Tropical Cyclone Report
Hurricane Katrina
23-31 august 2005
Tom Smugala
Midwest Hurricane Center
December 1 2005
Hurricane katrina was the costliest storm to ever hit the United States. Katrina made three landfalls along the United States coastline destroying hundreds of square miles with carnage and fury, and leaving over 1200 people dead, and hundreds of billions of dollars in damage.
A. History.
Katrina become a tropical depression from a tropical wave about 200 miles southeast of Nassau in the Bahamas on the early afternoon on the 23 of August. katrina then become a tropical storm 5am on the 24th about 270 miles from the coast of Florida. Katrina then moved Northwest ward, and turned back towards the west and made landfall on the Dade/Broward county line during the early evening on the 25th with maximum sustained winds near 80mph figure one.
http://vortex.plymouth.edu/hur_dir/2005/at...a05_AMX_N0Z.mpg Moving Southwest across the Florida Everglades and emerging off the coast of Florida with 75 mph winds passing about 20 miles north of Key West during the Morning hours of the 26th. During the early morning hours of the 27th Katrina became a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 115mph. over the next 12 hours Katrina went under a eyewall replacement cycle. Around 2am katrina became a catagory 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 145mph while moving over the high heat content of the Loop Curent. Just a few hours later as katrina moved west north west ward Katrina became a categoty 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 160mph and a pressure of 908 millibars. Katrina did not stop there. Around 11am EDT Katrina's winds once again increased to a whopping 175mph and the pressure fell to 907mb. Katrina's pressure continued to fall and dropped to fell to 902mb around 5pm EDT. After that Katrina started to weaken at a slow rate. By 7pm EDT Katrina's winds dropped to 165mph and the pressure rose to 904. Over the next 12 hours Katrina would weaken due to drier air wrapping into the system causing a eyewall replacement cycle, and shallower water. However Katrina would still be a strong hurricane and at 7am EDT Katrina made landfall in Plaqemines Parish Louisiana with estimated sustained winds of 145mph category four on the Saffir?Simpson scale and a central pressure of 918 millibars. Over the next four hours Katrina moved over the SE Louisiana coast creating destruction along the way. At 11am EDT katrina made her final landfall along the Louisiana Mississippi border still a category four hurricane with sustained winds near 135mph. At 8pm CDT Katrina weakend to a tropical storm with 65mph winds. Katrina then disippated at 11am EDT on the 30th near clarksville Tennessee.
b.Meteorological Statistics
Observations in Katrina included Satelitte images, Air Force Recon, and dropsondes from the Air Force recon.
Table two list observed observations from selected stations. Note most data is incomplete due to power failure and destruction of said stations.
Hurricane katrina table one intensified extreamly quickly in the Gulf of mexico on the early morning hours of the 28th. The central Pressure fell from 935mb at 2am EDT to 908mb at 8am EDT. Katrina would continue to deepen and the pressure fell to 902mb at 5pm CDT. Katrina's winds peaked at 150kts at 11am EDT. The very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico Loop Currrent aided in the rapid intensification of Katrina. Katrina then weakend to 125kts at Landfall at 7am EDT and 115kts at 11am EDT.
Storm tides ranged from 3 to 5 feet along the SW Florida coast. Some trailer homes were damaged in the very rule area of Flamingo due to surge.
Storm surge range from about 4 1/2 feet in Destin Florida to near 30 near Bay St. Louis on the Mississippi coast. Storm surges arounf 20-30 feet is estimated to have affected Plaqemines Parish area. Storm surge of 12 feet engulfed parts of the Alabama coastline including Mobile.
Due to the high surge, and strong winds many levees breached in the New Orleans area and most of the city went underwater. some places upwards to 20 feet.
