SUMMARY OF 800 AM EDT…1200 UTC…INFORMATION
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LOCATION…34.7N 76.5W
ABOUT 5 MI…10 KM NNE OF CAPE LOOKOUT NORTH CAROLINA
ABOUT 60 MI…100 KM SW OF CAPE HATTERAS NORTH CAROLINA
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS…85 MPH…140 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT…NNE OR 15 DEGREES AT 14 MPH…22 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE…952 MB…28.11 INCHES
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Weather Underground was showing nothing over 40 MPH at the time.
Weather stations are sooooo yesterday. 😉
From the National Hurricane Center’s report on Irene:
“Irene made landfall near Cape Lookout, North Carolina at 1200 UTC 27 August with an intensity of 75 kt, producing category 1 hurricane-force winds within a swath primarily to the east of the center over the North Carolina sounds and the Outer Banks.”
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092011_Irene.pdf
The radar shown is not of a resolution necessary to analyze the storm at the mesoscale level. NHC does a post-storm analysis and found an area of 75 knot (85 mph) sustained winds.
It was that sneaky kind of wind which weaves around and avoids all the ground based weather stations.
Ground based weather stations usually lose power in a storm or aren’t of the density to provide accurate readings of wind speed at that kind of resolution. No ground based station has been hit directly by a tornado, so by your logic tornadoes don’t have destructive winds. Post-storm analysis goes off of more than ground based weather stations since they are not reliable for high winds or lose power. They go off of SMFR data, recon data, dropsonde data, and the damage that actually occurred.
There is no indication that any of the stations were damaged. What a dumb comment.
Big Brother rings his bell and all of his lap dogs slobber in unison. Somewhere, some place, there must be a 75 kt. wind. If Big Brother says its so it must be so.
Get a load of Don Sutherland ; he comes on trying to reasonably explain the blatant corruption seen on a daily basis from the government sites as though we don’t understand what our eyes are seeing. Who ya gonna believe ? Spin on Don . You guys have no credibility anymore because you have collectively shown yourselves willing to lie to achieve your cagw agenda. The climate proves the agw people are liars as you just can’t get the climate to go along with your spin. Here in northwest Oregon we are having a somewhat cool summer and who knows what the winter will bring? But , I won’t be asking the likes of you for a prediction as the agw crowd hasn’t gotten anything right yet and has little hope to do so in the future. You hate to hear it but you need to ask Joe Bastardi and his buddies what the weather is likely to be as he is the only one in the ballpark.
Johnmcguire,
Where’s the evidence that the National Hurricane Center deliberately provides incorrect data? Furthermore, whether Irene was a Category 1 hurricane (or weaker/stronger) at landfall does not prove/disprove climate change. Why is AGW even being invoked in a discussion concerning Irene’s strength at North Carolina landfall?
As for weather forecasts, Joe Bastardi is an outstanding meteorologist. He is probably as good a meteorologist as any to ask for a weather forecast (and he would also almost certainly explain that the PDO is a major reason Oregon has had a cool summer to date). However, meteorology and climatology are not the same discipline, even as there is some overlap between the two disciplines.
Don:
I agree with one of your claims. Meteorology is not the same as Climatology because Climatology is in the same league as Phrenology and Palmistry.
There were never any sustained hurricane-force winds inland. Yet, there are many residents along the Eastern Seaboard (including Virginia Beach, where my aunt and uncle live) who have developed a false sense of security about “hurricanes,” because they experienced only brief power outages and and mininal tree and structural damage from what they were told was a hurricane. Will they pay as much attention to the next approaching tropical cyclone?
I blame the National Hurricane Center for exaggerating the potential impact of Irene. Forecasters must have been well aware that the storm’s winds (which had weakened greatly as Irene approached the coast) would never reach more than moderate tropical storm force over inland areas. The threat to New York City was almost non-existent.
Compared to the real hurricanes in the Northeast during 1954 like Carol and Hazel, Irene was trivial with respect to wind. If the NHC keeps crying wolf for publicity purposes, people will let down their guard when an actual wolf is at their door.