Charley upgraded to category 3 in Cuba...

[Anonymous]

THE HURRICANE MADE LANDFALL NEAR PLAYA
DEL CAJIO WITH CATEGORY 3 WINDS OF 120 MPH AND MOVED OVER WESTERN
CUBA.
So... did it go from 120 to 145 in the Gulf?

[Matthew5]

I heard that it made landfall as 150 mph.

[Stormsfury]

THE HURRICANE MADE LANDFALL NEAR PLAYA
DEL CAJIO WITH CATEGORY 3 WINDS OF 120 MPH AND MOVED OVER WESTERN
CUBA.
So... did it go from 120 to 145 in the Gulf?

Where did you get that information from? I don't see any preliminary reports available yet from the TPC, so basically we really won't know what the intensity of the "best-track" plots will be until after the season's over ...

SF

[Brent]

THE HURRICANE MADE LANDFALL NEAR PLAYA
DEL CAJIO WITH CATEGORY 3 WINDS OF 120 MPH AND MOVED OVER WESTERN
CUBA.
So... did it go from 120 to 145 in the Gulf?

Where did you get that information from? I don't see any preliminary reports available yet from the TPC, so basically we really won't know what the intensity of the "best-track" plots will be until after the season's over ...

SF

That's from the NHC monthly summary for August.

They say it weakened to Cat 2 and then of course strengthened rapidly before landfall.

[Stormsfury]

Ok, I found it .. the rest of it reads like this ...

CHARLEY WEAKENED SOME OVER THE LOWER STRAITS OF FLORIDA.
TURNING NORTHWARD...THE HURRICANE PASSED OVER THE DRY TORTUGAS AS A
CATEGORY 2 HURRICANE. CHARLEY THEN TURNED NORTH-NORTHEASTWARD AND
ACCELERATED TOWARD THE SOUTHWEST COAST OF FLORIDA...INTENSIFYING
RAPIDLY JUST PRIOR TO LANDFALL. CHARLEY MADE LANDFALL ON THE
SOUTHWEST COAST OF FLORIDA NEAR CAYO COSTA...JUST NORTH OF CAPTIVA
DURING THE EVENING OF 13 AUGUST WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS
TENTATIVELY ESTIMATED AT 145 MPH. SHORTLY THEREAFTER THE EYEWALL
IMPACTED PUNTA GORDA AND NEIGHBORING PORT CHARLOTTE WITH
DEVASTATING RESULTS. THE HURRICANE TRAVERSED THE CENTRAL FLORIDA
PENINSULA RESULTING IN A SWATH OF DESTRUCTION ACROSS THE STATE.
THE CENTER PASSED NEAR KISSIMMEE AND ORLANDO EARLY ON 14
AUGUST...BY WHICH TIME THE MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAD DECREASED TO
AROUND 85 MPH. CHARLEY WAS STILL OF HURRICANE INTENSITY WHEN THE
CENTER MOVED OFF THE NORTHEAST COAST OF FLORIDA NEAR DAYTONA BEACH.

[Sanibel]

I was just looking at North Captiva from Captiva today. The pines up there are stripped pretty badly.

Captiva had clear water like I've never seen. It usually has milky seas. Hundreds of minnows swam by the shore...

[Anonymous]

Note: A reconnaissance aircraft at 13/1956 UTC, shortly before the eye of Charley moved inland, recorded a minimum SLP of 941 mb and maximum flight-level winds of 148 kts. These correspond to a MSW of about 130 kts, and I've learned that most likely the landfall MSW for Charley will be set at 130 kts in post-analysis. In addition, observations from Cuba indicate that Charley was a 105-kt major hurricane at landfall in that nation."

WHAT WAS THE LAST SOLID 150 MPH HURRICANE TO HIT THE US?... NOT INCLUDING ANY STRONGER THAN 150 MPH...

[Andrew92]

All I can say is I can't wait for the Charley report to come out, along with several others.

-Andrew92

[SouthernWx]

In addition to what Floydbuster posted....according to a couple pro meteorologists on the Wright-Wx board, just before landfall....eyewall dropsondes measured 130 kt sustained winds at the surface in the eastern eyewall.

Also, velocity data from the Tampa Bay (KTBW) nexrad doppler indicated 165 kt winds 3000' above the surface...reduce that 20% and you get 132 kts at the surface. Based on this, flight level winds, and the solid F3 damage observed in photos/ video, I firmly believe Charley had sustained 130-135 kt winds at landfall...with peak gusts of 155-165 kt.

Regarding the Cuban landfall...it appeared Charley was deepening rapidly at landfall. I'm not surprised at the upgrade to a major hurricane before landfall....I've heard numerous reports that damage south of Havana was consistent with a hurricane of cat-3 intensity.

[HurricaneBill]

Not counting Andrew and Camille, the last hurricane to hit the U.S. with sustained winds of 150 mph was probably Carla in 1961. Donna was probably around 150 mph when she hit the Keys.

Category 4 and 5 landfallers in the U.S.:

1954 Hurricane Hazel
1957 Hurricane Audrey
1960 Hurricane Donna
1961 Hurricane Carla
1969 Hurricane Camille (Category 5)
1989 Hurricane Hugo
1992 Hurricane Andrew (Category 5)
2004 Hurricane Charley

Category 4 and 5 landfallers outside the U.S.:
1954 Hurricane Hazel
1955 Hurricane Janet (Category 5 landfall)
1960 Hurricane Donna
1961 Hurricane Hattie
1963 Hurricane Flora
1964 Hurricane Cleo
1966 Hurricane Inez
1974 Hurricane Carmen
1977 Hurricane Anita
1979 Hurricane David (Category 5 landfall)
1988 Hurricane Gilbert (Category 5 landfall)
1989 Hurricane Hugo
1992 Hurricane Andrew (Category 5 landfall)
1995 Hurricane Luis
1999 Hurricane Floyd
1999 Hurricane Lenny
2001 Hurricane Iris
2001 Hurricane Michelle
2004 Hurricane Frances