There is alot of debate within NOAA's Hurricane Research division katrina might have only been a moderate to strong cat3 at landfall due to SFMR and Dropsondes. However dropsondes only give a sampling of winds small areas, and can be contaminated from higher windspeeds. This statement is common from HRD as a certain researcher there claims alot of storms have lower windspeeds than what is stated by NHC. However we must remain objective to their data as well as they are with other data sources. In higher windspeed events SFMR and dropsonds tend to be inaccurate at times and even the NHC forecasters have admitted doubts in it at times. based on land observations along the MS coast table 1 of very high winds two hours before landfall, and the high winds nearly 100 miles inland along with Aircraft recon at time of final landfall of 130kts at 700mb, and unofficial wind readings support Katrina being a 115kt cat4 at final landfall along the LA, MS border.
A special thanks to Weathervine chase team and Mark Suddith of www.hurricanetrack.com who have recorded some vaulable data, and footage,
c.Casualty and Damage Statistics
As of October 20th the death toll stands 1053 for LA 228 in Mississippi and 11 in florida. The final death count might never be known. The death toll will still likely rise once more debris is removed along the Mississippi coast, and New Orleans area
The final total figure damage for Katrina likely will be near 200 billion dollars.
Table 1. Best track for hurricane Katrina August 23 to August 31.
Date: 23-31 AUG 2005
Hurricane KATRINA
LAT LON TIME WIND PR STAT
23.20 -75.50 08/23/21Z 30 1007 TROPICAL DEPRESSION
23.30 -75.80 08/24/00Z 30 1007 TROPICAL DEPRESSION
23.40 -76.00 08/24/03Z 30 1007 TROPICAL DEPRESSION
23.60 -76.00 08/24/06Z 30 1007 TROPICAL DEPRESSION
24.00 -76.40 08/24/09Z 30 1006 TROPICAL DEPRESSION
24.40 -76.60 08/24/12Z 30 1006 TROPICAL DEPRESSION
24.70 -76.70 08/24/15Z 35 1006 TROPICAL STORM
25.20 -77.00 08/24/18Z 40 1003 TROPICAL STORM
25.60 -77.20 08/24/21Z 40 1002 TROPICAL STORM
26.00 -77.60 08/25/00Z 50 1001 TROPICAL STORM
26.00 -78.00 08/25/03Z 45 1001 TROPICAL STORM
26.10 -78.40 08/25/06Z 45 1000 TROPICAL STORM
26.20 -78.70 08/25/09Z 45 1000 TROPICAL STORM
26.20 -79.30 08/25/15Z 50 997 TROPICAL STORM
26.20 -79.50 08/25/17Z 55 990 TROPICAL STORM
26.20 -79.60 08/25/19Z 60 990 TROPICAL STORM
26.10 -79.90 08/25/21Z 65 985 HURRICANE-1
25.90 -80.10 08/25/23Z 70 985 HURRICANE-1 Landfall North Miami Beach
25.80 -80.40 08/26/01Z 70 985 HURRICANE-1
25.50 -80.70 08/26/03Z 65 984 HURRICANE-1
25.40 -81.10 08/26/05Z 65 990 HURRICANE-1
25.30 -81.30 08/26/07Z 65 990 HURRICANE-1
25.30 -81.50 08/26/09Z 65 987 HURRICANE-1
25.30 -81.80 08/26/11Z 65 987 HURRICANE-1
25.20 -82.00 08/26/13Z 70 987 HURRICANE-1
25.10 -82.20 08/26/15Z 70 981 HURRICANE-1
