Talk:P. Storm Histories of Hurricanes Charley and Katrina

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This page gives a summary of the history of each of the storms covered in the tutorial. It can be used as a reference to help explain the data used in other parts of the tutorial.

Hurricane Katrina (2005)

Hurricane Katrina was one of the most costly, deadly, and powerful storms in the history of the United States. The storm was classified as Tropical Depression Twelve at 1800 UTC 23 August over the southeastern Bahamas (1). It strengthened as it moves slowly northwestward over the Bahamas, becoming Katrina at 1200 UTC 24 August (2). A middle to upper tropospheric ridge over the northern Gulf of Mexico turned the storm westward, and the cyclone reached hurricane status at 2100 UTC 25 August, just before making landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 70 knots (2). As the storm moved inland, the eye became better defined, but the storm weakened to Tropical Storm status as it re-entered the Gulf of Mexico at approximately 0500 UTC 26 August (2). Within an hour it regained hurricane status with maximum sustained winds of 65 knots (2). By UTC 0600 27 August, the hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 95 kt (3). By the end of 27 August, Katrina had become a Category 3 Hurricane with 100 kt winds and had doubled in size (3). The storm continued to grow in intensity, reaching a Category 5 in with winds of 145 kt by 1200 UTC 28 August about 170 mi southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River(3). Katrina turned northward early 29 August, and due to the deterioration of the inner eye wall and formation of a completely new outer eyewall, weakened to a Category 3 with sustained winds of 100 kt by the time it made landfall again near Buras, Louisiana at 1110 UTC 29 August (3). A few hours before the center made landfall, the cyclone was likely a Category 4 with maximum sustained winds of 115 kt at 0900 UTC 29 August (7). Once it made landfall, Katrina quickly diminished in strength, falling to a Category 1 hurricane by 180 UTC 29 August (4). In six hours it fell to tropical storm status near Meridian, Mississippi, and was a tropical depression over the Tennessee Valley at 1200 UTC 31 August(4). It finally was absorbed as an extratropical low pressure system within a frontal zone layer over the eastern great lakes (4). Measurements of storm surge data were complicated by the widespread failure of tide gauges, the destruction of most buildings along the coast from which to measure still-water mark, and other factors (8). However, some data was still collected under the direction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The maximum high water mark observation of storm surge was 27.8 ft at Pass Christian (9). Data indicated a storm surge of 24 to 28 ft along the Mississippi coast, centered at St. Louis Bay and spreading 20 miles wide (8). Furthermore, the storm surge was 17 to 22 ft along the eastern half of the Mississippi coast. The surges went at least six miles inland along the coast of Mississippi, and twice that along the bays and rivers (9). There was a storm surge of 10 to 15 ft along coasts of western Alabama, and a maximum surge of 10 ft in eastern Alabama (9). When all was said and done, about 80% of the city of New Orleans was flooded, some areas up to 20 ft (9). The incredible storm surge from Katrina can be explained by its massive size (9). Furthermore, Katrina generated large northward-propagating swells during the period of time of Category 5 strength, about 24 hours before landfall (8). A measurement by the National Data Buoy Center reported a significant wave height (found as the average of the upper one-third wave heights) of 30 ft at 0000 UTC 29 August, and a peak height of 55 ft at 100 UTC 29 August, the highest ever recorded (9).