Katrina then weakened to a tropical storm, since hurricanes require warm ocean water to sustain speed and strength and begin to weaken over land. However, the storm then crossed back into the Gulf of Mexico, where it quickly regained strength and hurricane status.
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Heat in the Gulf. 09.16.05. As Hurricane Katrina barreled down on the U.S. Gulf coast, with ultimately devastating consequences, many oceanographers and hurricane forecasters were paying close attention to the upper ocean thermal conditions in the Gulf of Mexico, as the intensification of other hurricanes in that same region had been linked to the oceanic heat …
Hurricane Katrina’s outer band produced a 5.37ft storm surge with the maximum wind gusts reported at 69 mph. The Fort Pickens Area was particularly vulnerable to gulf to bay flooding from storm tides following the severe erosion and dune destruction caused by Hurricane Ivan, Tropical Storm Arlene, and Hurricane Dennis.
Published Aug 29, 2009 Topic Climate + Climate & Energy Four years ago, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. As the Gulf Coast struggled to keep its …
May 31, 2012 · Hurricane Katrina makes landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana, as a Category 3 hurricane on August 29, 2005. Despite being only the third most powerful storm of
Hurricane Katrina caused destruction from which many communities are still recovering. Hurricane Katrina began as a tropical depression that was formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, and strengthened into a tropical storm the next day on August 24, 2005. On August 27, the storm reached Category 3 strength with top winds exceeding 115 miles ...
Hurricane Katrina’s outer band produced a 5.37ft storm surge with the maximum wind gusts reported at 69 mph. The Fort Pickens Area was particularly vulnerable to gulf to bay flooding from storm tides following the severe erosion and dune destruction caused by Hurricane Ivan, Tropical Storm Arlene, and Hurricane Dennis.
At the Mississippi barrier islands: Cat, Petit Bois, Horn, and Ship Island (formally known as East Ship and West Ship Island), preparations were made for a direct impact from the massive storm. Though barrier islands can protect the mainland from storms, these islands were no match for Hurricane Katrina’s immense storm surge.
Hurricane Katrina began as a tropical depression that was formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, and strengthened into a tropical storm the next day on August 24, 2005. On August 27, the storm reached Category 3 strength with top winds exceeding 115 miles per hour and was fast approaching Louisiana and Mississippi.
The National Park Service “deployed a total of 1,894 NPS personnel in response to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, including 229 personnel to support Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) ESF activities under the National Response Plan (U.S. Department of the Interior).”. According to the Department of Interior, ...
Hurricane Katrina caused destruction from which many communities are still recovering. Hurricane Katrina began as a tropical depression that was formed over ...
In addition to bringing devastation to the New Orleans area, the hurricane caused damage along the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, as well as other parts of Louisiana. WATCH: Cities of the Underworld: Hurricane Katrina on HISTORY Vault.
Private donations from U.S. citizens alone approached $600 million. The storm also set off 36 tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, resulting in one death. President Bush declared September 16 a national day of remembrance for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricane Katrina makes landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana, as a Category 4 hurricane on August 29, 2005. Despite being only the third most powerful storm of the 2005 hurricane season, Katrina was among the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city on August 28, when Katrina briefly achieved Category 5 status and the National Weather Service predicted “devastating” damage to the area.
The surges overwhelmed the levees that protected New Orleans, located at six feet below sea level, from Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River. Soon, 80 percent of the city was flooded up to the rooftops of many homes and small buildings. 14.
Finally, on September 1, the tens of thousands of people staying in the damaged Superdome and Convention Center begin to be moved to the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, and another mandatory evacuation order was issued for the city.
As Katrina set new minimum central pressure records while approaching the northern Gulf Coast on Sunday, August 28th, the storm made its final turn to the north as it moved toward southeastern Louisiana. Katrina was a large storm with a very distinct eye.
After moving west across south Florida and into the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Katrina intensified rapidly and attained Category 5 status (with peak sustained winds of 175mph) for a period of time as it moved northwest on August 28th.
In addition, Katrina is one of the five deadliest hurricanes to ever strike the United States. In all, Hurricane Katrina was responsible for 1,833 fatalities and approximately $108 billion in damage (un-adjusted 2005 dollars).
Katrina finally weakened below hurricane intensity late on August 29th over east central Mississippi. The damage and loss of life inflicted by this massive hurricane in Louisiana and Mississippi was staggering with significant effects extending into Alabama and the western Florida panhandle.
The central pressure at landfall was 920mb - ranking 3rd lowest on record for a US landfalling hurricane, behind Hurricane Camille in 1969 (900mb) and the Labor Day Hurricane that struck the Florida Keys in 1935 (892mb).
Known for its storm surge, Katrina’s highest surge was found in a zone from just east of the eye near Bay St. Louis, MS east to the northern reaches of Mobile Bay. The Mobile State Docks measured the highest storm surge of 11.45 feet, while the lowest was 4.1 feet in the Santa Rosa Sound in northwest Florida.
Katrina’s maximum windspeeds at landfall near Grand Isle, LA may have been as high as 140mph. As Katrina moved further north and made a second landfall along the Mississippi/Louisiana border, the NWS Doppler Radar in Mobile (KMOB) measured winds up to 132mph between 3,000-4,000 feet above ground level in the morning. It is estimated that 80-90% (approximately 104-119mph) of the maximum wind speed value actually reached the ground.
