Hurricane Dorian swirls toward anxious Florida, packing 140-mph winds

[Martin4Jay]

https://reut.rs/2HzB3Ii
Hurricane Dorian swirls toward anxious Florida, packing 140-mph winds
MIAMI (Reuters) - Hurricane Dorian spun across the Atlantic ocean toward Florida on Friday, becoming an even stronger Category 4 storm as residents and tourists alike hunkered down in one of America’s biggest vacation destinations.

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[Wolfie33]

The Bahamas avoided a full hit due to a course change, but are still experiencing severe effects.
The predicted course currently sees the storm skirting the US coastal states of Florida, Georgia & the Carolinas.



Hurricane Dorian's eye is clearly visible from space in this view from NOAA's GOES-East satellite taken on Aug. 31, 2019.
(Image credit: CIRA/NOAA)

Source:    https://www.space.com/hurricane-dorian-eye-from-space-astronaut-photo.html

[JennyLeez]

Category 5 Hurricane Dorian hits the Bahamas with winds of 185 MPH: Millions from Florida to the Carolinas brace for 'catastrophic' storm that's caused huge destruction in the Caribbean and is tied for the strongest Atlantic hurricane in HISTORY

    Hurricane Dorian intensified into a Category 5 storm early Sunday morning with max 185 mph winds.
    Dorian made landfall in the Bahamas on Elbow Cay in the Abacos Islands at 12.40pm ET then again at 2pm ET, bringing with it wind gusts of over 200mph and creating 'catastrophic' conditions .
    The vicious hurricane snapped trees, trapped families, and inundated streets with water. 
    Authorities in the Bahamas say the hurricane is likely to impact 73,000 residents and 21,000 homes.
    Airports in Abaco, Grand Bahama and Bimini are closed, but the international airport in Nassau will stay open.
    From there it'll head north to the southeastern U.S. coast, and South Florida is back in the cone of uncertainty.
    Forecasters say Dorian likely won't make landfall in Florida, but could in Georgia or the Carolinas. 
    Florida has issued an official hurricane watch from Boca Raton through Brevard County and evacuations.
    States of emergency remain in effect in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
    Dorian is expected to hit the U.S. coast between Tuesday and Thursday .
    As of 12.45pm ET, Dorian was located 5 miles east of the Bahamas Great Abaco Island moving at 8mph.


More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7416325/Hurricane-Dorian-STRENGTHENS-Category-5.html

[Mark]

These wind speeds are they just estimated or what has been read on the ground.
If they are real wind speeds is there a site to see them?.

[JennyLeez]

For Florida, just a handful of miles may make a huge difference in Hurricane Dorian's slow dance with the coast.

The National Hurricane Center forecasts Dorian to be 40 to 50 miles off the Florida coast on Tuesday and Wednesday, with hurricane-force wind speeds extending about 35 miles to the west.

When they make a forecast, meteorologists have a general idea where the monstrous storm is going but they then have to choose a point on the map instead of a general place, making it seem more specific than it really is.

And much of the Florida coast is inside that cone.

When they make a forecast, meteorologists have a general idea where the monstrous storm is going but they then have to choose a point on the map instead of a general place, making it seem more specific than it really is.

more:
https://www.internationalnewsday.com/story/2019/09/02/us-news/cutting-it-close-floridas-fate-may-be-a-matter-of-miles/4206.html

[JennyLeez]

These wind speeds are they just estimated or what has been read on the ground.
If they are real wind speeds is there a site to see them?.

Not sure what you are querying as I am sure you know the answer Mark
Nonetheless I went looking and found this:

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is how the National Hurricane Center measures the intensity of hurricanes. The scale breaks down hurricane categories based on the 1-minute sustained winds recorded in connection with the storm, according to the National Hurricane Center.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php

From there I presume their weather instruments do the rest.

Bit more reading here also:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/hurricanes/tag/dorian-2019/

So Mark explain more.

Cheers
Jenny

[Mark]

It just when i look at the weather underground site all the weather stations stop reporting data when a hurricane is about to hit even the airport stations. ( iv notice this over the last 3 years )
And no wind records are shown.
So if the sites are down how do they know the wind speed.
So does anyone know of a site that stayed online with minute by minute or 30 minute or hourly wind data as
a hurricane pass over that site?.

All i get from https://www.wunderground.com/history/weekly/bs/nassau/MYNN/date/2019-9-2

Daily Observations
..Date Wind Speed (mph)
Sep            Max   
2. ..............84   -
3. ..............28   -


"Dorian hits the Bahamas with winds of 185 MPH" what site measured the 185mph/speed?.

[Wolfie33]

For what its worth, I prefer to follow through the Cyclocane site,
the Dorian info is at         https://www.cyclocane.com/dorian-storm-tracker/

I like that the site appears to gather & present NWS/NOAA data in one page.

I recall that severe storm data is based on satelite imaging?

[Mark]

Thankyou Wolfie33,

From looking around these wind gusts seem to be flight-level winds.

https://tropicaltidbits.com/recon/recon_NOAA2-3405A-DORIAN_timeseries.png

[Sheldybett]

That is totally unexpected.