Real time surface obs for RITA

[Aaron Kennedy]

FCMP Will be on the scene again according to this deployment update:
http://users.ce.ufl.edu/~fcmp/2005Atlantic...eployUpdate.htm

No word on tower positions yet, but stay tuned!

http://users.ce.ufl.edu/~fcmp/index.htm

Aaron

 

[Jeff Snyder]

That's a really cool program. I mean, that chances of max winds being sampled by an ASOS site are pretty slim owing to the paucity of the ASOS network. It's cool to see mobile towers being erected to better fill the gaps in the ASOS/AWOS network. Their blog/update is also pretty interesting.

 

[MClarkson]

I know an issue came up in another thread with anemometers and strong winds...

what kind are mounted on those towers?

 

[Sam Sagnella]

Tower T0 has been set up at SE Texas Regional Airport in Port Arthur.

Lat. 29° 57' 04.3" N
Lon. 94° 01' 19.1" W

Tower T1 has been set up at Hobby Airport in Houston.
Lat. 29° 39' 49.6" N
Lon. 95° 16' 59.3" W

Tower T3 has been set up in Nederland, TX

Lat. 29° 57' 17.4" N
Lon. 93° 57' 15.2" W

Tower T5 has been set up in a field in Orange, TX

Lat. 30° 04' 46.9" N
Lon. 93° 47' 02.7" W

 

[Albert Pietrycha]

Although not the tower data written about earlier... I've added the NOS-PORTS data to my sfc plot for landfall area. Map updates three times per hr.

http://stormeyes.org/maps/sfchrcn.gif

--Al Pietrycha

 

[Jeff Snyder]

This is kind of a NOW ob, but oh well...

Site T5 should be very near the eye per radar. Current pressure reading is 946.9mb, with 3-sec winds of 101mph and 0.1s gust of 115mph.

10m Wind (Vane) Monitor
900.0 Sec 28.8 m/s ( 64.5 mph) @ 39.3° @ 24/08:08:29
600.0 Sec 29.6 m/s ( 66.1 mph) @ 45.3° @ 24/08:10:59
300.0 Sec 30.4 m/s ( 68.0 mph) @ 49.6° @ 24/08:13:22
180.0 Sec 30.9 m/s ( 69.0 mph) @ 49.0° @ 24/08:13:30
120.0 Sec 31.3 m/s ( 70.0 mph) @ 39.1° @ 24/08:08:02
60.0 Sec 32.9 m/s ( 73.5 mph) @ 29.5° @ 24/08:01:48
3.0 Sec 45.1 m/s ( 100.9 mph) @ 17.6° @ 24/08:03:38
2.0 Sec 46.2 m/s ( 103.4 mph) @ 16.5° @ 24/08:03:39
1.0 Sec 49.1 m/s ( 109.9 mph) @ 36.4° @ 24/08:09:50
0.1 Sec 51.4 m/s ( 114.9 mph) @ 28.1° @ 24/08:09:50
Long TI 0.188
Lat TI 0.251
Vert TI N/A - Measures 2D
Roughness (m) 0.049

Mean Temp © 24.4
Mean Humidity (%) 100.2
Mean Pressure (mB) 946.9
Rainfall (mm) -0.7

http://grove.ufl.edu/~fcmp/Rita/T5/NOAA-Ri...24-08-00-59.txt

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Pressure at T3 and T5 continue to drop, now into the low 940s. The 0.1-1s gusts are generally in the 110-115mph range, with 3s winds of 108mph at T5. I believe NHC considers "sustained winds" to be the average wind over a 10s period. However, the FCMP doesn't report 10s winds, only 3s and 60s surrounding the 10s.

 

[Michael Auker]

Anyone take notice of T0's 0.1 second wind gust to 240 mph, also a 3.0 second gust of 185! Whats with that? Are they generally accurate?

 

[Sam Sagnella]

Note: Hurricane Rita September 23, 2005 11:26PM EDT

FCMP mobile tower T0 Wind (Vane) Monitor is reporting wrong wind speeds,
please do not consider these values, only refer to the 10 and 5 meter Gill
Anemometers.

Luis D. Aponte
[email protected]

http://grove.ufl.edu/~fcmp/Rita/T0/!README.txt

 

[Michael Auker]

LOL, thought it sounded pretty extreme.

 

[B Ozanne]

Does anybody know the story behind the 185mph gust? I hope they aren't throwing it out just because it seems too high. During the 1938 New England Hurricane (a cat 3) the Blue Hill Observatory 12 miles sw of Boston measured a 186mph gust. It still stands as one of the highest wind speeds ever recorded by a land station.

Is it possible that a tornado passed over the T0 site?

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Originally posted by B Ozanne
Does anybody know the story behind the 185mph gust? I hope they aren't throwing it out just because it seems too high. During the 1938 New England Hurricane (a cat 3) the Blue Hill Observatory 12 miles sw of Boston measured a 186mph gust. It still stands as one of the highest wind speeds ever recorded by a land station.

Is it possible that a tornado passed over the T0 site?

10-m WM: 3.0 Sec 82.8 m/s ( 185.2 mph) @ 40.7° @ 24/01:59:37

The date/time on that wind ob is 1:59:37 UTC, or 9pm central time. The fact that the 10m wind (vane) monitor recorded that while neither of the other 2 anemometers on that same observation site (the 10m Gill and the 5m Gill anemometers) tell me it's a bad ob.

 

[Sam Sagnella]

they made a note of the fact that the 10m WM at T0 was not working properly...see post above.