ATL: GONZALO - Post-Tropical - Discussion

[beoumont]

It has probably been mentioned in this 67 page thread somewhere before: does anyone know at what elevations those anemometer readings were taken at the Commissioner's Point station and the St. David's? The two "elevated" anemometers that were mentioned in the advisories.

[cycloneye]

Great sunrise in Bermuda and hopefully the news that will come out is good. Let's see if those chasers release videos of the landfall and take a tour thru the city of Hamilton to see what is going on.

[abajan]

As the day brightens and the camera surveys the area more thoroughly, some damage is evident: A clock not working, another clock's face missing, a burst pipe on the top of a building, part of a pier apparently washed away. Not too bad, considering that a fairly powerful hurricane just moved through.

As to the current tropical storm warning, I think it can safely be lifted now. Looks like the winds are pretty much back to normal:



Then again, there may be a few areas still experiencing tropical storm force gusts.

This post is NOT an official forecast and should not be used as such. It is just the opinion of the poster and may or may not be backed by sound meteorological data. It is NOT endorsed by any professional institution or storm2k.org. For official information, please refer to the NHC and NWS products.

[chrisjslucia]

Well, he was on the money for sure.

[Chris_in_Tampa]

Chart of the wind from the two elevated stations:





Through 11:20Z.

[NDG]

seeing unconfirmed reports of sustained cat 3 winds

No doubt, I think the NHC messed up by dropping its Cat back to 2 without the confirmation of a recon that it had weakened.

Unless these winds are AOB 10M, calling out NHC as having "messed up" is completely unwarranted and unnecessary here. A statement concerning higher wind speeds at elevated locations has been in every public advisory issued by NHC since early Thursday, so cat 3 sustained winds would not at all be a surprise at elevations above 10M (the elevation that MSW is defined as occurring at).

Yes my wording about the NHC downgrading it was bit out of hand, but my point is that IMO the NHC downgraded Gonzalo based on the surface reports from Bermuda during the northern eyewall which was probably nothing but a Cat 2 Category, I bet they had no idea about how stronger the southern eyewall was going to be, especially since the last recon that had sampled the storm was a full 4 hours prior to landfall.
Is hard to say what kind of winds were at the surface when the airport only reported their conditions once an hour during most of the passage of Gonzalo. So I think they should take into account any professional hurricane chasers that took measurements of the winds at the surface and consider them for the re-analyzes.

[NDG]

Interesting comment from one of the Mets at the BWS:

I never thought I would say this... but my nerves are settling more now that we are sustained 50 gusting 70 knots! I now know my comfort level breaks at 115 knot gusts... the 125 knot really was on the edge. Thank goodness BWS is in an old US Navy Base building with steal barb reinforced block walls.

So I guess he thinks that they experienced 125 knot wind gusts at their BWS building?

[abajan]

Yet another account of the chirping frogs during the eye:
http://stormcarib.com/reports/current/grenada.shtml

[cycloneye]

Some photos are out from different places of Bermuda that you can see here. So far the most important thing is that there have not been lost of life nor injuries reported and hopefully it stays that way.

[JahJa]

ironic, because that blue boat in the picture actually sunk in Igor and it only was restore about 4 months ago! The damage is thankfully not bad and seem limited to property. 90% of the island are without power but thank God thank no lives have been lost as far as I am aware. Thanks for your prayers and best wishes everyone and come and visit Bermuda; once we get power back up and running!

[cycloneye]

Timelapse by NASA from Oct 13-17 of Gonzalo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSkgXNA_dx4

[cycloneye]

Breaking News: Is great news!!

Police confirm there was no loss of life, and said early reports from the hospital indicate that while there were minor storm-related injuries, there were no critical injuries due to Gonzalo.

[Sanibel]

I can't get the Port Bermuda Camera to work.

[TheStormExpert]

Well, he was on the money for sure.

Every blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while!

[lilybeth]

I'm glad it seems everyone stayed safe! Looks like the Bermuda emergency response teams are on it as well. Sorry to see the damage, and I know this was a bad one, but so glad no serious injuries so far. Thank you to those here "on the ground" who kept us updated. Very glad to hear you are well today.

[CrazyC83]

How can an island withstand 145 mph wind gusts without extreme damage? Did they strengthen building codes after Fabian?

[northjaxpro]

Absolutely, I am so happy to hear that no one lost their life during this storm in Bermufa. Great news! Gonzalo was a terrible hurricane which really bought havoc and destruction to Bermuda. Best wishes to all there on the recovery efforts in the wake of the storm.

[JahJa]

How can an island withstand 145 mph wind gusts without extreme damage? Did they strengthen building codes after Fabian?

Not to my knowledge but as I've said before I really believe that TS Fay that blew over us just 1 week prior to Hurricane Gonzalo really was a BIG blessing in disguise because as off guard as it caught everyone, it did just enough damage to the island to make everyone take Hurricane Gonzalo very serious.

If memory serves me correctly the intensity or Fabian caught everyone off guard hence the reason it caused so much destruction.

The coastguard and Royal Navy are flying over surveying the damage now but I'm going to be the first to go ahead and say that I don't think Gonzalo will be getting retired on the back of the damage it caused in Bermuda! Although it may be retired due to the destruction and loss of life it sadly caused down in the Caribbean.

[caribepr]

Breaking News: Is great news!!

Police confirm there was no loss of life, and said early reports from the hospital indicate that while there were minor storm-related injuries, there were no critical injuries due to Gonzalo.

Thanks for posting this! Fantastic news!

[TheStormExpert]

Absolutely, I am so happy to hear that no one lost their life during this storm in Bermufa. Great news! Gonzalo was a terrible hurricane which really bought havoc and destruction to Bermuda. Best wishes to all there on the recovery efforts in the wake of the storm.

Compared to Fabian back in 2003, is the destruction worse or about the same?