Alex Advisories

[Guest]

How's it going out there Gary? I read that Ocracoke is getting hurricane force winds.

[tallywx]

They'll probably not include it as a "landfall" down in their preliminary report section, but will include an extra box on the "best track chart" saying "Cape Hatteras - eyewall - xx.xx zulu"

[tracyswfla]

What is so scary is that these people had literally no notice that this storm was going to strengthen and they would have a direct hit!

[cycloneye]

000
WTNT51 KNHC 031557
TCEAT
HURRICANE ALEX POSITION ESTIMATE
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
12 PM EDT TUE AUG 03 2004

AT 12 PM EDT THE CENTER OF HURRICANE ALEX WAS ESTIMATED NEAR
LATITUDE 34.9 NORTH...LONGITUDE 75.6 WEST OR ABOUT 25 MILES SOUTH
OF CAPE HATTERAS NORTH CAROLINA.

FORECASTER FRANKLIN

[HurricaneGirl]

[HurricaneGirl]

Noone expected it to strengthen the way it did! Crazy thing!!

[tallywx]

hurricanefloyd5, winds are probably higher at that weatherbug site now. looks like communication is down, as values are pegged at those wind numbers. You can tell by the current pressure, reported as 29.37 falling. KHSE metar at 12:23 p.m. reported a pressure of 29.14, meaning it's even lower now.

[tallywx]

That just goes to show...when you're under a hurricane warning, treat it as a hurricane.

[ncweatherwizard]

Conditions rapidly deteiorating. Strongest portion seems to be in Hatteras Village. People reporting winds sustained at hurricane force gusting to about 100mph. Rain water flooding a problem, but not storm surge. No power or cable. All roads remain open. As I was talking there was a very strong wind gust which I could hear partially over the phone.

Buxton still not yet receiving strongest winds...55-60mph. Otherwise, no storm surge; however, rainfall flooding is a problem.

[HurricaneGirl]

Yup!!

[Stormchaser16]

Very scary situation, i expected that it become a minimal hurricane, yet i never personally expected a 100 MPH cane!

[Scott_inVA]

Ok so what is the actually classifying of landfall? The exact center of the 'eye' going over land or the edge of the 'eyewall' (where they winds die down and everything becomes calm) passes over land?

Unless something changed I did not hear, landfall is where the eye crossed onto land. Obviously if a TC comes inland the eyewall must first reach land before the eye does so that's easy. If the wall contacts land but the eye (center of deepest pressure) does not, the storm has remained off shore.

Scott

[ncweatherwizard]

Oh yeah, and everybody's fine...to relax any worries.

[Pebbles]

Thanks for clarifying

[PTrackerLA]

One question I have to ask is if there are no hurricane force winds in the northern eyewall then where are they? The southern and eastern portions of the eye are showing light returns on the radar and I just don't see how the winds there could be stronger than the winds on hatteras. Guess we'll find out what happened there soon when the damage reports roll in .

[HurricaneGirl]

Holy Crap!!!!!

[dixiebreeze]

New York is in for a world of trouble. I'll be surprised if Alex takes a quick turn to the NE.

http://wwwghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/GOES/goeseasthurrir.html

[tracyswfla]

Just goes to show us that we can't take weather to lightly. Living in SW Florida, no one takes it seriously. Perhaps this will wake some of our residents up!

[Scott_inVA]

Last OBS was at 11AM EDT. Dammit.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.p ... tion=clkn7

[Derecho]

What is so scary is that these people had literally no notice that this storm was going to strengthen and they would have a direct hit!

False.

They were under a TS warning for two whole days.

They're experiencing, and will experience, TS force conditions.

Anyone unprepared there only has to look in the mirror for who to blame.