
their homes. Many drownings occurred when the home floated and/or collapsed
and the occupants were thrown into the water. To complicate matters all this
took place at night.
After discussion of the above comments, the committee accepts the track
changes proposed by Landsea et al. (meeting 6)
This is the entire NHC/HRD revision discussion on storms from the 1851-1910 period. Also noted in abother area that future revisions haven't been ruled out as well as new analysis projects, maybe to find a timeline as far back as 1800, and future projects for 1911-1943, and even the aircraft area since our understanding of RECON flights and conversions are far better than in that era.
SF
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/comments.htm
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JetMaxx
I'd be very interested to sit in on the HURDAT re-analysis discussion on the 1935 Labor Day hurricane...
There are conflicting reports on just how low the barometer read at Lower Matecumbe Key. It reportedly read 26.40"/ 894 mb...but was adjusted downward to 26.35"/ 892.3 mb after pressure chamber tests at the Weather Bureau in Washington, D.C.
Also, Unisys still lists the Labor Day hurricane sustained winds at 140 kts (160 mph)...which is obviously too low in light of the small diameter of the eyewall...which was even smaller than Andrew's (similar to Iris in 2001...hurricane force winds only extended 15-20 miles from the center).
Using Andrew's parameters (922 mb = 150 kts)..and using hurricane Iris's standard (949 mb = 130 kts), 175-180 kts (200-210 mph) is more likely...with gusts over 230 mph; which explains the dismembered and sandblasted bodies in the eyewall core area between Tavernier and Key Vaca in the Florida Keys....consistent with wind speeds of a F4 tornado. :o
There are conflicting reports on just how low the barometer read at Lower Matecumbe Key. It reportedly read 26.40"/ 894 mb...but was adjusted downward to 26.35"/ 892.3 mb after pressure chamber tests at the Weather Bureau in Washington, D.C.
Also, Unisys still lists the Labor Day hurricane sustained winds at 140 kts (160 mph)...which is obviously too low in light of the small diameter of the eyewall...which was even smaller than Andrew's (similar to Iris in 2001...hurricane force winds only extended 15-20 miles from the center).
Using Andrew's parameters (922 mb = 150 kts)..and using hurricane Iris's standard (949 mb = 130 kts), 175-180 kts (200-210 mph) is more likely...with gusts over 230 mph; which explains the dismembered and sandblasted bodies in the eyewall core area between Tavernier and Key Vaca in the Florida Keys....consistent with wind speeds of a F4 tornado. :o
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Stormsfury
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JetMaxx wrote:I'd be very interested to sit in on the HURDAT re-analysis discussion on the 1935 Labor Day hurricane...
There are conflicting reports on just how low the barometer read at Lower Matecumbe Key. It reportedly read 26.40"/ 894 mb...but was adjusted downward to 26.35"/ 892.3 mb after pressure chamber tests at the Weather Bureau in Washington, D.C.
Also, Unisys still lists the Labor Day hurricane sustained winds at 140 kts (160 mph)...which is obviously too low in light of the small diameter of the eyewall...which was even smaller than Andrew's (similar to Iris in 2001...hurricane force winds only extended 15-20 miles from the center).
Using Andrew's parameters (922 mb = 150 kts)..and using hurricane Iris's standard (949 mb = 130 kts), 175-180 kts (200-210 mph) is more likely...with gusts over 230 mph; which explains the dismembered and sandblasted bodies in the eyewall core area between Tavernier and Key Vaca in the Florida Keys....consistent with wind speeds of a F4 tornado. :o
Perry, you and me BOTH would love to see what the findings are if they do a re-analysis of the Labor Day Hurricane. Honestly, 140 kts does not correlate with an 892 mb pressure ... IMO, with Andrew's 922 mb pressure and maximum winds were sustained at its peak at 175 mph (150 kts), the Labor Day Hurricane was much stronger. Only one observation that I do keep in mind, there were no obstructions across the Keys to reduce the wind speed as such as was with Andrew when it barrelled through Southern Florida. But IMO, the datasets, damage, and observations, not to mention the loss of life is more indicative of a storm bearing 165 kts winds (190 mph) - (more in line with Hurricane Allen's 190 mph - 899 mb pressure couplet despite Allen was much larger than the 1935 LBH).
SF
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