August « 2005 « NashvilleWX

Devastating News from Louisiana

Monday, August 29th, 2005

Just spoke with my Aunt Linda and the effects of Katrina are worse than I expected. My Dad’s entire side of the family lives in Chalmette in St. Bernard Parish, just east of New Orleans. The good news is that everyone is safe (they wasted no time leaving the area on Saturday). Unfortunately, there’s much more bad news. My aunt’s house is flooded to the second floor and everyone else’s homes (five in all) are under six to ten feet of water. That includes my cousin and her husband’s house, whose dance studio was leveled by a tornado Sunday night. To put Katrina’s damage in perspective: none of my relatives had a drop of water in their house from Hurricane Betsy in 1965 or Hurricane Camille in 1969. They’re life-long residents of the area so I’m sure they’ll re-build or do whatever they can to get things back to normal, however long that takes (months, at least).

I feel absolutely awful for my relatives. That said I’m just thankful that everyone is alive, as other families weren’t so lucky.

Read more about Katrina’s impacts from NOLA.com.

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Winds, Rains To Pick Up Late Tonight And Last Through Early Tuesday Afternoon

Monday, August 29th, 2005

The remnants of Hurricane Katrina should enter Middle Tennessee as a tropical storm. Winds could reach the 30-50 mph category, especially in gusts.

When: We expect the stronger winds to push into the Nashville area after midnight with the peak winds from sunrise to early afternoon. In South Middle Tennessee the wind could pick up a litte earlier, about midnight and peak in the morning.

We also have a Flash Flood Watch for 1am Tuesday to 1pm Tuesday.

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We Interupt, Continued

Monday, August 29th, 2005

As you can imagine Davis has his hands full keeping up with Katrina, school closings for tomorrow and now his elderly parents who live just outside New Orleans have called and their house is flooding. Lisa should be returning soon after a few hours of sleep. I will ask both Lisa and Davis to expand on the possibility of tornados during tonight’s forecast. David asked a good question and Sharon thank you for your answer. The newsroom is in hyper drive with covering today’s events and getting everyone in place for overnight and early morning coverage. Kevin is also expected back tomorrow so that will help as well. Keep checking back and we’ll update as much as we can. This has convinced me we need to hire a fulltime weather blogger.

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We Interupt This Program…

Monday, August 29th, 2005

An update on what’s going on. We will continue with Katrina coverage until at least 11am central. Davis is on his way in and Lisa is heading for home to get some much needed rest before reporting back this afternoon. Just to let you know that Murphy’s Law is still in effect, Kevin is in Florida on a visit and we had to send Justin home with what looks like food posioning. We’ll continue updating all day long and break in when needed. VJ’s have been dispatched all over the area to check on dams, creeks, storm regugees filling up local hotels and northbound traffic on the interstates and preperations for what’s left of Katrina when she makes her debut here around midnight.
Stay with News 2.

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Katrina Means Business

Monday, August 29th, 2005

As of 10am Hurricane Katrina is a Category 3 storm with winds at 125mph. The latest advisory has the breakdown of information for Louisiana and Mississippi.

Katrina was a Cat 4 Hurricane when she made landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana Monday morning at 5:30central with 145mph winds.
The storm skirted by New Orleans on the east side of town… still close enough for serious damage.
Now, Katrina will push north through Mississippi and eventually into middle Tennessee late tonight through Tuesday.

It looks like Katrina could come through middle Tennnessee still hanging on to Tropical Storm status. Our winds could be sustained at 35 to 50mph…. gusts could top out near 70mph. There is a very good chance this will cause tree damage and power outages.
It is not out of the question we could have a threat of tornadoes late tonight, as well.
And, if that’s not enough, all of middle Tennessee is under a Flash Flood Watch from 1am Tuesday morning until 1pm Tuesday afternoon. We can expect 3 to 5 inches of rain. Hopefully, the storm will move quickly and because the ground is dry we won’t have widespread flooding but short-lived flash flooding is a good possibility in the areas prone to that.

We have numerous watches and warnings for middle Tennessee that begin later tonight.

We will be updating the weather situation on News 2 about every 30 minutes on News 2 throughout day Monday into Tuesday.