25.10 -82.20 08/26/15Z 85 971 HURRICANE-2
24.90 -82.60 08/26/18Z 85 969 HURRICANE-2
24.80 -82.90 08/26/21Z 85 965 HURRICANE-2
24.70 -83.30 08/27/00Z 90 965 HURRICANE-2
24.60 -83.60 08/27/03Z 95 965 HURRICANE-2
24.40 -84.00 08/27/06Z 95 963 HURRICANE-2
24.40 -84.40 08/27/09Z 100 945 HURRICANE-3
24.40 -84.60 08/27/12Z 100 940 HURRICANE-3
24.50 -85.00 08/27/15Z 100 940 HURRICANE-3
24.50 -85.40 08/27/18Z 100 949 HURRICANE-3
24.60 -85.60 08/27/21Z 100 945 HURRICANE-3
24.80 -85.90 08/28/00Z 100 944 HURRICANE-3
25.00 -86.20 08/28/03Z 110 939 HURRICANE-3
25.10 -86.80 08/28/06Z 125 935 HURRICANE-4
25.40 -87.40 08/28/09Z 125 935 HURRICANE-4
25.70 -87.70 08/28/12Z 140 908 HURRICANE-5
26.00 -88.10 08/28/15Z 150 907 HURRICANE-5
26.50 -88.60 08/28/18Z 150 906 HURRICANE-5
26.90 -89.00 08/28/21Z 145 902 HURRICANE-5
27.20 -89.10 08/29/00Z 145 904 HURRICANE-5
27.60 -89.40 08/29/03Z 140 904 HURRICANE-5
27.90 -89.50 08/29/03Z 140 908 HURRICANE-5
28.20 -89.60 08/29/07Z 135 910 HURRICANE-4
28.80 -89.60 08/29/09Z 130 915 HURRICANE-4
29.10 -89.60 08/29/11Z 125 918 HURRICANE-4 Landfall Plaquemines Parish LA
29.70 -89.60 08/29/13Z 120 923 HURRICANE-4
30.20 -89.60 08/29/15Z 115 927 HURRICANE-4 Landfall near Slidell LA
30.80 -89.60 08/29/15Z 100 940 HURRICANE-3
31.40 -89.60 08/29/19Z 80 955 HURRICANE-1
31.90 -89.60 08/29/21Z 65 960 HURRICANE-1
32.90 -88.90 08/30/00Z 55 965 TROPICAL STORM
33.50 -88.50 08/30/03Z 50 973 TROPICAL STORM
34.70 -88.40 08/30/09Z 45 980 TROPICAL STORM
36.30 -87.50 08/30/15Z 30 985 TROPICAL DEPRESSION
38.00 -86.00 08/30/21Z 25 991 TROPICAL DEPRESSION
39.40 -84.00 08/31/03Z 25 994 TROPICAL DEPRESSION
41.10 -81.60 08/31/09Z 15 996 TROPICAL DEPRESSION
Table 2. Selected surface observations for hurricane Katrina August 23-31.
Date/time
UTC Press
mb Date
Time
UTC Sustained
winds
Kts Peak
Gust
Kts
Florida
*NAPLES (APF) 26/1711 1002 26/1100 24* 36* 0.66
FORT LAUDERDALE (FLL 25/2355 988.8 25/2245 52 71 3.07
WEST KENDALL (TMB 26/0137 986.1 26/109 43 66 7.71*
MIAMI (MIA) 25/2229 987.5 25/2218 39 57
*PEMBROKE PINES (HWO) 26/2156 992.9 25/2156 39 56
Louisiana
SLIDELL KASD 29/1243 934 29/1438 32* 44*
BURAS 29/1031 73 99
BOOTHEVILLE KBVE 29/2137 26* 39*
NEW ORLEANS KNEW 29/1153 60* 75*
NOAA GRAND ISLE CMAN 29/820 76* 99*
PT SULPHUR 29/0937 75* 88*
LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN 29/1520 944.3 29/1100 68* 86*
6.8*
Mississippi
PASCAGOULA PQL 29/0953 38* 44*
BILOXI-KEESLER AFB 29/1400 52* 85*
GULFPORT GPT 29/1025 40* 55*
JACKSON COUNTY MS EOC 108*
PEARL RIVER COUNTY MS EOC 117*
Hancock EOC 28.00e
Alabama
Mobile Regional Airport (KMOB) 29/1608 57 72
Dauphin Island (DPIA1) 29/1542 64 89
Mobile Bay (USS Alabama) 90
Unoffical observations
Mississippi
Waveland,Mark Suddith HIRT project 29 120
Mississippi Coast Arena,
Chris Collura 29 115e 130e 33e
e Estimated
* instrument failed