opplevelse

Wind speed back down 100knots on the last update and pressure up slightly ... perhaps 42361 has entered the eye?

108.8 kts! Wind Direction (WDIR): NE ( 40 deg true ) Wind Speed (WSPD): 56.0 m/s Atmospheric Pressure (PRES): 968.8 mb Air Temperature (ATMP): 26.0 °C Dew Point (DEWP): 24.0 °C Heat Index (HEAT): 28.0 °C How high will she go!

I dont remember tracking Frances ... must have been down the pub :o The thing I find surprising is the mass o convection on the South East Quadrant. Notethat the image posted is the HIGH range 85GHz image ... not the low range, so that convection is very intense indeed. But what surprises me most is how such a lopsided messy and disorganised system can sustain 100knot winds ... And yes, I agree that it seems this might finaly form a massive eye ...

Ummm that is a long time ago, if you read the bottom of the last page you will see it is now up to 99.1knots.

Finally some good sat passes so we can get some internal info. Quite an extraordinary internal structure. I've not seen anything like it before (note in particular the bottom right frame)

Sustained winds in excess of 93knots 172 km/h still at station 42361. (at 122m AMSL) Pressure now down to 970hPa and still falling rapidly. Wind Direction (WDIR): NE ( 40 deg true ) Wind Speed (WSPD): 48.0 m/s Atmospheric Pressure (PRES): 970.8 mb Air Temperature (ATMP): 27.0 °C Dew Point (DEWP): 24.0 °C Heat Index (HEAT): 30.1 °C 99.1knots now! (183kmh or 112mph) wow, that is a lot quicker than I would have thought even at 122m AMSL Wind Direction (WDIR): NE ( 50 deg true ) Wind Speed (WSPD): 51.0 m/s Atmospheric Pressure (PRES): 970.2 mb Air Temperature (ATMP): 26.0 °C Dew Point (DEWP): 24.0 °C Heat Index (HEAT): 28.0 °C

Station 42361 just registered 95.2knts (176kmh) and is still a little way from the "eye" Wind Direction (WDIR): NNE ( 30 deg true ) Wind Speed (WSPD): 49.0 m/s Atmospheric Pressure (PRES): 973.9 mb Air Temperature (ATMP): 27.0 °C Dew Point (DEWP): 24.0 °C Heat Index (HEAT): 30.1 °C Combined plot of Wind Speed, Gust, and Air Pressure

Central part of Ike now JUST becoming visible on this Radar loop http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/at20...=radar&MR=1

Station 42361 just recorded a sustained wind speed of 91.2knts (170km/h) at 122m AMSL Wind Direction (WDIR): NNE ( 30 deg true ) Wind Speed (WSPD): 91.3 kts Atmospheric Pressure (PRES): 28.83 in (976hPa) Air Temperature (ATMP): 80.6 °F Dew Point (DEWP): 75.2 °F Heat Index (HEAT): 86.2 °F Combined plot of Wind Speed, Gust, and Air Pressure

OMG is that windows 2000 you are running? FYI Buoy 42361 is not in fact a buoy it is an oil/gas platform http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=42361 Pressure still dropping rapidly, and windspeed increasing, I would think the "eye" will be over it in ab hour or so. Still measuring sustained winds around the 80knt (148km/h) mark. -edit- but I should add, those wind speeds are taken at a height of 122m AMSL

-edit- I was about to say that wasnt the right link ... but seems you have fixed it Great link! Will have a play

Latest observations, still only light winds on the coast but 89mph in the gulf on buoy 42361 Click for larger

A little bit of sarcasm in the official forecast discussion? LOL

yep. it has been strange! Every ingredient was there. If you go back and read over the thread, you will see that we assumed Ike would regroup after leaving Cuba, but it didnt. Despite certain posters being a bit sensationalist, and some seeing things that were not there , Ike has never looked internally well organised since leaving cuba, which alone has prevented it strengthening. Visually, the shear size of Ike looks stunning, but internally, the structure of the cyclone itself is apaling. This is why I never read much into Vis or IR sat images, they can look great, but they dont actually tell you much about the actual structure. HAD Ike reorganised itself after cuba ... then I am of no doubt that today we would be looking at a cat 4 or 5. Anyway, Ike may be back in radar range late today, however the Western flank is very dry so we might not see anything on the radar for quite a while. Most of the rain and convection is on the Eastern and South Eastern quarters.

"Eye" if you can call it such a thing ... has passed Bouy 42001 according to the pressures, but the wind speed is continuing to increase to sustained 60knts after a short dip for the "eye" http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/show_plot.php?sta...;time_label=CDT Pressure got down to 960mbar http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/show_plot.php?sta...;time_label=CDT As the "eye" passed, the wave height dropped, but is rising again now http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/show_plot.php?sta...;time_label=CDT And the "eye" passed basically directly over the top of the buoy and wind direction turned 180 degrees http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/show_plot.php?sta...;time_label=CDT

Ike still looks awful. Very poor organisation, no defined eye. but it is enormous. I dont recall ever seeing a GoM hurricane of its size, and that size will create a huge "fetch" for the storm surge. Track overnight has shifted Northwards to hit Houston head on. And just to emphasis how poor the organisation is

Buoy 42001 down to 964 mb 40knt sustained and 50knt gusts ... Ike still looks fairly poor in terms of organisation, but is big, very big. Like Gustav the lack of intensification is surprising.

Bouy 42001 ... 40knts sustained, 52knts gusts Pres down to 992.3, waves 7.4m. and Ike is 222km away from it still.

Finally! Something! It shows the double walled feature talked about earlier, but it also shows a distinct LACK of convection ... I wish it was able to get a full scan but that looks really quite ordinary. 3 frames of a visible loop dont show you much really at all, we've been watching the IR loops and WV loops all the way through, and Iceberg has been providing the great flight information. Ike is poorly organised, and just has not been able to develop a proper eye. Which is a good thing for Texas. But the vis sat loops always look spectacular I guess.

There have been simply no decent passes to get any interior structure information in over 12 hrs ... quite frustrating.

ChartViewer, thank you very much! Lovely images, great find! Bouy 42001 down to 995.6 falling rapidly. Sustained at 40knts 71kmh and gusting to 48knts (90kmh) Wave Height 7.4m or nearly 25ft! and Ike is still at least 6hrs away from it

Bouy 42001 down another 4.3mb in the last hour at 997.7mb. winds still around the 35knt mark with gusts over 40knts. Waves now at 6.8m

Downgraded sustained winds back down to 130knts, with gusts to 160knts, but they have prolonged it ... still a nasty nasty storm

Pressure falling rapidly now at 42001. Down to 999.2 falling at over 3.4 per hour. Wind gusts now over 40knts and sustained over 35knts Wave height over 6.5m

Internal structure of Ike has not improved anywhere near as much as I would have hoped overnight. There is still not well defined eye, but Ike is still a massive system and continues to deepen. Bouy 42001 pressure still dropping rapidly with gusts to 40knts, and wave heights 6.1m but Ike is still a long way! http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?...it=M&tz=STN Track has also shifted Northwards very slightly overnight, and ike is looking to come very close to Houston.