Late Afternoon Notes on Extremely Dangerous Hurricane Laura

Here is a frightening and powerful image of dangerous Hurricane Laura tonight as the sun drops.

We have seen an amazing intensification of Hurricane Laura over the last 24 hours. Since 4 p.m. yesterday, the pressure has dropped from 990 millibars to 947 millibars, a 43 millibar drop. The winds have increased by 65 mph from 80 mph to 145 mph. That is rapid intensification by any definition.

While it is nowhere near the record for rapid intensification exhibited by Wilma in 2005, it has been impressive. Wilma, a monster hurricane, dropped from 954 mb to 901 mb in a little over five hours. This computed to an astounding 9.9 mb/hour deepening. Wilma shattered all Atlantic records for deepening, with 6, 12, and 24-hour drops of 54, 88 and 97 millibars respectively for those time periods.

Here is the situation across northeastern Texas, Lousiana, and Mississippi. You can see the tornado watch. There is a tornado warning in Southeast Louisiana as well. Storms in that feeder band have prompted several tornado warnings.

The Air Force crew has completed its mission and a NOAA plane is en route into the storm now.

There are now hourly updates on the hurricane from the NHC since it is inside the radar fence.

Hurricane Laura Tropical Cyclone Update
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL AL132020
500 PM CDT Wed Aug 26 2020

…500 PM CDT POSITION UPDATE…

Low tide occurred along the northwestern Gulf coast within the past
hour, and water levels are expected to rise quickly through the
evening and overnight due to storm surge and the tide.

SUMMARY OF 500 PM CDT…2200 UTC…INFORMATION
———————————————-
LOCATION…28.1N 92.8W
ABOUT 140 MI…225 KM S OF LAKE CHARLES LOUISIANA
ABOUT 140 MI…225 KM SSE OF PORT ARTHUR TEXAS
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS…145 MPH…230 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT…NW OR 320 DEGREES AT 15 MPH…24 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE…947 MB…27.97 INCHES

$$
Forecaster Berg/Pasch

Category: ALL POSTS, Tropical