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AN INLAND TROPICAL STORM WIND WATCH IN EFFECT FOR MIDDLE TENNESSEE…Katrina Not Only To Bring Us Heavy Rain, But Strong Winds, As Well

Sunday, August 28th, 2005

Katrina Sun PM.jpg

Trop WInd Watch.jpg

With Katrina now a Category 5 hurricane with winds up to 160 mph, it is quite likely that it will still have tropical storm strength winds when it pushes into Middle Tennessee late Monday night and especially Tuesday. That means we could see sustained winds of 30-49 mph with gusts to 60 mph in the Nashville and Middle Tennessee area.

These types of winds could knock down trees and create power outages.
You should also bring in outdoor furniture and secure other outdoor objects.
Flooding will also be a concern. Remember the Mill Creek Flood in 1979? That was from the remnants of Hurricane Frederic which hit Mobile, AL and pushed northward into Middle Tennessee.

Please read below from the National Weather Service in Nashville:

Special Weather Statement
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN
955 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

TNZ005>011-022>034-056>066-075-077>080-093>095-282300-
BEDFORD-BENTON-CANNON-CHEATHAM-CLAY-COFFEE-CUMBERLAND-DAVIDSON-
DEKALB-DICKSON-FENTRESS-GILES-GRUNDY-HICKMAN-HOUSTON-HUMPHREYS-
JACKSON-LAWRENCE-LEWIS-MACON-MARSHALL-MAURY-MONTGOMERY-OVERTON-PERRY-
PICKETT-PUTNAM-ROBERTSON-RUTHERFORD-SMITH-STEWART-SUMNER-TROUSDALE-
VAN BUREN-WARREN-WAYNE-WHITE-WILLIAMSON-WILSON-
955 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

…INLAND TROPICAL STORM WIND WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE MONDAY
NIGHT TO TUESDAY EVENING…

HURRICANE KATRINA TAKING AIM ON THE GULF COAST AND POINTS
NORTHWARD…

AS OF 10 AM CDT THIS MORNING…HURRICANE KATRINA WAS LOCATED IN THE
CENTRAL GULF OF MEXICO…ABOUT 225 MILES TO THE SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF
THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. SHE IS MOVING TO THE WEST
NORTHWEST AT AROUND 12 MPH…BUT IS EXPECTED TO TURN MORE TO THE
NORTHWEST AND EVENTUALLY THE NORTH NORTHWEST OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

MOISTURE IN ASSOCIATION WITH KATRINA WILL SPREAD NORTHWARD WELL IN
ADVANCE OF THE NORTHWARD MOVING EYE. PERIODS OF HEAVY RAIN WILL BE
POSSIBLE ACROSS MIDDLE TENNESSEE BEGINNING ON MONDAY AND CONTINUING
INTO TUESDAY. TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES WILL BE
POSSIBLE DURING THE PERIOD FROM MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY.

IN ADDITION TO THE HEAVY RAINFALL THREAT…STRONG WINDS OF AS MUCH
AS 30 TO 49 MPH…AND GUSTS TO IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH…
WILL BE POSSIBLE MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY AS THE CENTER OF KATRINA
APPROACHES AND THEN MOVES ACROSS WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE MID STATE.

THE RAINFALL AND HIGH WINDS SHOULD DECREASE TUESDAY NIGHT WITH A
RETURN TO PARTLY CLOUDY CONDITIONS ON WEDNESDAY.

LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL MEDIA FOR THE LATEST
UPDATES ON THIS SITUATION.
$$
BOYD

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Hurricane Katrina Strengthens…Again

Sunday, August 28th, 2005

11:00 AM update from the National Hurricane Center is in and it’s not good…

KATRINA IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 12 MPH.

REPORTS FROM AN AIR FORCE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT THE MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE INCREASED TO NEAR 175 MPH…WITH HIGHER GUSTS. KATRINA IS A POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN STRENGTH ARE LIKELY DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 105 MILES FROM THE
CENTER…AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP
TO 205 MILES.

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AN INLAND TROPICAL STORM WIND WATCH IN EFFECT FOR MIDDLE TENNESSEE…Katrina Not Only To Bring Us Heavy Rain, But Strong Winds, As Well

Sunday, August 28th, 2005

With Katrina now a Category 5 hurricane with winds up to 175 mph, it is quite likely that it will still have tropical storm strength winds when it pushes into Middle Tennessee late Monday night and especially Tuesday. That means we could see sustained winds of 30-49 mph with gusts to 60 mph in the Nashville and Middle Tennessee area.