A look back on Hurricane Luis.....

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A look back on Hurricane Luis.....

#1 Postby Anonymous » Fri Dec 26, 2003 3:19 pm

Since we don't have ANY MORE atlantic storms out there, I figure we can post threads about a storm every now and then and talk about it. For example, I'd say Allison and put down facts and figures, while others can reply by posting pics of that storm or any comments they want about it.

Our first is 1995's Hurricane Luis. I know some on the board have been through it. How bad was it, how strong did the winds get? Which was worse Luis or Marilyn? It offically hit the islands at 135 mph correct? Here is a infrared movie of it: (USE KEYBOARD TO CONTROL IT BETTER)

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/archi ... s_ssec.mpg
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#2 Postby Stormsfury » Fri Dec 26, 2003 3:36 pm

Luis was far stronger, but Marilyn scored a direct hit on many of the islands down there.

More imagery and movies of Luis can be found ...

http://www.stormsfury1.com/Weather/Trop ... mages.html
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#3 Postby Hurricanehink » Fri Dec 26, 2003 3:58 pm

Luis was retired for heavy damage, along with Marilyn, Opal, and Roxanne. Also, Luis was the first L storm to be retired.
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#4 Postby Anonymous » Fri Dec 26, 2003 4:03 pm

Really. Was Luis offically a category 4 at landfall?
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#5 Postby msbee » Sat Dec 27, 2003 2:43 pm

Luis hit St Maarten with winds in excess of 135 MPH on September 5,1995, a day St Maarteners will never forget.
it was not a fast moving storm and it battered the island for well over 24 hours.
the wind meter at the airport measured 150 mph and then was blown away.
although Luis was never classified at a Cat 5 storm, many islanders feel it was at CAt 5 strength as it hit St. Maarten.
St Marten was 85-90 percent damaged.
Luis was the worst storm to hit St Maarten since Hurricane Donna in 1960.
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#6 Postby Anonymous » Sat Dec 27, 2003 3:12 pm

Msbee, do you think it was a category 5?
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#7 Postby msbee » Sat Dec 27, 2003 3:24 pm

Floydbuster
actually I was not here. I was off island and arrived 3 days after.
the amount of destruction I saw was amazing. there were many homes demolished and those left standing had their roofs off or some form of damage.
according to the amount of destruction and the eye witness reports from people , I have my suspicions that , at least briefly, it might have hit CAT 5 status. it blew away the wind gauge at the airport after measuring 150 mph. of course, that probbaly was a gust, not sustained winds.
the storm also fostered tornados. One tore through an area not far from my house and crushed a shopping complex with a steel consturction like it was a tinker toy.
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#8 Postby Anonymous » Sat Dec 27, 2003 3:37 pm

Wow, my opinion was that the damage was that of a sustained 155 mph category 4/5 hurricane. It looks like one on this image:
http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/imag ... e-luis.gif
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#9 Postby msbee » Sat Dec 27, 2003 4:48 pm

it sure does
darn image gives me chills
well, Luis was definitely a very strong cat 4 and I think it very probably could have been a cat 5 when it was passing over us
the official preliminary report said the following though:
"The official highest sustained surface wind attained by Luis is estimated to be 120 knots from the 3rd through the 5th while it was approaching the Leeward Islands. This speed is 82 percent of the highest aircraft wind speed of 146 knots. Sustained wind speeds were still at 115 knots as Luis moved over the islands.
Sustained hurricane-force winds were also reported from Antigua, Guadeloupe, St. Barthelemy and Sr. Maartin. The observations of sustained near-surface wind speeds of 105 and 108 knots at Antigua and St. Barthelemy imply that even higher values may have occurred nearby. Since the eye of the hurricane went over Barbuda, it is expected that sustained winds of near 115 knots were experienced there. The winds at Anguilla were likely in the 105- to 115-knot range. "
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#10 Postby Anonymous » Sat Dec 27, 2003 5:07 pm

Yeah, probably not a cat 5, but sure close.
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Derek Ortt

#11 Postby Derek Ortt » Sat Dec 27, 2003 5:17 pm

Expect the winds to be increased to 130KT in the re-analysis.

A;so, out of curiosity, how did the damage from Lenny compare to that of Luis, when Lenny sat over St Martin for many hours as a 110KT category 3 hurricane?
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#12 Postby Anonymous » Sat Dec 27, 2003 6:48 pm

100+ mph winds sitting over same spot, rains, surge, extended= Luis like damage. Also, I think it (Luis) will be upgraded to 130-140 kt.
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#13 Postby msbee » Sun Dec 28, 2003 11:34 am

Derek
Luis was much worse.
Luis caused us major structural damage all over the island.
Lenny caused some serious structural damage on the Western edge of the island because the storm came from that direction, but the damage was not nearly as widespread as with Luis.
what Lenny did do, however, was cause major flooding. There was much more rain with Lenny than with Luis. with Lenny we had over 19 inches of rain in 24 hours.
Personally though, my house ( which is a very well built strong house) survived much better with Luis than with Lenny.
With Lenny there was so much rain that the hill behind our retaining wall collapsed and then collapsed our retaining wall into the pool , missing the house by inches.
so we had more damage at that time then with Lenny.
Each one of those storms had their own personality and did their own form of damage. Luis' damage to the island was greater with those monster winds while Lenny was more of a rain event.
They both should have been fish..we wish, we wish ! :-)
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#14 Postby cycloneye » Sun Dec 28, 2003 1:28 pm

Here in Puerto Rico everyone was very scared because that monster was in a bee-line toward us as a cat 4 with that impressive eye and the residents here were prepared for the worse but at the last minute it deviated to the NW away from our island but unfortunatly ST Marteen suffered extensive damage from it.
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Derek Ortt

#15 Postby Derek Ortt » Sun Dec 28, 2003 3:00 pm

Georges in 1998 had the chance to put both Lenny and Luis to shame; however, thankfully, it weakened (for reasons that are starting to become clear, see my presentation at this year's AMS tropical meteorology confrence) before reaching St Martin
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#16 Postby Anonymous » Sun Dec 28, 2003 3:06 pm

Yeah, what weakened Georges?
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#17 Postby cycloneye » Sun Dec 28, 2003 3:20 pm

This link below is the Georges report and says why it weakened.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/sju/public_report.html
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#18 Postby Anonymous » Sun Dec 28, 2003 3:39 pm

NW Shear, I got ya. :D
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Derek Ortt

#19 Postby Derek Ortt » Sun Dec 28, 2003 5:52 pm

it <b>WAS NOT</b> shear. That's all I can say. I've looked at some other data and have found another decseive factor, which I will be discussing in May
The NW shear only restricted the outflow. This is based upon sat winds that I have looked at in trying to determine why it weakened.


Now, if someone can tell me how to laod a GD attachment, I'll upload the sat wind image showing that there was NO NW shear over the storm
Last edited by Derek Ortt on Sun Dec 28, 2003 6:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Anonymous

#20 Postby Anonymous » Sun Dec 28, 2003 5:54 pm

Okay, Orrt. What ever the reason, it saved the islands BIG TIME!
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