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IRMA -- PEAK GUSTS


displaced_floridian

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Interesting that Miami had higher peak gusts than Key West, though much farther from the center--the E coast was on the 'dirty' side of the storm.

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Not sure what the peak gust might have been here, but it sounded like a busy train station outside.

Lakeland, FL

USDA Zone 1990: 9a  2012: 9b  2023: 10a | Sunset Zone: 26 | Record Low: 20F/-6.67C (Jan. 1985, Dec.1962) | Record Low USDA Zone: 9a

30-Year Avg. Low: 30F | 30-year Min: 24F

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I had gust to 100 MPH in the NE Cape, recorded on my weather station.

Lived in Cape Coral, Miami, Orlando and St. Petersburg Florida.

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Our city hall (reported at National Weather Service) 160 mph sustained.  I doubt it. 

We have an interesting situation of wind blast damage to leaves.  It looks a lot like salt spray.  A tree will be brown on the windward side, green on the leeward.

Fla. climate center: 100-119 days>85 F
USDA 1990 hardiness zone 9B
Current USDA hardiness zone 10a
4 km inland from Indian River; 27º N (equivalent to Brisbane)

Central Orlando's urban heat island may be warmer than us

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WFTV Orlando had a wind gust report at Playalinda Beach of 93 mph. This is coastal east central FL near the Cape. I'm noticing the difference in damage compared to Hurricane Matthew also. Most deciduous trees around Melbourne and the beaches are brown. Looks like winter up north. Don't recall that with Matthew.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Having absconded to nice, cool Washington, D.C. for the duration, I missed the wind, but everyone locally agrees that much of the windy period was without rain, and there is reason to suspect that salt spray penetrated far inland, even to my place 3 miles from the ocean beaches.  The windward sides of trees looked very like they'd been through a spray episode, and of course damaged leaves proceeded fo fall.  My live oak and other plants are starting to send out new leafy shoots.  

Fla. climate center: 100-119 days>85 F
USDA 1990 hardiness zone 9B
Current USDA hardiness zone 10a
4 km inland from Indian River; 27º N (equivalent to Brisbane)

Central Orlando's urban heat island may be warmer than us

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On 9/14/2017, 1:05:30, Palmaceae said:

I had gust to 100 MPH in the NE Cape, recorded on my weather station.

Actually looking back at my weather station history, I had gust to 109 mph here in the Cape.

Lived in Cape Coral, Miami, Orlando and St. Petersburg Florida.

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I don't know what the sourcing was of the wind gust measurements at the top of this thread, but it appears the given speeds for the Florida Keys are low. There is no official NWS station on Big Pine Key, and I believe that all anonometers in the region failed during the storm, so final wind measurements have to be estimated using various measurement criteria. We have the unfortunate distinction of having our house in the heart of the maximum wind area for the Keys, on Big Pine Key. NOAA estimates our neighborhood received 150-160mph wind gusts. Though our house survived, many around us were not so lucky, and a block away, concrete houses were literally swept off their foundations and tossed like toys. A neighbor who rode out the storm confirmed for me that our neighborhood saw a fast-moving ocean that rose and stayed for some time at exactly four feet above ground level (that equals about 7.5-8 feet of surge, which is measure above tide). Needless to say the landscape is post-nuclear in appearance. Our entire half-acre (and most of the area around us) appears more or less annihilated, with a few exceptions. All except one Cocos was thrown down (it was saved because it was leaning against our staircase), though most can probably be propped; and a 30+-foot Roystonea regia was thrown against the power-lines (and since decapitated by Keys Energy). 35-foot high and wide Poincianas were torn from the ground and thrown over. 40-foot Spathodeas were snapped high up at the crown (not unusual for this species) but also it appears every inch of bark was stripped. Virtually all plants in the general area that were felled (and that's a high percentage) came down facing toward a just north of west direction, which indicates the worst happened early on as the northeastern/eastern eyewall hit us (and the huge surge from the Atlantic came over us from Spanish Harbor and pushed through the narrowing Pine Key Bight and Bogie Channel). I have been relying on NOAA's aerial Irma imagery, neighbor photos, drone-footage and personal reports from friends/neighbors, and will see it this Sunday when I return there to begin cleanup.

Here is an excerpt from NOAA's post-storm report for the Lower Keys:

OVER BAHIA HONDA THROUGH LITTLE TORCH KEY...THE STRONGEST ESTIMATED
WINDS WERE EVIDENT...POSSIBLY ATTRIBUTABLE TO A MESO-VORTEX
CIRCULATION WITHIN THE EYEWALL. A GENERAL PATH OF MAXIMUM WIND
DAMAGE OCCURRED FROM JUST SOUTH OF BIG PINE KEY PARK THROUGH
KEY DEER BOULEVARD NORTH OF SOUTH STREET. COMPLETE ROOF STRUCTURE
FAILURE INVOLVING SNAPPED WOOD TRUSSES WAS OBSERVED ON SEVERAL HOMES
ALONG WITH COMPLETE EXTERIOR WALL FAILURE ON A WATERFRONT HOME. THE
PATH CONTINUED ACROSS KEY DEER BOULEVARD WHERE UTILITY POLES BOTH OF
WOOD AND HOLLOW-SPUN CONCRETE DESIGN WERE SNAPPED WITH NUMEROUS
SPANS LYING IN COMPLETELY OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS...THE SOUTHERN SPANS
OPPOSITE TO THE PATH DIRECTION. PEAK WIND GUSTS ESTIMATED 150 TO 160
MPH ALONG THE NORTHERN SIDE OF THE POSSIBLE CIRCULATION. ELSEWHERE
ACROSS BIG PINE KEY...SIGNFICANT ROOF LOSS/EXTERIOR WALL COLLAPSE OF
OLDER MOBILE HOMES...LARGE SECTIONS OF ROOF COVERINGS ALL
TYPES...SOFFET DAMAGE AND LARGE METAL ROOF...WALL...AND DOOR
FAILURES ON A MODERN METAL BUILDING SYSTEM INDICATED MORE WIDESPREAD
ESTIMATED PEAK WIND GUSTS OF 120 TO 130 MPH.

Michael Norell

Rancho Mirage, California | 33°44' N 116°25' W | 287 ft | z10a | avg Jan 43/70F | Jul 78/108F avg | Weather Station KCARANCH310

previously Big Pine Key, Florida | 24°40' N 81°21' W | 4.5 ft. | z12a | Calcareous substrate | avg annual min. approx 52F | avg Jan 65/75F | Jul 83/90 | extreme min approx 41F

previously Natchez, Mississippi | 31°33' N 91°24' W | 220 ft.| z9a | Downtown/river-adjacent | Loess substrate | avg annual min. 23F | Jan 43/61F | Jul 73/93F | extreme min 2.5F (1899); previously Los Angeles, California (multiple locations)

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