Hurricane Laura remains a powerful and catastrophic cat 4 hurricane, with winds of 140 mph and higher gusts. I’ve included some facts about the storm below.
Hurricane Laura’s maximum winds have increased by 65 mph in 24 hours (from 75 mph to 140 mph). That’s the fastest 24-hr wind intensification for an Atlantic tropical cyclone since Hurricane Maria in 2017.
She sure is pretty from the International Space Station…
The NWS in Lake Charles, Louisiana is evacuating their office, ahead of tonight’s landfall. Surrounding offices will cover for them. It says a lot when the NWS evacuates. It’s also a good example to local residents to take this storm very, very seriously.
The latest storm surge map is disturbing. Truly an unsurvivable storm surge. That surge may move as far as 50 miles inland! Sea levels have already risen up to three feet along parts of the Louisiana coastline and the storm is still 175 miles offshore!
This is what Holly Beach, Louisiana looked like after 15 feet of storm storms in 2005 from Hurricane Rita. There is no other choice but to move inland when you are this close to the ocean.
In case you wondered what a storm surge of 20 feet will do, I found this graphic.
Laura is beginning to show up very well on radars now. Notice the inland tornado warnings that area already occurring (red polygons you see inland).
I said this on Facebook and I’ll say it here, too. Let’s be sure and remember those who can’t leave the path of this storm. Firefighters, doctors, nurses, police, etc can’t just leave. Those who work on restoring power, keeping utilities running, etc. The list is long for those who can’t leave. And what about the ones who don’t have enough money to travel out of the area? Do you go to local shelters with covid breaking out everywhere? What a disaster on so many levels.
While others flee, this picture shows us that others must go to the disaster. Look at the utility trucks already heading that way. Gosh, I hope they stay safe.
In other weather news….the threat for severe weather for the New York City area is increasing substantially for tomorrow. There are even rumors of a high risk being issued for that area, which would be unusually strange (2020, right?).
I’ll keep an eye on all of it! What a busy weather time!
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