Katrina’s physical destruction released oil from production facilities and chemicals from kitchen sinks into waterways. The storm knocked down trees, washed out marshes, killed thousands of animals and sent potential invasive species adrift into new environments. New Orleans’s streets filled with feral dogs and chickens.
Stronger storms have hit the U.S. Gulf Coast before and after Katrina's August 29, 2005, landfall in Louisiana, but this was the tempest that broke through levees to reveal cracks in disaster response plans. To a certain degree, the same can be said for Katrina's ecological impacts. When the Category 3 storm barreled ashore ten years ago, ...
NASA's Landsat 8 satellite captured this image of the swamps and marshes that buffer New Orleans in August 2015. ( NASA Earth Observatory) Hurricane Katrina’s dramatic fallout was, at its core, a human-induced disaster. Stronger storms have hit the U.S. Gulf Coast before and after Katrina's August 29, 2005, landfall in Louisiana, ...
When the Category 3 storm barreled ashore ten years ago, it not only forever changed the lives of humans, but also those of the plants and animals in the neighboring wetlands, in part because of human interference with the landscape.
The USGS calculates that Louisiana has lost 25 percent of its land area since 1932, largely due to coastal erosion. Some places even benefitted from Katrina, because hurricanes bring in silt, which helps marshes that have deeper roots.
The storm also took a serious toll on barrier islands by redistributing sand. The Chandeleur Islands in particular lost 84 percent of their area, although sediments have built back up gradually since then, notes Reed.
The Chandeleur Islands in particular lost 84 percent of their area, although sediments have built back up gradually since then, notes Reed. Further inland, the storm cut down swaths of trees in the Pearl River Basin’s floodplain forests.
Katrina's ferocious winds and waves washed away these islands, killed hundreds of millions of trees and transformed marshlands into giant lakes. The destruction took place in ecosystems that were already slipping away because of unsustainable development; Katrina simply added fuel to the fire.
Flying over the remote Chandeleur Islands east of New Orleans off the Louisiana coast shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit, coastal scientist Abby Sallenger of the U.S. Geological Survey was struck by the extent of the devastation to the coastal landscape. "What happened there was extraordinary," Sallenger said.
The uninhabited 19-mile-long (31-kilometer) chain was among many of the so-called barrier islands off the Louisiana coastline that were the first parts of the Gulf Coast to feel the wrath of Katrina. The storm made landfall over southeast Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005, as a strong Category 3 storm, with winds of 125 mph (201 kph).
More than 1,800 people died as a result of Hurricane Katrina, 1,600 of them in Louisiana. The storm ripped apart more than 90,000 square miles (233,100 square kilometers) of land, an area nearly the size of the state of Oregon. Five years later, scars from the storm are still visible on the Gulf Coast's delicate ecosystems, ...
The storm ripped apart more than 90,000 square miles (233,100 square kilometers) of land, an area nearly the size of the state of Oregon. Five years later, scars from the storm are still visible on the Gulf Coast's delicate ecosystems, including its barrier islands. Katrina's ferocious winds and waves washed away these islands, ...
Five years later, the Chandeleur Islands "are not even close" to recovering that land, leaving them vulnerable to future hurricanes, Sallenger told OurAmazingPlanet. Aerial photography and elevation maps reveal how little has changed in the region in five years.
Before Katrina, the average elevation above sea level on the Chandeleur Islands was 13 feet (4 meters). That dropped to 5 feet (1.5 m) after the storm. The average elevation across the islands has increased only 8 inches (20 centimeters) since. Pictures taken before the storm show the sand and dunes of the mostly healthy Chandeleur Islands.
Hurricane Katrina made Gulf Coast landfall on August 29th, 2005, as a Category Four storm. Historical probability of hurricane landfall along Gulf Coast (in percent per year). Details. Most of the coastal areas hit by recent (2004-2005) hurricanes have a historical expectation of a direct hit every seven to twenty years.
In this figure, you can see that hurricane intensity closely matches the water temperature shown in the figure above. Hurricane Katrina reached Category Five over the warmest water. In addition, the track of Katrina was normal and generally followed predictions.
These cycles tend to be longer than El Nino/Southern Oscillation. There has been an increasing number of hurricanes since 1995. There are several possible interpretations of this increase in Atlantic hurricane activity, including natural climatic cycles and warmer ocean temperatures in the North Atlantic. back to top.
Although the Mississippi River enters the Gulf at the South Pass, the river is only about two feet above sea level as it flows through New Orleans.
Details. The Mississippi River Delta has been moving laterally over the last 6,000 years as the river migrates across the delta region. The river typically remains in one spot for less than 1,000 years. During that time sediments build a delta.
Then the river builds a new delta and the cycle continues. However, the modern delta has remained in place for about 1,300 years.
Warm sea water is the fuel for hurricanes. The evaporation of abundant water from the ocean allows condensation in the storm, releasing the latent heat stored since evaporation, thus fueling continued storm power. In the figure to the left, note the warm water under Hurricane Katrina.